Silkie thread!

[EZFarms]

Our whole standard flock doesnt like newbies >·< they even pick at one of the polish we have

 

[kmollyhughes]

I have 12-ish silkies, sizzles, and a polish all mixed in large run with about 30+ LF and have had no problems. Sizzle roo has his girls, big roo has his....all is well in chicken paradise. Lol We don't let hens or our ducks become aggressive towards anyone else. That gets you a trip over to the stew pot at our house.

 

[EZFarms]

Well our flock is good to mpst people and animals but if u try and introduce a new chickens everyone gangs up on that new bird so i think its just easier and safer to have a standard flock and a bantam flock.
oh also the bantams i mentioned earlier can any of them fly well? we have neighbors and dont need chickens in their yards lol

 

[kmollyhughes]

They can surprise you! Found my smallest smooth sizzle hen on top of our 6 ft high run one night. No idea how she got up there. She doesn't even roost on our lowest bars. She's always roosting on a 2x6 that holds back shavings from the door way in the coop. And our curly sizzles who shouldn't fly at all roost with our silkies on the top bar. Clip a wing if you're worried. Better not to chance it if you have neighbors. Hope yours all arrive safe and healthy.

 

[EZFarms]

I cant wait to get them :3 i always get anixous until the day they get here xD
i have always read silkies cant fly 0.o

 

[Jharper]

I cant wait to get them :3 i always get anixous until the day they get here xD
i have always read silkies cant fly 0.o

Mine think they can! Lol! The jump from their coop that's 4 feet off the ground!

 

[jajeanpierre]

A dear friend of mine in Abu Dhabi is one of the world's more renowned falcon experts. He's also an avian vet. He was the person who got me interested in chickens and convinced me I should have a few Silkies. He loves chickens, especially Silkies. The other day I was sharing a silly story about taking my broody Silkie pullet out of the nest box for about the 10th time that day when she laid an egg in the air and it dropped with a decided "thunk" two feet to the ground without breaking. Silkie acted as if nothing had happened, walked over for a drink and went back to the nest to be broody.

Somehow using Silkies to hatch eggs came up in our conversation and he told me that in the 70s, when Peregrine falcons were almost made extinct by DDT, they used Silkies--SILKIES--to incubate their eggs. He told me they still do and he wishes he had some Silkies for his breeding facility in the Middle East. Can you imagine? I had visions of hatchling falcons slowly eating mama Silkie as she frantically tried to protect them. I was happy to learn they remove the eggs to an incubator as soon as they pip so the falcon doesn't imprint on the chicken.

I thought this group would enjoy that little bit of trivia.

 

[K Epp]

I cant wait to get them :3 i always get anixous until the day they get here xD
i have always read silkies cant fly 0.o

Mine cant fly and the roos think they cant climb... The silly boys. The pullets walk up a ramp to sleep in a large nesting box that a adult turkey can fit in. ( came with the coop) The sleep in a pile on the ground.My coop is open so I put a inverted pallet in to get them up off the ground. None of them can fly. As far as your other breeds I don't have any of them, but from my limited experience with the LF of the breed I would say the Brahmas and Wyndottes would be less likely to fly than say d'Uccle. I would guess that the Dom's will be the fliers of your flock. I would suggest poultry netting over their run to keep predators out and chickens in. Hawks love Silkies because they typically have a hard time seeing the air born threats.

 

[EZFarms]

Thats actually really cool i didnt know that and yea i know hawks like silkies but id be the crazy lady swatting at a hawk with a broom lmao

 

[K Epp]

LMAO... Just yesterday I was out trying to herd the bantam in there coop so I could turn the LF out. I use a old broom handle . A buzzard came flying over and all the stragglers came running up to me like I would protect them. One of my d'Uccle hens went about 10 feet up and 40ft across yard to escape me, but came running like I was the Mama hen when the giant bird flew over and by that point I can say I was holding the broom handle like a baseball bat.