Silkies Pros and Cons!

[Matilda Belle]

Any of yall got them from cackle hatchery? That's who I'm looking to buy from.

If you’re not picky about quality/appearance you could order from hatcheries. I personally go through breeders because I love the real pretty ones with big poofy heads. I could give you the names of some breeders on Facebook if you’re interested in eggs.

 

[CatWhisperer]

Hey Arkansas! I’m in Rogers. I got a few silkies for the first time this year. They seem less tolerant of temperature extremes than my other birds but do ok. My broody hatched 11 serama and silkie eggs and was a great mama. I am treating her now fo a severe case of wry neck-not fun. I think the silkies adds fun element to my flock.
I drove to Cackle hatchery years ago to pick chicks for my first flock. I was very happy with them and it was an interesting visit if you have the time. Of course that may depend on what part of Arkansas you are in.

 

[Elana DeBolt]

Hey Arkansas! I’m in Rogers. I got a few silkies for the first time this year. They seem less tolerant of temperature extremes than my other birds but do ok. My broody hatched 11 serama and silkie eggs and was a great mama. I am treating her now fo a severe case of wry neck-not fun. I think the silkies adds fun element to my flock.
I drove to Cackle hatchery years ago to pick chicks for my first flock. I was very happy with them and it was an interesting visit if you have the time. Of course that may depend on what part of Arkansas you are in.

Hi my fellow Arkansas chickenee. I'm in Cabot so a long drive, I'm gonna go with shipping I think. This will be my first year getting them and I just really like the idea of having a "Living incubator" in the coop. I have a hen that went broody 3 times her first and second year, but she's not a great broody, she is a good mama, not so great with siting. The last batch is her second to make it past 5 weeks old and her first to make it to almost laying age! But I need a more dependable sitter. I hope the wry neck works out, I have a hen the came from a long and narrow egg that was cracked, she was fine all the way up tell she was a year I think, now she twists her head and waves it, when she was broody she head her head flat on her back swerving it back a forth. I think its got to do with something pushing on a nerve because it changes with her body cycles, broody, laying, molting.

If you’re not picky about quality/appearance you could order from hatcheries. I personally go through breeders because I love the real pretty ones with big poofy heads. I could give you the names of some breeders on Facebook if you’re interested in eggs.

I'm just want them cuz one they're adorable and like i said "Living incubator", fluffy or not, but thank you.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Any of yall got them from cackle hatchery? That's who I'm looking to buy from.

I ordered mine from Cackle and at least two of the buffs had/have a couple of blue-black feathers in their plumage. Half were okay quality, one was pretty bad, and one is great except for her few wrong-coloured feathers.


I love my silkies. They lay about 4-6 eggs per week per pullet. I haven't had any go broody yet but they have only been laying for a few weeks and I collect the eggs daily.

They are pretty mellow, even though I haven't worked with them much. All my silkies can make it up to at least the low roost, and some of them can go to the high roost.

They seem pretty tough to me. One downside is that their feathers aren't waterproof like normal feathers, but they don't mind getting wet. A couple of times I have had to blow dry them before they went to sleep so they wouldn't freeze.

I highly recommend them, they are definitely in my top three favorite breeds.

@HuffleClaw
@Fur-N-Fowl
@MysteryChicken
@LynnaePB
@silkiemother
@HookLineSilkie
Why don't you give us your opinions?

 

[MysteryChicken]

I ordered mine from Cackle and at least two of the buffs had/have a couple of blue-black feathers in their plumage. Half were okay quality, one was pretty bad, and one is great except for her few wrong-coloured feathers.


I love my silkies. They lay about 4-6 eggs per week per pullet. I haven't had any go broody yet but they have only been laying for a few weeks and I collect the eggs daily.

They are pretty mellow, even though I haven't worked with them much. All my silkies can make it up to at least the low roost, and some of them can go to the high roost.

They seem pretty tough to me. One downside is that their feathers aren't waterproof like normal feathers, but they don't mind getting wet. A couple of times I have had to blow dry them before they went to sleep so they wouldn't freeze.

