Silkie Roosting Troubles?? Worried it might be the death of her. :o(

[Picky Chicky]

Howdy ya'll... so I finally made the plunge a few weeks ago and got my first silkie. I bought her along with three other 15 week olds. Everyone seems to be getting along splendidly except my silkie girl can't seem to figure out the finer points of roosting. She's my first feather footed so I'm certain it's something I've missed the boat on. We have colder nights coming upon us (going from mid 60's to mid 50's, rain and lows in the 30's for the next 5 or so nights).
She's eating well, looks healthy, and continues to grow.

I feel a little bit ashamed that I didn't investigate this a little further prior to buying the silkie.

Any thoughts or suggestions are extremely appreciated!

 

[babymakes6]

Silkies don't roost-is she inside at night and locked up?
You need to give her a safe place to spend the nights.

 

[Picky Chicky]

I'm feeling a little stupid at this moment.

She has plenty of nest boxes to snuggle into, but now I am feeling guilty because she seems to prefer sleeping between the feeder and water... she looks so pitiful all by herself.

I have no idea how this bird has wiggled its way into my heart, but I'm ready to go bathe her and let her snuggle under my bedcovers. (Seriously not, but so tempting)

 

[SunAngel]

I am sort of in the same boat. I have a 2 1/2 month old Silkie that was doing well growing up with 4 other chicks around the same age. They were all doing fine til the other night I was locking up the coops and the little Silkie was peeping like crazy. I stopped to see why and realized that the other 4 chicks had learned how to get up on the roost, but she couldn't. Needless to say she is now in the house. I couldn't leave her out there with noone to snuggle up with. Can't believe I didn't think of this outcome before and plan ahead. She is too big to be with my 2 really young Silkies and too small to join the adults. Another option is to remove all the roosts and make them all sleep on the floor. Is that fair to the others though?

Maybe we both need to find our Silkies some sleeping buddies

 

[SPRING CREEK FARM]

You will love your little silkie! Most, not all, but most silkies can not really fly due to their feathering, thus the reason that a lot of silkies just plain do not really roost, or at least, not very high. I have about 30 silkies at this time. About 7 or 8 of them will roost on a low (think no higher than 3 feet off the ground) kind of perch that is in their coop. The others just pile up in a heap or two on the ground in their coop and cuddle up. The coop floor is layered dusting materials over dirt, packed about 1 to 2 feet deep, so they stay plenty warm.

She just needs another silkie or two to snuggle up with!

 

[Picky Chicky]

Quote:
Why can't you live closer to me so I could beg and plead for you to sell me a buddy for her?? Hehe

I forgot to answer one of the questions asked earlier - she does stay locked up at night with the others.

I'm really feeling horribly guilty right about now. I can't believe I wasn't on top of this information sooner. I sure hope she'll be ok... silkies are tough to find out my way.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

It took me a long time to convince my RIRs to roost. I finally came up with a system that worked. It took several nights of gathering them in the roost room, which had the first 5 polls removed and an old ladder placed before the remaining polls. In other words, they were able to go in by degrees.
The Araucanas seemed to want to roost from the start. I encouraged it by taking a 2 and 1/2 foot piece of 2 X 4 wire about a foot in width and bending it to make an arch and placing it where I was brooding them.
When I turned them loose with the RIRs they went up to roost, but it was toward the nesting boxes and the perches in front of it, which I can't have, so I am still going out every night to throw them in the roost with the other chickens.
My momma loved her silkies, but I never messed with them, because of the dark skin color, so I am not familiar with their habbits. I would maybe encourage her to go up by degrees. Can you start her off with a ladder? Really, she could suffer in the cold if she doesn't get with the program.

 

[babymakes6]

Don't feel so bad about it

She will be fine! I have 4 and they are all scattered around my coop at night.

 

[SPRING CREEK FARM]

Why can't you live closer to me so I could beg and plead for you to sell me a buddy for her?? Hehe

I forgot to answer one of the questions asked earlier - she does stay locked up at night with the others.

I'm really feeling horribly guilty right about now. I can't believe I wasn't on top of this information sooner. I sure hope she'll be ok... silkies are tough to find out my way.


If you lived closer to me, I would give you a couple to keep her company.

I recently met a family thru our mutual love of chickens; there are 5 little children in the family and they have all sorts of chickens, but no silkies, but they just loved my silkies. I gave them several eggs to put in their incubator to hatch out, and you guessed it, they ended up with 5 little silkies, one for each of the children!

:

If you ever get close to Nashville(vacation, etc) just look me up. Don't feel bad, don't feel guilty...have you checked the ads on craigslist or local sales network in your area? Surely someone nearby has some silkies!

 

[chseeads]

I have 4 silkies and they all roost up on the roosts along with the rest of the flock.

Do you have a ladder/ramp they can use to walk up to the roost pole?

If you just set the silkie up on the roost at night with the others, she may get the hang of it and start going up by herself in a little while.

Here's a couple of on the roost at bedtime the other day when it was wet and muddy out...lol