questions about silkie bantam chicks!!!

[Junebug98]

So I have never had chickens in my life but recently ordered 20 silkie bantam chickens, cant really get a straight answer out of anyonr, please help.
1. What is the best thing to feed them as chicks?
2. When do I switch to adult food?
3. Do they need a heating lamp?
4. How big of space do they need?
5. How do I teach them to be friendly and eat out of my hand, any tips or tricks?
6. The temperature gets to about 10 degrees here in the winter, do they need a heating lamp then?

 

[JanO]

So I have never had chickens in my life but recently ordered 20 silkie bantam chickens, cant really get a straight answer out of anyonr, please help.
1. What is the best thing to feed them as chicks?
2. When do I switch to adult food?
3. Do they need a heating lamp?
4. How big of space do they need?
5. How do I teach them to be friendly and eat out of my hand, any tips or tricks?
6. The temperature gets to about 10 degrees here in the winter, do they need a heating lamp then?

and the wonderful world of chickens.

I don't know that much about Silkies specifically, but I'll answer what I can.

1. Feed them chick starter. Medicated or not is up to you. You can find it at the feed store.
2. I make the switch when they are about 8 weeks old. Just start adding it to their feed a little at a time until you are giving it to them straight.
3. Yes, they will need a heating lamp until they are feathered out... usually 6-8 weeks.
4. Are you asking about brooder space? Mine is about 5x5 brooder cage that I keep in the coop, with a light. I've had as many as 30 chicks in it at a time.
5. I suppose you can teach them to be friendly. I personally don't, but I'm sure others have. Sorry, no help here.
6. It depends on your coop. If they have a good, secure shelter from the wind and rain they should be alright. However, I don't live in an area that gets that cold, so I'd probably add a heat source if I felt it was necessary.

 

[The Chickeneer]

X2

If you wan't them friendly, just put some feed on the palm of your hand, and they will eat it and get used to you. Silkies tend to be a pretty friendly breed, so you shouldn't have problems.

 

[Junebug98]

Thanks so much that's was tons of help!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

So I have never had chickens in my life but recently ordered 20 silkie bantam chickens, cant really get a straight answer out of anyonr, please help.
1. What is the best thing to feed them as chicks?
2. When do I switch to adult food?
3. Do they need a heating lamp?
4. How big of space do they need?
5. How do I teach them to be friendly and eat out of my hand, any tips or tricks?
6. The temperature gets to about 10 degrees here in the winter, do they need a heating lamp then?

1. Chick starter 20% protein.
2. Switch to layer at point of lay, or about 20 weeks. Silkies can take awhile to start laying though, so I'd just wait until they start laying, which can be 6-8 months of age sometimes! Then they often go broody. They are a very broody breed. They are just adorable and wonderful pets though.
3. Heat lamp should be 90-95 degrees for the first week of life and decrease by 5 degrees per week until fully feathered, usually around 6 weeks or so. Here:
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingChicks.html
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chickcare.html

4. see above link
5. They will get really friendly when they start laying. They will be skittish before then most likely. I really don't do too much to handle our chickens much anymore since we have found out that when they lay they turn into friendly sorts. But we do give them lots of treats!! They know to come running.
6. I do give my silkies a light bulb when it goes below about 30 degrees here. We have very wet winters and it is just nasty cold with lots of moisture- perfect for frostbite. Silkies feel cold worse than other breeds from my observations. But if you get a power outage and they are used to heat it could be fatal for them. So I would focus on making the coop nice and insulated somehow but still with enough airflow up high above their heads - not blowing on them though.

 

[Junebug98]

type of treats do I give them? And what type of bedding do I put in the box for the newborn chicks?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Also, here are some other things about silkies:

They don't usually like ramps or roosts. They can handle a very short roost, such as 8 inches high. Ramps- they can be trained but sometimes it is just a lot of work to get them to go up their ramp. If you have a ramp, I suggest leaving the food in the coop and NOT helping them go down the ramp. They will learn best that way.

Never let your silkies be bullied as they have a soft spot like a baby. The normal pecking order is OK, but what I mean is if you get a Rhode Island Red and she pecks your silkies really hard on the head, she can cause them to have wry neck (crookneck).

A good silkie website is browneggblueegg.com (click on the articles). She has a lot of articles on there.

Silkies aren't good at watching for hawks. So overhead netting is good. But think snow load if you do string some up. Snow will bring down all but the heavy knotted netting- and even that will collapse if not supported correctly.

One roo per 5 hens is OK per a silkie breeder I spoke with. But the adolescent roosters can be obnoxious until they learn manners. Then the older roos will be nicer, as they mellow. Some silkie roos are more aggressive...one chased one of my kids and we got rid of him. But other roos that we have had were absolutely sweet! So it depends on the boy.

If you want to keep all your boys you can make a rooster pen and keep all of them together. They will get along fine! You can keep all the hens and roos together also, until you notice a problem (such as the roosters overmating the hens). That is usually what happens and then people get rid of a lot of roos or put them in a rooster pen.

Silkies are easily contained by low fencing as they don't fly. But they do need protection from dogs during the day.

I use regular welded wire fencing and keep them closed up at night in a shed coop. This works well for me. Others decide to have a Fort Knox pen. Only 1/2 inch hardware cloth will keep out raccoons, rats, and weasels, all of which kill chickens.

OK I wrote a lot here but hopefully you find some of it useful. I really love silkies.

Enjoy your silkies!

Edited to add: By all means it is OK to have a mixed flock with other breeds like RIRs- but some chickens are more aggressive than others and thus if you saw nasty pecking and bullying of your silkies, it would be something to stop. My silkies are in with other breeds.