Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

First time silkie owner. Do they perch??? I know they can't fly, but wondering if they prefer to sleep on a perch or a nest.

There can be so many variables that contribute to where the Silkies prefer to sleep - their age, the coop's configuration like drafty, open, perch too high, perch not high enough than the nestbox area, prefer to pile up sleeping on the floor, no ramp access to perch area, just a whole bunch of reasons.

One owner had Silkies pile-up in one corner of the coop. She solved the problem by providing a large covered cat litter box with straw inside it and now they pile up inside it instead of the open coop floor where they might get pooped on from above.

In my coop the perch is in the open pen area and unfortunately at the same level as the nestboxes so from Day One ALL my chickens have slept in the large roomy nestboxes (16"x16"x 2 feet tall) and sometimes 2 to 3 chickens will sleep in each box. It takes extra cleaning in the mornings and to add new straw but I can't change the configuration of my purchased coop to get them to sleep anywhere else. In a couple years my sad little coop will need replacing and will be sure to have the perch higher than the nestboxes so hopefully they will roost on a perch then.

The little perch in my coop is about 18 inches from the floor and the Silkies hop onto it during the day but it's never been used for night-time roosting. It is really not wide enough for roosting - it is a 2x2 pole and chickens really need about a 4-inch wide platform to comfortably roost on. On the BYC thread post your chicken coop pictures here many experienced chickeneers have said to use a 2x4 inch plank for a roost with the wider flat side up.

 

[ChickenAndMore]

I had 3 silkies who would sleep outside in a corner all piled on top of each other and every night I would go and put them on their roost. Once they were on their roost they wouldn't move. Their roost was about 3 feet off the ground.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Mine have a little ladder up to their roost and even the babies climb up to take their place on the perch. I also have an old meat safe in the coop, it's 2 x story and some of the hens will sleep in there. I am re- introducing momma and her babies today , so wish me luck. I know the boys will be happy to see their favorite hen .

 

[ChickenAndMore]

Mine had a ladder to but they wouldn't use it. They would just huddle in the run even if it was pouring rain.

 

[AliceGee]

Two of my broody silkies in the past 3 days have hatched out 9 chicks, two more clutches to go! Both look after all the chicks which is really good and very cute! Most of the chicks are yellow cause they're from a white mum and dad but the two black ones have different parents, however ones yellow with two black dots on the back of its head? Has anyone had a silkie chick with spots like this? I've never had any chicks like that before, apart from the two spots it's completely yellow. At first I thought it was dirt but then I realised it was just the colour of his fluff!

This is spotty!

And this is his family!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Sweet.

 

[Sylvester017]

Two of my broody silkies in the past 3 days have hatched out 9 chicks, two more clutches to go! Both look after all the chicks which is really good and very cute! Most of the chicks are yellow cause they're from a white mum and dad but the two black ones have different parents, however ones yellow with two black dots on the back of its head? Has anyone had a silkie chick with spots like this? I've never had any chicks like that before, apart from the two spots it's completely yellow. At first I thought it was dirt but then I realised it was just the colour of his fluff!

This is spotty!

Your white chick with the black dot on its head reminds me of the breeding I did with my Persian cat 40 years ago. Our white mother cat was an odd-eyed Persian (one blue eye and one copper eye) whose mother was a bi-colored white-and-tortoise Persian. The breeder I contacted said the best male to breed to our white odd-eyed female would be a pure black male because of our female's bi-color parentage. Well from that breeding we got 3 bi-colored black-and-white fluffy Persian kittens and one pure white kitten that had the black dot on her head. The male breeder said that was typical on white offspring that had a black father and that as the kitten grew to adulthood the dot would go away - and it did. Wonder if that will happen to your black-dot white chick too!

 

[TiaRC]

Two of my broody silkies in the past 3 days have hatched out 9 chicks, two more clutches to go! Both look after all the chicks which is really good and very cute! Most of the chicks are yellow cause they're from a white mum and dad but the two black ones have different parents, however ones yellow with two black dots on the back of its head? Has anyone had a silkie chick with spots like this? I've never had any chicks like that before, apart from the two spots it's completely yellow. At first I thought it was dirt but then I realised it was just the colour of his fluff!

This is spotty!

And this is his family!

If spotty is pure Silkie those black dots could be the start of a paint silkie

 

[AliceGee]

If spotty is pure Silkie those black dots could be the start of a paint silkie

Sorry I should have said, theyre all pure silkies including spotty so do you think they wont go away when it gets its adult feathers in?

 

[aatx]

I have 4 silkies that will be 11 weeks old tomorrow. Yesterday I had someone come by and pick up my other 6 roosters (easter egger, dominique, and buff orp). We've had suspicions that our buff silkie was a boy - he was larger and heavier, he developed a mulberry comb early on and wattles were starting to form, but so far, he had not joined the others in crowing. Well, this morning as I opened up the coop door, I was thinking about how it was going to be quiet without the crowing. A little while later, I went outside to turn the water off in the garden.... and I heard a crow! Yes, Mango, has confirmed himself as a rooster. I don't know if the others leaving triggered it or what. So, now I am just crossing my fingers that the other 3 silkies are hens and I don't have to make a choice about which silkie to get rid of. Hope it all works out and Mango is the only rooster and the other 10 chickens are female (7 I know are pullets).

I did feed them some leftover spaghetti last night and it was a bit starchy. Multiple times I had to catch one to pull the spaghetti off of her(?). It stuck on like glue! Next time I'll remember to rinse the noodles first.