Silkie thread!

[BY Chicken Lady]

I've been reading up on Silkies- I plan to get some. 

My question is: as docile and socialble Silkies are reputed to be, is having more than one roo an issue? Will they fight? I would prefer one roo and a couple of hens (ideally). If I were to buy online and the company only offers straight runs, and I end up with more than one male, will that be a problem? I've been going through my chicken breed books and even a Silkie book, and none of them make mention of keeping roos together.

Appreciate any advice!

--Mollie

This summer I hatched 8 Silkies. Two of them began crowing at about 3 months old. Since I didn't plan to keep any males I waited to see if any of the others were males before re homing them. Fortunately none were, but while I had them the two boys got along just fine together. When they were almost 5mo old I put an ad on Craig's list for two cockerels. I found them a great home where a woman had two pens with several females in each so the boys will be quite happy there. If you want to make sure your boys don't end up in a stock pot don't list them Free to Good home. I sold mine for $25 for the pair.

Good luck!

 

[Suzierd]

This summer I hatched 8 Silkies. Two of them began crowing at about 3 months old. Since I didn't plan to keep any males I waited to see if any of the others were males before re homing them. Fortunately none were, but while I had them the two boys got along just fine together. When they were almost 5mo old I put an ad on Craig's list for two cockerels. I found them a great home where a woman had two pens with several females in each so the boys will be quite happy there. If you want to make sure your boys don't end up in a stock pot don't list them Free to Good home. I sold mine for $25 for the pair.

Good luck!

X2 I ask 10.00 each, more then what it would cost to buy a chicken at the store ready to eat.

 

[K Epp]

Hey K.EPP- how are the blue boys doing?  And that sweet little white sizzle?

Pam

They are doing well. Their coop flooded right before Thanksgiving and all the Silkies came in for the night to dry off. The other day one of them ran out of the coop and the LF flock was out. He came running back and looked up at me real funny like "I do not want out here put me back.". I have the stuff to fix the silkies their own coop and run, but this rain is not agreeable. My friend is going to take two, but I haven't decided which dark one to keep. They still sleep in a big pile but now some of the girls are with them.

 

[Ramblin Rooster]

They are doing well. Their coop flooded right before Thanksgiving and all the Silkies came in for the night to dry off. The other day one of them ran out of the coop and the LF flock was out. He came running back and looked up at me real funny like "I do not want out here put me back.". I have the stuff to fix the silkies their own coop and run, but this rain is not agreeable. My friend is going to take two, but I haven't decided which dark one to keep. They still sleep in a big pile but now some of the girls are with them.

Ours do the same! They are terribly bullied by the big hens and keep their distance. Had to make them their own coop

 

[jajeanpierre]

If you get to many Roos I would try and find them homes no reason they can't live a nice long life in a new home people can still love a hatchery Silkie just as much. Another option would be to buy from a breeder and get old enough to tell the sex. Best of luck, I love my Silkies!

I think it is very naive to think there are "pet" homes out there for pet-quality roosters. Most suburban neighborhoods don't allow roosters. If I lived in a suburban setting, I sure wouldn't want to foist a rooster on my neighborhood--they are loud and annoying. Of the five Silkie cockerels I raised, three were downright nasty, biting things. There was nothing pet-like about them.

Don't be fooled by the person who comes along to your house with their kids in tow looking for a pet. I have racehorses, and finding them homes after they've finished racing is a big problem in the industry. There have been many, many cases where a woman would bring her kids along looking for a riding horse for them, deceiving the trainers, and be given retiring racehorses which she immediately flipped and sold to a slaughter house. I know of a case where a racetrack groom was given hundreds of horses from trainers who knew her personally and trusted her. She supposedly had a rescue and would rehome them. She rehomed them all right, rehomed right to a slaughter house.

Roosters are the unwanted by product of breeding chickens. That is the sad reality of chicken keeping. For every female hatched, there will be an unwanted male hatched. When you buy a sexed female from a hatchery for a premium price, you know that the males are not wanted. Those unsold sexed males go into something akin to a wood chipper. If the hatchery can't entice people to take those chicks for a deep discount, they are simply shredded.

Silkies are a very valued meat in Far Eastern cooking. You can buy their meat in Chinese grocery stores. I can imagine someone setting up a nice little business of being given for free backyard chicken keepers' unwanted Silkie cockerels, tricking people into believing they would give them a forever home, and then turning around and selling them for a premium price to the Chinese community.

 

[jajeanpierre]

X2 I ask 10.00 each, more then what it would cost to buy a chicken at the store ready to eat.

Silkie meat goes for $15 a carcass.

http://www.bellabellagourmet.com/silkie-black-meat-chicken/

It is a very desirable meat in the Far Eastern culture. They might be quite prepared to pay a lot, lot more for one.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Silkie meat goes for $15 a carcass.

http://www.bellabellagourmet.com/silkie-black-meat-chicken/

It is a very desirable meat in the Far Eastern culture. They might be quite prepared to pay a lot, lot more for one.

Here's another site that sells Silkie meat. This site offers it at a regular price of $39.99 for one carcass. On sale today for $29.99

http://www.exoticmeatmarkets.com/sichtch.html

 

[Suzierd]

Silkie meat goes for $15 a carcass.

http://www.bellabellagourmet.com/silkie-black-meat-chicken/

It is a very desirable meat in the Far Eastern culture.  They might be quite prepared to pay a lot, lot more for one.

J

I am not in the Far East, most people around here find it distasteful to eat black skin gray meat. They would much rather go buy one already cleaned and ready to eat with more meat and white meat for less money. Not everyone has chickens to kill and eat them. Not naive at all, every person I have rehomed my chickens to didn't care if they were perfect and had just the right amount of toes and held the wings just right. I have seen many go to good homes. I don't promote roosters to be children's pets of any breed, however some are great with children.

 

[Roxannemc]

Im sure you are right about 95% of the roos sold however i have had ppl come looking for a certain breed too as theirs was killed and they wanted hatchin eggs
Last spring my LB roo died.Had ppl wanting hatching eggs no roo!


Had to buy eggs and start from scratch as

nobody had one even half grown!So some ppl do need roos but not many

 

[Mollie4dogs]

Yes, I'm aware of the Chinese market for what they call, "Black chickens." In fact, the Chinatown in LA has a store that has live birds for sale as food. I never realised it was Silkies until I read about chicken breeds. There was controversy about a "wet market" in Chinatown for a while. The building is very low key and one would never know there were live chickens for sale in there. I only knew of the place because of a Chinese friend who pointed it out to me. She could read the sign, which was only in Chinese.