quick question about mixing bantams and standards...

[lovethepeep]

I have the opportunity to get a white silkie tomorrow when I pick up my barred rock (#8 of my hen collection

)... my set up is a house with a run... which we hope won't get yuck... but my questions is... should I steer AWAY from getting a white feather footed gal if I'm not going to have her on a caged floor type deal??? AND- would you recommend getting more than one bantam if you had a flock of regular hens??

THANKS EVERYONE!!!

 

[meyer.miniatures]

hello i have both breeds of chickens myself... if i were you i would always have atleast 2 silkies. they stick together and get lonely it seems if others (silkies) arnt around. mine live in a coop and are free to rome in the yard if they choose. the silkies are always together in the yard and the barred rocks are always together somewhere else.. lol i dont have any problems with their feet b/c we have a wooden floor in the coop with wood shavings down as litter. we do clean it out about once a month. hope this helps you out !

 

[SunAngel]

I have my feather footed bantams with my standards in the same run and coop. I have sand in both of mine, which works really well and no mud.

The white/light feathered footed ones do get a little dirty during rainy weather, but they clean themselves up when it dries up and are back to their fluffy pretty selves in no time. The sand keeps them from getting muddy, so once they dry, the sand just shakes off.

I would definitely get more than one- they like to have friends that look like them apparently. Although I am not sure how they know what they look like

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

IMHO if that silkie is a bantam and NEW to the flock I would not stick her in there. Silkies tend to be VERY shy and it will most likely be picked on A LOT if you stick it in with reg sized hens. I have reg sized silkies and were putting them in the bantam coop and were just going to try free ranging everyone together to see how that goes. I wouldn't get just one silkie either...they act like pack animals and hang together from what I seen with mine.
I wouldn't have a screen floor for any of my birds. Not good on their feet and it seems to get very painful for them after a while

IMO

 

[Riocotesei]

I had 2 silkies that were 4-5 months old and I was worried about the same thing. At first I put them in a pen next to them so the thers could see them and get used to them and recently I let them out in the run wit the others and they got along fine. I have 3 roos with about 20 hens and 2 ducks in there, and they all get along just fine. I would suggest to definitely get 2 or more silkies cause 1. they like similar company and 2. you will fall in love with them and wish you had more. They do just fine with a normal coop as well they stay pretty clean for all that fuzz.

 

[mamachickn]

Get more silkies. Lets face it, more is better. This is a great excuse to have more!!