With fire retardant suit on I'm posting here in the Silkie thread.
Do anyone else's Silkies seem to be dumber than a box of hammers? Some (but not all) of my Silkies can't seem to figure out how to get in and out of the pen when I let them out to free range. At the bottom of our pen we have put 1/4" hardware cloth about 12" up the sides with top snipped off and turned down at a 90 degree angle to prevent snakes from getting in, so when I let the chickens out I put a small ramp over the hardware cloth that they can use to get in and out of the pen. All of my other chickens flood out of the pen, but sometimes it takes the Silkies 5 or 10 minutes to figure out how to get out. They run up and down the fence squawking about everyone else being out but them. And when the evening comes there are at least 2 Silkies who can't figure out how to get back in the pen. They will walk UNDER the ramp as they pace back and forth on the outside of the fence, so I have to slowly follow them around the perimeter of the pen until I can corner them, catch them, and then put them back in the pen all the while trying to keep the other chickens from coming back out. I also have a couple of Silkies who haven't quite discovered how to use the nest boxes. All of my other layers have the nest box thing down, but every evening I have to crawl around in the coop picking up tiny eggs laid in the back corner under the droppings pan.
Are all Silkies as intellectually challenged, or is it just mine? I got mine from a hatchery, so maybe that makes a difference. Overall I'm disappointed in my Silkies. In addition to their seeming lack of intelligence they also are not very friendly, and one of them went through a phase where she was downright mean (i.e. walking up and attacking me!). Of all my birds they are probably the most standoffish, and the reason I got the Silkies was because I'd read how friendly they are. I had hoped they'd be a good breed for my nieces and nephews to hold and pet, but they don't want anything to do with people. Maybe my ultimate mistake was ordering them from a hatchery instead of from a private breeder, but this is my first batch of chickens so I'm still learning.
On the plus side of my straight run of 6 Silkies, I think I have at least 4 pullets (I still don't know how to sex Silkies, and I can't ever catch the girls in the nest box/in the corner of the coop. I also haven't seen any of them crow or try to mount a hen). I am getting 2 Silkie eggs per day, and I can't imagine that a 5 month old Silkie would lay more than 1 egg/day.
If it has a name, it's off the menu. But if it's a Silkie, it doesn't need a name. It's still off the menu.
