Hello! I am new to BackYard Chickens, and have a few questions! I'm kind of new with chickens, so I'm hoping someone can help me! Here is my situation: My family has had chickens a few times before, but it was always my parents taking care of them (I'm 13). But this time, I'm doing everything, and they're basically my chickens. I have 4 silkies right now, and am going to get rhode island reds soon as well. The silkies are in an IRIS indoor/outdoor 8 panel playpen right now, they are about a month old. Ok, so here are my questions: Can the silkies and rhode island reds live together? I have asked a few people, and some say they can, some say I should try, some say they can't. If they can't live together, should I build another coop/run for the silkies? I'm sitting here writing this right near the silkies, and I'm worried they might be fighting. They are periodically chasing each other, foraging in the bedding (I sprinkled some food around as well as in the trough), and laying down/sleeping. One has tried to almost jump/fly onto another one a few times. There are two larger ones and two smaller ones. Whats normal and whats not? When/how can I sex them? The person I got them from was able to guess, but she couldn't be sure yet considering their age apparently. are silkie roosters very loud? does anyone know of anywhere I can get grit and pine shavings in bulk? I can only find small bags of grit in the hardware store and the pine shavings i have found in the pet store are kind of a small quantity considering how much I have to use. Thank you so much!! ^^yes i did edit it with more questions I had
Welcome! In my experience, Silkies are small and fragile, and RIRs, especially hatchery production reds, are pushy. Raised together, with the Silkies older, and plenty of space, it might work out. However it works, enjoy your new chicks! Mary
you *can* keep them together, but in my experience, the bigger chickens tend to bully the littles. I have a coop close to your size, maybe bigger that houses 20+ chickens. I don't keep my bantams with the big ones anymore though.
I have two groups of breeds right now with two separate coups and runs right beside each other. My 3 silkies are in one and 4 doms in another. I let all my girls free range in the day and they all get along. they will even all go into one run and dust bath together. At night they all wander back to their separate houses and go to bed. If they were all kept together all day I think I would have a very large run as I think if they were stuck in a smaller place all day together there could be some bullying . However all birds are different. Mine so far seem to be pretty docile.
