Silkie chickens and egg laying

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Debbie292d said:
Who knows why hens pick the nest they do. Silkies can tend to suffer from vitamin deficiencies so whatever you're feeding them, it must be good stuff! Ours is Kalmbach layer crumbles which is good for them but I still sprinkle some Rooster Booster granules in their feed just to be sure. Sometimes I give them Nutra Drench in their water for a day now and then too. I just try keep problems from happening. Good luck with yours! Sounds like you're doing a great job! :love
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I hope so - honestly, the people at the store said to keep them on the Dumour chick starter grow until they were 4-5 months old, so I did and then I mixed it with the Dumour layer crumble 16% that is enriched and I add pampered chicken treat with dried flowers and herbs and another one. I toss in some dried mealworms once or twice a week. I haven’t found the perfect solution for water, adding some vitamins might be good. It is starting to get cold so I have their coop inside a sunroom for now, I can put them in and then back out. How do they do when the weather is below freezing? I know their fuzzy feet can have issues with moisture and ice.
 
Silkievirginia said:
I hope so - honestly, the people at the store said to keep them on the Dumour chick starter grow until they were 4-5 months old, so I did and then I mixed it with the Dumour layer crumble 16% that is enriched and I add pampered chicken treat with dried flowers and herbs and another one. I toss in some dried mealworms once or twice a week. I haven’t found the perfect solution for water, adding some vitamins might be good. It is starting to get cold so I have their coop inside a sunroom for now, I can put them in and then back out. How do they do when the weather is below freezing? I know their fuzzy feet can have issues with moisture and ice.
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We have an oil-filled radiator heater that keeps our coop from freezing. We let them outside if it's at least 20F and sun is out and no wind. My hubby plows and shovels paths for them so they can go around the coop, to the house, and to the garage. Some never come out all winter. I've never seen much trouble with their feet icing up, but they go back to the coop that's about 40F so they'd melt it all off.


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Silkievirginia said:
I haven’t found the perfect solution for water, adding some vitamins might be good.
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Just give them plain water.
If you are already giving them a complete chicken feed, they should not need extra vitamins. Some vitamins are actually dangerous if the chickens get more than a certain amount.

If adding vitamins makes you feel better, then give them two waterers: one with vitamins and one without. That way they have a choice.

Silkievirginia said:
Should I assume all three silkies are laying and the Easter egger with that many eggs? I was told you can even 100% sex a silkie until they are closer to a year or they lay eggs. I can’t truly identify which ones are laying
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https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/
Try this. You can look at their vents, and feel for the tips of the bones just below the vent, and get a pretty good idea. Check the rooster first, because you know he is not laying. Then start checking the females, and see what differences you can recognize. Usually the vent looks different (small and puckered on a not-layer, larger and moist and stretchy-looking on a layer). The two bones are below the vent and a bit to each side. You can feel their tips with your fingers. On a not-layer, the bone tips are close together and directly below the vent. On a layer, the bones are further down (below the vent), and further apart (out to both sides, not close together in the middle).

A pullet can shows signs of laying for a little while before she actually starts laying (days or maybe a week or two), which can be a bit confusing. But a pullet or hen who seems like she is not laying, really is not laying.
 
Silkievirginia said:
I am new to chickens, our school hatched chickens as a university project and then a few of us kept them. I have what I think are three silkie hens, I have one rooster who looks to be an Easter egger and one hen I believe is an Easter egger. They are almost six months old now. We found the first egg about six weeks ago and one more about ten days after that. We assumed it was the Easter egger, hearing that silkies do not usually lay that early but now I don’t know. We went to checking every other day because we were told with the day length shorter they probably would not start laying until spring. One of the silkies began what my daughter and I thought was an egg song - we didn’t check that day but did the next and found nine eggs. I am assuming they all started laying around the same time? Will they all use the same nesting box? They like to be together. I guess we could have overlooked the eggs when we looked on Friday but not a lot of hiding places. That evening I know it was one of my silkies who was up sitting on the nest and laid another pinkish egg. They ate all well formed eggs, shells and a decent size. We are a bit shocked. The other question is - after three days and having a rooster is there any chance of eggs growing chicks. We don’t want that, we took them out of the nest. Will they be safe to eat? Do hens do that, lay eggs in sync? Out of nowhere begin full on egg production?
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Welcome to BYC!
 
Yardmom said:
Silkies have feather coats, almost like other chickens. I do not give mine a heat source, but our temps rarely get below 0F. Most chickens don't like to walk on the snow
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Yours might be a cross of something as silkie feathers don't have barbicels which are the hooks to hold the feathers in. That's why they can't fly. I do have one hen that by all other standards is a silkie, but she's got smooth feathers, so guess she's called a satin, but I think she's got some cochin or something in her and she can sure fly!
 

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