Silkie Roost....

[LynnGrigg]

I may be picking up our first silkie hen this evening. I'll be keeping her in a cage over the weekend but was wondering - since silkies don't fly, do they just sleep in nest boxes/on the ground or do you silkie owners build short-low roosts for them?

 

[nccatnip]

I can't wait to see pictures!!!! They are just so cute.

 

[LynnGrigg]

The guy lives in Walburg. He mostly has oegbs, some cochins and goats. He uses the silkies for broodies too. I'll probably come home with another oeg hen ...or two ....or three......or.... lol!

 

[Windy Ridge]

My oldest silkie hen sleeps on the ground with a couple of the younger ones, and the other two younger ones sometimes jump up to a low roost. I don't know of they all will eventually learn to go to the roost or not. Last night my Sylvia, the oldest, kept trying to sit on my foot and snuggle under the top of my pants leg.

Silly girl.

 

[LynnGrigg]

Thanks. The roost at our house is about 8 feet up, roofed, boarded on the north,east & west sides. There is a ladder that sits at the bottom and stops about three feet up. The regular crew have to make the rest of the way up by fly/hopping to cross beams to reach the top. I don't see silksters doing that. I did have a short roost in the first house that was about eight inches off the floor for the girls when they were babies. Maybe we'll just put that back up for the silkies.

 

[Forest_Nymph]

My silkies seem to enjoy roosting on an inverted window box. This happened by chance when they wandered into the potting shed side of the coop. At nightfall they chose that to roost on. I then placed it into their coop and added a little piece of shelf liner to soften the roost for their bodies. They've used it ever since.
Obviously, they prefer this to laying on the floor at night.

yours truly,
Sylvia

 

[bantymum]

Hi, congrats on your Silky purchase.
Silkies dont like to roost, well mine dont anyway!!
May be because they are bulky and have 5 toes and are clumsy without good eyesight due to their powder puffs on their heads!!!They are probably left handers too!! joke, the poor little things have so much to deal with.
Anyway, they should be happy to sit on a plank of wood which is square about 4 inches on all sides. Anything solid and safe as long as it is near to the floor. Some of Mine sit in a box in the corner in the pineshavings.The others sit on the plank on the floor.

 

[magikchick]

Mine pile up in a heap. They have their own cage they sleep in.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Mine sleep in a chick-n-barn. It came with a very tall roost, but i put a lower one in there. None of my silkies want to roost. They all dog pile on the floor together - one big heap of bodies, wings, and beaks - all intermeshed. They seem to like it that way.

 

[ozark hen]

I have three that roost about 3 ft. off the ground in the coop. They stayed on the floor when they were babies but now go up with the big girls. Our roost goes up on a slant so they can get up to five ft off the floor.