Silkies or Polish?

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ronkonkoma

ronkonkoma

Crowing
7 Years
May 4, 2014
609
1,801
256
Long Island NY
Hi all. Brand new here. I'm a single mom with 3 children, ages 5-13. I work full time as a teacher and am a huge animal lover and lacto/ovo vegetarian. (I wont eat my chickens but will use their eggs to make cookies haha) We have a half acre at the very end of a culdesac. I had a couple chickens as a child for a short while. I am looking for information bc I don't want to rush into anything. Excuse me if I don't get the chicken lingo correct. Haha. I've taken out about every book from the library on raising chickens, recently went to an informative chicken class? at Garden of Eve in Riverhead and am researching online. I'd like chickens for eggs, but don't need a lot so they dont need to be good layers. Id like chickens that aren't nasty. I've heard silkies are great. I'm hoping that my children can show them. They dont have to win, but I think it would be good for the kids to try. I like the ornamental? birds. Love the laced polish chickens and the silkies (not the showgirls). I'm in lower NY so it gets real cold in the winter and real hot in the summer.
#1 How do polish and silkie hens do together?
#2 I'd like to pick them up bc I don't want more than 4 and am hoping to check them out first. Know of any breeders near riverhead, center moriches?
#3 Will they eat all veggies in my veggie garden? I have a fence around it but might need to add more if they will.
Well, that's a start :) Thank you in advance for any info!
Amy
 
I have both silkies and a Polish hen. Silkies can't fly so a fence around the garden will keep the silkies out. Polish can fly better than silkies. My Polish lays almost every day. My silkies are every other day. My silkies let me pick them up and pet them. My Polish not so much, she doesn't like being handled. I live in the Poconos and both my silkies and Polish survived this winter with a few days of -35 with the windchill. My silkie baby didn"t make it. She was only a couple of months old.

Good luck with your adventure into raising chickens and welcome to BYC.
 
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Welcome to BYC!

Silkies are very nice birds for the kids. There are lots of good breeds out there along with Silkies that do make great pets for kids and are great layers as well.

You might want to stop by these 2 breeds pages for lots of great info on the different breeds and their attributes and even learn more about Silkies and Polish...

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf

Next, you will want to stop by our learning center for lots of good articles on getting started and raising your new flock...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

You can also chat with others in your state thread to connect with your chicken neighbors as well...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/2811/any-new-yorkers-out-there

Finally, here are the Silkie and Polish threads if you have any specific questions about these birds...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/355316/polish-thread

This should get you started. If you have any further questions, that is what we are here for. Welcome to our flock!
 
Thanks for the info and quick reply. I was leading towards only silkies. I just thought the polish were gorgeous, however I'd rather have a breed that won't fly out of the yard during the day.

Can I ask is it dangerous to let them free range around an inground pool. Will they fall in and drown?Im considering filling the pool in and making it a veggie garden also. I definitely will if it will be dangerous to them.
 
I would be nervous letting them hang around a pool in case one of them did fall in. And if this water is treated as pool water, I wouldn't want them drinking it. If this is an empty pool, they could fall in and not be able to get out. So you might want to fill it in or cover it.
 
You might want to keep them in a run. First because of the pool and second because of predators. Silkies can't run very fast and don't fly so they can become easy prey for predators.
 
The pool has a loop lock cover on it right now. I think Ill just go ahead and have it professionally filled in. I am concerned about predators too. I live next to the woods.6 foot fence but still. A raccoon got one of my chicks growing up. Dont want that to happen again. When I said freeranging I meant during the summer day when I'm home, but it was just a thought. Can they never come out of their run? I want the kids to be able to hold them. I even looked at the diaper for indoors. Haha!!!! Has anyone done that?
 
As long as you are there with them I don't see any problem with you letting them out free ranging. Some silkies have very large poofs on their heads and it makes it harder for them to see. Some people have house chickens. Chickens create a lot of dust. If anyone has an allergy or asthma having house chickens isn't a good idea because of the dust.
 

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