Silkie thread!

[Pandoraisme]

I just bought a lot of 10 Silkies I've been raising chickens my whole life but these are my first Silkies. Any advice anyone has I'm glad to hear.

 

[silkiecuddles]

I just bought a lot of 10 Silkies I've been raising chickens my whole life but these are my first Silkies. Any advice anyone has I'm glad to hear.

congrats! Silkies are like and unlike "regular" chickens. They are typically docile, putting them lower in pecking orders. (Tho, mine have proved otherwise) Their feathers tend to get wet and muddy very easily, so I usually lock mine up during heavy rains. They go broody more often than you'd like, and are, all around, great birds.

 

[Nanna34]

My white silkie chick is now 5 weeks old and is outgrowing the brooder, can I introduce her to the flock?

 

[Banaynaychicken]

My white silkie chick is now 5 weeks old and is outgrowing the brooder, can I introduce her to the flock?

I would be careful with this. It is good to introduce them slowly, for about a half hour to an hour per day, until the other chickens get used to the fact that they are moving in. I made the mistake of leaving one of my 4 week old Barred Rock chicks outside with my 2 Silkies and 2 Barred Rock adults, and they nearly killed her, chasing her into a loose mesh scrap, and tearing her neck skin ( Luckily she has healed, and is a healthy 8 week old stubborn pullet ^-^, and I no longer leave the left over chicken mesh in the backyard or near the run).

After that, I waited a week, and every day, I would take the babies out into the run for about an hour, then take them back inside for 2 hours, then another hour outside. By the 5th day they were permanently outside, though during the time I was weaning them to the outside, I had to teach them how to use the ramp, the feeder, and the waterers.

 

[Sylvester017]

My white silkie chick is now 5 weeks old and is outgrowing the brooder, can I introduce her to the flock?

If she is your only Silkie - no. A juvenile should be at least 4 to 6 months old and as tall as it will grow before completely integrating only one new bird. We kept our Silkie in-house in diapers until about 5 months old - gave us a chance to tame and bond with her too. When she was big enough we set her outdoors but divided her from the rest of the flock with rabbit fencing. Everyone got accustomed to seeing each other. At night we put her in a screened nestbox in the coop so the others saw her in the morning but couldn't touch her. She was put out on her side of the outdoor yard for several days and in the screened nestbox every night. After a week or so we removed the nestbox screen and she was allowed to go with the others in the yard. There's always some pecking order from the others but if all are Silkies it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[BantyChooks]

so, my silkie is definitively a roo. I fit wasn't blaringly obvious enough; hes voice as changed from a gentle peep (at time of my post) to a manly cluck in just a few weeks!! his personality has also become more roo-ish, and won't run away from me quite as much. He also tried to mount my pullet jace today. She did not approve!

 

[Nanna34]

If she is your only Silkie - no. A juvenile should be at least 4 to 6 months old and as tall as it will grow before completely integrating only one new bird. We kept our Silkie in-house in diapers until about 5 months old - gave us a chance to tame and bond with her too. When she was big enough we set her outdoors but divided her from the rest of the flock with rabbit fencing. Everyone got accustomed to seeing each other. At night we put her in a screened nestbox in the coop so the others saw her in the morning but couldn't touch her. She was put out on her side of the outdoor yard for several days and in the screened nestbox every night. After a week or so we removed the nestbox screen and she was allowed to go with the others in the yard. There's always some pecking order from the others but if all are Silkies it shouldn't be too bad.

Thanks I'm going to divide the run and place her (I'm hoping its a pullet) and the other chick there so they can be outside during the day and I will put them in the brooder at night, the other chick is now 3 weeks old. They share the brooder with week old Australorp chicks so I'm considering having them all outside in the run during the day.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks I'm going to divide the run and place her (I'm hoping its a pullet) and the other chick there so they can be outside during the day and I will put them in the brooder at night, the other chick is now 3 weeks old. They share the brooder with week old Australorp chicks so I'm considering having them all outside in the run during the day.

As babies most chicks get along. However in my case while my two bantam Silkies were growing with my friend's 6 other LF chicks the same age, the LF chicks grew larger and faster than the Silkies to the point my Silkies were getting pecked on - almost trampled by the LF chicks. It got to the point the Silkies were hiding out all day in the coop behind feeders and waterers to keep from injuries. I don't recommend mixing LF and bantams until full-grown around 5 to 6 months old. Lorps are sweet LF but the temptation to push around smaller birds is a chicken thing and I don't advise it after what my Silkies went through.

 

[Nanna34]

As babies most chicks get along. However in my case while my two bantam Silkies were growing with my friend's 6 other LF chicks the same age, the LF chicks grew larger and faster than the Silkies to the point my Silkies were getting pecked on - almost trampled by the LF chicks. It got to the point the Silkies were hiding out all day in the coop behind feeders and waterers to keep from injuries. I don't recommend mixing LF and bantams until full-grown around 5 to 6 months old. Lorps are sweet LF but the temptation to push around smaller birds is a chicken thing and I don't advise it after what my Silkies went through.

Thanks

I only have the one brooder at the moment, as I only recently started breeding with the silkies. I breed show quality australorps so I keep the breeds separate, although the thought of a australorp x silkie is very intriguing. Hopefully I will be able to build a separate brooder after the hatch this month got 11 silkies and 6 australorps hatching end of the month.

 

[MESOFRUFFEH]

Can anyone here help me with a silkie situation? Last night my larger silkie chick just started doing some weird things with his head. I googled and found several posts describing exactly what my chick is doing, but no one ever really got an answer and never provided an update. He is doing this weird head movement.... almost like he is trying to get water out of his ear like a swimmer would. He does it a lot when he drinks, and instead of getting a drink like normal he pecks at the water, its really odd and I have never seen it before in any of the chicks we have had. All the posts I found were about silkies, but I did not specify silkies in my search, so its making me wonder what the heck is going on and if this is just a weird silkie quirk or something that effects silkies only. I am slightly worried, but he acts normal otherwise. Is he gonna be ok or should I really be worried?? I might video it if he is still doing it tonight, it really is odd. Any input would be appreciated