Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

I have a (maybe) dumb question....is there a rule on what breed roosters mate with silkies? I am new to raising silkies. only been raising chickens for a year and a half. I never had roosters or silkies before this spring. I now have 2 olive egger roosters (born this spring) 1 olive egger pullet,5 silkies not sure yet what sex also born this spring and 9 leghorn hens about 19 months old.

This is JMHO mind you - a timid gentle Silkie hen should probably not be mated/mounted by any male larger than herself. A Silkie hen is only 2 to 2.25-lbs so could be hurt mounted by a 7 to 9-lb large fowl roo and some roos can be really brutal on hens - I hear there can be some gentlemanly roos but I've never seen one myself. Now if you can get a male Silkie to mount a 6-lb hen that would be hilarious as our little guy never could catch the 4.5-lb Leghorn to mount her!

 

[silkiecuddles]

it is rather comical watching my white or partridge silkie roosters mounting my BOs or SS. The BOs squat for them tho. poor things

 

[Fancychooklady]

I have a (maybe) dumb question....is there a rule on what breed roosters mate with silkies? I am new to raising silkies. only been raising chickens for a year and a half. I never had roosters or silkies before this spring. I now have 2 olive egger roosters (born this spring) 1 olive egger pullet,5 silkies not sure yet what sex also born this spring and 9 leghorn hens about 19 months old.

Even the largest of Roos will mate with silkies if they have access to them, often to the demise of the little silkie, but I have had Wyandotte mate with silkie without issues. The leghorn pullets are of more concern , they tend to be bullies and I would be inclined to keep the silkies separate.

 

[Sylvester017]

Even the largest of Roos will mate with silkies if they have access to them, often to the demise of the little silkie, but I have had Wyandotte mate with silkie without issues. The leghorn pullets are of more concern , they tend to be bullies and I would be inclined to keep the silkies separate.

Our White Leghorn hen was a gentle flock leader for 3 years and the Partridge Silkie always hung out with her. But then the Leg started behaving aggressively with all the flock members and we re-homed her. A year later the Buff Leghorn pullet was even more aggressive pulling out crests, beards, and muffs so we got her out immediately. I don't recommend Mediterranean breeds around Silkies at all even though we happened to have a good White Leg for a few years. When the Meds finally decide to go aggressive it is brutal. Our 7-lb Cuckoo Marans viciously attacked our little 6-month-old Black Silkie pullet and we re-homed the Cuckoo that very day!

We just haven't had luck with dual purpose LF mixed with our gentle Silkies. The Ameraucana (equivalent to U.K. Araucana) and our Blue Breda are the only lightweight LF that have been nice around the Silkies so far - only time will tell if the Breda will continue being a gentle flockmate. My DH is so in love with the Silkies and always wants some around that it makes choosing and adding LF breeds a real challenge in our tiny cottage backyard. I wouldn't mind having the entire flock all Silkies but I just couldn't handle having that many broody hens at once LOL!

 

[Dianne88]

Meet Miss Nesbit, she's about 6 weeks old. Hope she stays a Miss and not a Mr.!!!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Our White Leghorn hen was a gentle flock leader for 3 years and the Partridge Silkie always hung out with her.  But then the Leg started behaving aggressively with all the flock members and we re-homed her.  A year later the Buff Leghorn pullet was even more aggressive pulling out crests, beards, and muffs so we got her out immediately.  I don't recommend Mediterranean breeds around Silkies at all even though we happened to have a good White Leg for a few years.  When the Meds finally decide to go aggressive it is brutal.  Our 7-lb Cuckoo Marans viciously attacked our little 6-month-old Black Silkie pullet and we re-homed the Cuckoo that very day! 

We just haven't had luck with dual purpose LF mixed with our gentle Silkies.  The Ameraucana (equivalent to U.K. Araucana) and our Blue Breda are the only lightweight LF that have been nice around the Silkies so far - only time will tell if the Breda will continue being a gentle flockmate.  My DH is so in love with the Silkies and always wants some around that it makes choosing and adding LF breeds a real challenge in our tiny cottage backyard.  I wouldn't mind having the entire flock all Silkies but I just couldn't handle having that many broody hens at once LOL!

Yes, it is most unfortunate but once the hormones ' kick in ' , the harmony of of the flock is shattered.
I recently spent some time in hospital , came home to find 6 silkie hens sitting on 30 eggs. Great little incubators though. One of my little partridge hens had been shown a little too much attention by a young SLW cockerel and the poor little gal has a rather large open wound on her back from his mounting. Locked him up so he can't get near her again. The lady that was feeding them had let him out of his run and couldn't catch him.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Meet Miss Nesbit, she's about 6 weeks old. Hope she stays a Miss and not a Mr.!!!

Very cute, but probably a little too early to sex.

 

[drumstick diva]

Fancychooklady, oh my, poor little silkie. That SLW offender needed a good

. I think coming home to 6 broodies and 30 eggs, would have put some chicken folks back in the hospital. When broodies go broody - seems like all do so. On other threads they are going crazy trying to break a bunch of them. Don't they know winter is coming? Well except for yours - perfect timing for them.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Fancychooklady,  oh my,  poor little silkie.   That SLW offender needed a good .  I think coming home to 6 broodies and 30 eggs, would have put some chicken folks back in the hospital.   When broodies go broody  - seems  like all  do so.  On other threads they are going crazy trying to break a bunch of them. Don't they know winter is coming?  Well except for yours  - perfect timing for them.

Hehe, diva I'm accustomed to broodies, especially of the silkie variety. I put them all to work now I haven't had my incubator out for 2 seasons now. They are more than happy to raise any breed . I'm quite sure they see nothing but chicks , breed , colour and size is of no importance to them.

 

[cvamoca]

Our White Leghorn hen was a gentle flock leader for 3 years and the Partridge Silkie always hung out with her. But then the Leg started behaving aggressively with all the flock members and we re-homed her. A year later the Buff Leghorn pullet was even more aggressive pulling out crests, beards, and muffs so we got her out immediately. I don't recommend Mediterranean breeds around Silkies at all even though we happened to have a good White Leg for a few years. When the Meds finally decide to go aggressive it is brutal. Our 7-lb Cuckoo Marans viciously attacked our little 6-month-old Black Silkie pullet and we re-homed the Cuckoo that very day!

We just haven't had luck with dual purpose LF mixed with our gentle Silkies. The Ameraucana (equivalent to U.K. Araucana) and our Blue Breda are the only lightweight LF that have been nice around the Silkies so far - only time will tell if the Breda will continue being a gentle flockmate. My DH is so in love with the Silkies and always wants some around that it makes choosing and adding LF breeds a real challenge in our tiny cottage backyard. I wouldn't mind having the entire flock all Silkies but I just couldn't handle having that many broody hens at once LOL!

I keep my Silkies separate with the exception of 3 Marans pullets that were hatched with the Silkies. They are great girls and good with the Silkie pullets- and it's VERY funny watching my big (not really) macho Partridge trying, usually unsuccessfully, to mate a big Marans. She'll squat and he'll try, and usually fall off.

I do have Araucanas though mostly they are older, and don't pay much attention to the "Hairy chickens" as my husband calls them. I keep largefowl Brahmas, Welsummers and Marans as well. The Silkies are generally housed separately, though everyone goes to pasture as a group, they keep to their separate "families" generally.