Silkie thread!

[TeePants]

Hey y’all!

We are in Seattle and our chicks arrive the week of Sept 2nd.

We just found out my wife’s work is flying her to Copenhagen, Denmark the first week of November, so my mom is coming up to tend to the dogs and cats so that we can tag along. By then our chicks will be about 8 weeks old.

Avg temps in Seattle for November are a high of 56, low of 45. It may be colder or warmer depending. Will that temp be too low for them still? I’d like for them to be out of the house and into the coop/run if possible because we don’t have a garage and I don’t want my older mother to have to deal with mucking out a brooder if possible!

I can also get a heat plate for the coop if that’s something viable - but I am leery of those being a fire risk.

I could see if MPC can change the delivery date to after we return, but it may be past the minimum chick cut off time - we only ordered four hens. I could also order pullets but they’re much more expensive and we’d like to hand raise them so they’re friendly; my kids are 4H age and poultry shows might be fun.

If it makes a difference, they aren’t pure silkies; they’re the “silked Easter eggers”, so they’re a bit larger than a standard silkie.

 

[Hinotori]

Hey y’all!

We are in Seattle and our chicks arrive the week of Sept 2nd.

We just found out my wife’s work is flying her to Copenhagen, Denmark the first week of November, so my mom is coming up to tend to the dogs and cats so that we can tag along. By then our chicks will be about 8 weeks old.

Avg temps in Seattle for November are a high of 56, low of 45. It may be colder or warmer depending. Will that temp be too low for them still? I’d like for them to be out of the house and into the coop/run if possible because we don’t have a garage and I don’t want my older mother to have to deal with mucking out a brooder if possible!

I can also get a heat plate for the coop if that’s something viable - but I am leery of those being a fire risk.

I could see if MPC can change the delivery date to after we return, but it may be past the minimum chick cut off time - we only ordered four hens. I could also order pullets but they’re much more expensive and we’d like to hand raise them so they’re friendly; my kids are 4H age and poultry shows might be fun.

If it makes a difference, they aren’t pure silkies; they’re the “silked Easter eggers”, so they’re a bit larger than a standard silkie.

I'm an hour south of Seattle.

Make sure you have a coop/run with sides for silkies. They will stand in the rain. I wrap greenhouse tarps around my runs in September before the rain really comes back. I don't advocate for heaters in coops because chickens create a lot of dust and it can catch fire. I have hens raise chicks and they kick them out between 6-8 weeks. So if you acclimatize your birds to outdoor temps in the couple weeks before, they would be fine with a draft free coop.

Depending on how long you'll be gone, water can become an issue. I unhook the hose in November because we start freezing. Seattle is a little warmer than I am.

 

[TeePants]

I'm an hour south of Seattle.

Make sure you have a coop/run with sides for silkies. They will stand in the rain. I wrap greenhouse tarps around my runs in September before the rain really comes back. I don't advocate for heaters in coops because chickens create a lot of dust and it can catch fire. I have hens raise chicks and they kick them out between 6-8 weeks. So if you acclimatize your birds to outdoor temps in the couple weeks before, they would be fine with a draft free coop.

Depending on how long you'll be gone, water can become an issue. I unhook the hose in November because we start freezing. Seattle is a little warmer than I am.

Oh, my mom can definitely refill the food and water if they’re out in the coop. I might even just have our neighbor kids do it; our kids are going to be handling chicken chores when we are in town and I’m sure they’ll tag along for that anyways. I just don’t want her to have to deal with cleaning a brooder; it’s a chore I don’t enjoy myself. There are only four of them so the run should be fine and I’ll rake and turn it over when we are back.

The run will have a full roof and the back side is against a wooden fence; I was thinking about hanging vinyl curtains around the sides for the winter, and I’m adding 5in of boards around the bottom sides to keep them from kicking sand or wood shavings out as much as possible. Would that be enough or does it need to be wrapped tight?

Before this we had quail and we ended up with an A-frame pen for them, so we just bought a rain fly for a tent and attached it to their pen! It was kind of annoying when we needed to get into the pen though, so I’m hoping for a solution (like the curtain) where it can be secured when needed but otherwise be moved or tied out of the way.