Silkie thread!

redheadhen · Nov 24, 2014

We are getting a silkie roo & hen on Wednesday. We've done lots of research. But any advice would be appreciated. We have 3 ameracaunas, 3 EE, 2 Orpington, 1 red star, 1 black star. We are getting 4 sea bright chick's sex unknown Wednesday too. Our ameracaunas and EE are together (hens) and the Orpington &stars are together we are thinking of putting the silkie and seabrights together in a separate already made coop. The Silkie are 1yr old roo, 9m hen.

Sylvester017 · Nov 24, 2014

Greywolf1962 said:
OK now I know I'm addicted!!!!!! I just made a deal to pick up three five week old silkies tomorrow. And the kicker is I dint really like their looks. I'm buying them because my grand babies want some birds they can handle and pet. All I read and all I hear is how SWEET these little guys are and so kid friendly.

We've had our Silkie girls almost 4 years and they are a hoot! But just like people they have different likes and dislikes. Although they are easy to catch because they don't fly, I don't recommend chasing after them as kids might do. Feed the birds by hand by sitting close to ground level and give the birds a chance to come up to you for a few days to get their treats before handling them. When handling the birds, teach the kids (and adults) to scoop up the Silkie under it's belly with your one hand while using the other hand to gently but securely hold down their wing feathers. This is the "show judge's hold" - this is to avoid applying any pressure on the reproductive sides especially of the pullets/hens. Kids want to pick up chickens from the sides but that puts pressure on the chicken's reproductive sides so use the show judge hold to pick up your Silkies (or any chicken). It takes a while to get people and chickens accustomed to this hold since no chicken really cares to be man-handled at first. We have one Silkie that trembles with excitement when we get ready to pick her up because she knows it means she gets a special treat. Some chickens squat in the mating position when being picked up but our Silkie trembles differently when she knows we have a special treat just for her and not the others.

Silkies are sweet chickens but they all have different personalities - some are skittish, some are docile, some are outgoing, others are shy - but you'll notice they'll all come running when you call them with treats in your hand. During broody times the Silkie hens can get crabby and peckish at their flockmates but nothing so serious as heritage LF breeds that can get downright injurious to one another. Enjoy your birds and treat them as carefully as any other pet. You will love watching them and be better entertained than watching TV!

Sylvester017 · Nov 24, 2014

redheadhen said:
We are getting a silkie roo & hen on Wednesday. We've done lots of research. But any advice would be appreciated. We have 3 ameracaunas, 3 EE, 2 Orpington, 1 red star, 1 black star. We are getting 4 sea bright chick's sex unknown Wednesday too. Our ameracaunas and EE are together (hens) and the Orpington &stars are together we are thinking of putting the silkie and seabrights together in a separate already made coop. The Silkie are 1yr old roo, 9m hen.

It is a wise choice you made to separate the LF from the smaller gentler breeds. I personally consider Ameraucanas, Aracaunas, Breda, Polish, Houdan, Silkies, Sultans, and most bantams as non-combative. Ameraucanas and EEs are generally non-combative so will mix well together.

The Orps, Black or Red Sexlinks, and many heritage or dual purpose LF are more combative and not a good mix with Sebrights or Silkies or the above-mentioned non-combative breeds. I love the way you wisely chose to separate the breeds. Every breed conducts pecking order status but a 2-lb bantam doesn't stand an equal fair chance against a 6 or 7-lb LF breed during flock politics.

One of my 6-month Silkie pullets was brutally jumped by a 7-lb Marans hen so now we don't keep dual-purpose or common layer breeds mixed with our gentle flock. The larger fowl like to cozy up to Silkies at roost time and pick off their fluffy crest feathers bald. We corrected our problem by re-homing all our LF over 5-lb so the gentle breeds don't get picked on any more.

katatonic123 · Nov 24, 2014

Chickiebaby1, i have an Olaf too.

flynntheduck · Nov 25, 2014

klilly20 said:
My three silkies are growing and getting so sweet my dark one has three different colors black, grey and some brown. My roo has started crowing and is so funny and at times he would stretch his neck out as if he is going to crow but nothing comes out

so cute! How old are they? (in weeks)

klilly20 · Nov 25, 2014

They are 11 weeks old

flynntheduck · Nov 25, 2014

klilly20 said:
They are 11 weeks old

cool! I have two 11 week silkies also. I have no clue if they are male or female. It's making me crazy.

klilly20 · Nov 25, 2014

The only way I knew he was roo he started growing his comb and wattles. He just started crowing. Do you have Pics of them?

onwingsofdragons · Nov 26, 2014

So... my friend has a silkie flock of all mixed colors, including black, splash, blues, whites, paints and a porcelain. I have hatched out chicks from her and I've gotten paint, splash, partridge and one that has the partridge chick markings but is silver/blue. Now she has hatched out this crazy mystery chick. It's 2 weeks old. My first guess is the equivalent of a white headed black, which would make for a super cute silkie. Anyways, check this out and let me know how you think it will turn out! Sorry for the bad pick, I had top crop it out of a chick pile.