I highly recommend them, they are definitely in my top three favorite breeds.

@HuffleClaw
@Fur-N-Fowl
@MysteryChicken
@LynnaePB
@silkiemother
@HookLineSilkie
Why don't you give us your opinions?

I haven't bought any Silkies from them.
Silkies are the best chickens, is all have to say.

 

[LynnaePB]

Sorry for the wall of text in advance, I think a lot of your questions have already been answered but here is my experience with silkies in case it is helpful.

I am getting into breeding silkies and I love them. Most of my girls are very docile, a lot of them like coming right up to me and are very easy to pick up and handle (sometimes they can be a little skittish when young but usually get a lot friendlier when they start laying). I've had bad luck with silkie roosters being aggressive, I've got some cockerels right now I am hopeful about though.

I've had silkies in mixed flocks in the past and never had any problems with them being picked on or picking on others. In my mixed flocks they tended to be a little more reserved, but still very docile and easy to handle.

Mine do tend to go broody fairly often, when they aren't brooding they have been very good layers and have actually been one of my best winter layers. I've never let any of mine hatch eggs so I can't comment on their mothering/incubating ability. The ones I have that go broody are very diligent about staying on the nest however and stay there past 21 days (I've got a little broody right now that I really need to try to break as she's been brooding for nearly 4 weeks now with no signs of stopping).

I have mine in a run with netting over the top to protect from hawks so I also can't comment on their free ranging ability. I do sometimes have to trim their crests so they can see better. When I had the silkies in the mixed flocks they weren't able to reach the roost that was over a foot up and slept on the coop floor instead.

As SoftSilkie mentioned there feathers aren't waterproof so they do get pretty soaked in the rain. My girls are very bad about standing out in the rain. When it rains a lot I shut them in their coop so they don't get so wet. With all their fluff heat can definitely be hard on them, I've found them to be relatively cold tolerant as long as they stay dry (though I've always provided heat for all my chickens when it gets very cold).

I have noticed more health issues with my silkies than with any other breeds I've had. Wry neck due to vitamin deficiencies or sometimes head injuries if they have a vaulted skull is something to look out for. I add poultry vitamins to my silkies water at least every two weeks to help prevent wry neck, the few silkies I had in my mixed flock didn't get extra vitamins and never had issues though.

I ordered some splash silkie chicks from Cackle several years ago (we rehomed as we moved across country and didn't have a place set up for them). For hatchery silkies I was very impressed with how they looked when they matured (nice and fluffy with decent sized crests). All the chicks survived shipping, we lost one on the second day due to coccidia I believe (it had bloody stools) we treated with Corid and though that chick was too far gone none of the others came down with symptoms. A couple of the chicks arrived with curled toes that needed to be corrected with band aid boots (the toes never completely straightened but did get a lot better). We had one chick that had issues with passing stools for several days (nothing blocking the vent) she went on to develop wry neck later on (which we were able to successfully treat) but she continued to have various issues pop up until she passed suddenly one night at a little over a year old. None of the others we kept from cackle had issues, I think we just had bad luck with the one. My cackle silkies did tend to go broody just as much as the silkies I've got from breeders so hopefully they will be a good fit in that area. I didn't end up keeping any roosters so not sure how the boys from cackle are temperament wise.

Here are some pictures of three of the splash pullets from cackle at around 4-5 months old I believe.

 

[Elana DeBolt]

Do y'all think silkies could get up here easily? I've been reading and alot of people say they had trouble getting on the roosts.

 

[LynnaePB]

Do y'all think silkies could get up here easily? I've been reading and alot of people say they had trouble getting on the roosts.View attachment 1992991

Hard to say but the lowest one doesn't look too terribly high so maybe they would be able to get to there at least? My girls have a little ramp up to their coop which is about 8 inches off the ground, a lot of them ignore the ramp and quite easily hop up those 8 inches. I had one of my cockerels jump over a foot up out of a plastic storage container I had him in temporarily today. Hopefully someone who has silkies who successfully roost will be able to answer better though.