silkie question

[MamaBrahma2]

I have 2 brahmas that I love and I wanting to add 2 silver laced wyndottes and 4 silkies to my flock. I let the two I have free range during the day only when I am home, I want to do the same with the silkies. I guess my question is are silkies at more of a risk of hawk attacks than large breeds? Would having a mix like this help keep my silkies safe? Still learning but loving my chickens!

 

[Luvroos]

Silkies cannot see very well above them so they'd be perfect hawk bait! I free ranged mine for a while and had to cage them due to hawks watching them as they do. If you have a rooster he would help alert the hens that there's danger around and then they could all run and hide! I would not recommend free ranging them unless you are out there with them. I know that hawks are plentiful around here.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Silkies are hawk bait. I have some in a dog kennel that I let free range when I am outside doing chores. I herd them back in when I go inside.

They cannot see predators well with their large crests. They are small and thus hawks will carry them away. I have witnessed a hawk attack on my silkies that failed when the hawk BOUNCED off the netting overhead. The silkies were all standing around and had not even attempted to flee under shelter that was available to them! Even though this pen was out in the open away from trees.

In short, they aren't really suitable for free ranging where there a lot of hawks while unattended IMO.

You could keep them in a nice little run with bird netting overhead and move the fencing around. They really like safety and security. They don't even go far away from their pen when I let them out.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:

We used the "hawk bait" term at the same time!!!!!!