Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Chickeria]

Some of my fluffies out inspecting the run.... Still trying to come up with names for them.

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The Easter hatch chicks (none are Silkies) rarely come outside beyond the porch. I'm hoping they become more adventurous soon because I'd like to start transitioning them to the main coop with the standard chickens.

So much fluff and so much cuteness They are gorgeous!
They look so happy exploring everything!

I have a little yellow-golden one, too, I named her(?) Brioche.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I originally built the coop for somewhere between 4 - 8 Silkies. The coop itself is around 6' x 7' inside plus a 3' covered porch. The run is 10' x 16'.

I currently have 9 Silkies but I'm sure a couple of them are probably roosters. I'll have to pick one to keep and rehome the others so I should be able to stay in my planned range. Going to be hard to pick a roo though because I'm attached to all of them.

Very hard to choose! And you don't know personality till after teenage years so that makes it hard to know which is a well behaved boy .. I ended up with 2 coops so I can keep 3 roosters although I am hoping to integrate them all into one coop but I'm not sure if that will end in injuries So far cockerel is doing ok with dad rooster, he's keeping the boy in check but has his work cut out for him for sure! Minor bloody comb and feather bald spots but the boy submitted. .Actually rooster hasn't been fertilising eggs so I'm thinking cockerel will do that job (I have seen him doing it properly actually! Most boys are sideways or backwards )
Biscuit the cockerel..

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Very hard to choose! And you don't know personality till after teenage years so that makes it hard to know which is a well behaved boy .. I ended up with 2 coops so I can keep 3 roosters although I am hoping to integrate them all into one coop but I'm not sure if that will end in injuries So far cockerel is doing ok with dad rooster, he's keeping the boy in check but has his work cut out for him for sure! Minor bloody comb and feather bald spots but the boy submitted. .Actually rooster hasn't been fertilising eggs so I'm thinking cockerel will do that job (I have seen him doing it properly actually! Most boys are sideways or backwards )
Biscuit the cockerel..
View attachment 2637006

Biscuit is so beautiful!! Hopefully they will be just fine together.. sounds like peace is possible! 🏳

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Biscuit is so beautiful!! Hopefully they will be just fine together.. sounds like peace is possible! 🏳

I couldn't get rid of Biscuit, just as I couldn't Cookie! Both with nice amount of red leakage so I had to keep them. I let Cookie out the other day and had to break the fight so I'm going to wait till Winter and hope hormones will calm down enough to integrate them all. I probably don't have enough hens though, 14 chickens, 3 are boys and Easter the chick I don't know yet but of it's a boy, will have to go.

 

[Chickeria]

Very hard to choose! And you don't know personality till after teenage years so that makes it hard to know which is a well behaved boy .. I ended up with 2 coops so I can keep 3 roosters although I am hoping to integrate them all into one coop but I'm not sure if that will end in injuries So far cockerel is doing ok with dad rooster, he's keeping the boy in check but has his work cut out for him for sure! Minor bloody comb and feather bald spots but the boy submitted. .Actually rooster hasn't been fertilising eggs so I'm thinking cockerel will do that job (I have seen him doing it properly actually! Most boys are sideways or backwards )
Biscuit the cockerel..
View attachment 2637006

Beautiful boy! How old is Biscuit?
Hopefully he and his dad will be a team

 

[LadiesAndJane]

So… After a good start with the silkies, little Hanabi had to be removed as she wasn’t staying under the heat and Amai was being a bit rough with her. She is so tiny I was concerned she might get stepped on, so I took her out. She was with the other hatchery chicks until this morning when the last of them went to their new owners. I then was able to place her with this newly hatched silkie chick that hatched last night. Just placed them together and Hanabi is showing the baby how to eat. Hanabi is one week old and the silkie is 12 hours old and they are about the same size
This of course is just a temporary solution as these Silkies were hatch to order and will be going to new owners as well next weekend. Hoping Hanabi is big enough at that point to go back in with Amai and Eko.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Beautiful boy! How old is Biscuit?
Hopefully he and his dad will be a team

Biscuit is 5.5 months old. I am hoping for teamwork His dad has been teaching him a few manners lately so I'm glad I have them together.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

So… After a good start with the silkies, little Hanabi had to be removed as she wasn’t staying under the heat and Amai was being a bit rough with her. She is so tiny I was concerned she might get stepped on, so I took her out. She was with the other hatchery chicks until this morning when the last of them went to their new owners. I then was able to place her with this newly hatched silkie chick that hatched last night. Just placed them together and Hanabi is showing the baby how to eat. Hanabi is one week old and the silkie is 12 hours old and they are about the same size
This of course is just a temporary solution as these Silkies were hatch to order and will be going to new owners as well next weekend. Hoping Hanabi is big enough at that point to go back in with Amai and Eko.View attachment 2637053View attachment 2637055

So cute
Hopefully Hanabi can get along with Amai and Eko

 

[LadiesAndJane]

So cute
Hopefully Hanabi can get along with Amai and Eko

Thanks! Otherwise I will have keep ANOTHER silkie chick. That would be a tragedy!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Very hard to choose! And you don't know personality till after teenage years so that makes it hard to know which is a well behaved boy .. I ended up with 2 coops so I can keep 3 roosters although I am hoping to integrate them all into one coop but I'm not sure if that will end in injuries So far cockerel is doing ok with dad rooster, he's keeping the boy in check but has his work cut out for him for sure! Minor bloody comb and feather bald spots but the boy submitted. .Actually rooster hasn't been fertilising eggs so I'm thinking cockerel will do that job (I have seen him doing it properly actually! Most boys are sideways or backwards )
Biscuit the cockerel..
View attachment 2637006

I couldn't get rid of Biscuit, just as I couldn't Cookie! Both with nice amount of red leakage so I had to keep them. I let Cookie out the other day and had to break the fight so I'm going to wait till Winter and hope hormones will calm down enough to integrate them all. I probably don't have enough hens though, 14 chickens, 3 are boys and Easter the chick I don't know yet but of it's a boy, will have to go.

How old are you Roos again? When I started raising chickens again, my horse trainer (who also keeps chickens) told me that every time she tried to raise roos together, they did fine until they were between 1 yr and 15 months old. Something in that age span flips a switch where they try to kill each other. I currently have two Easter Eggers that are about 14 months old. Despite being raised together, they've shared a tentative peace which I attributed to a LOT of space and a LOT of hens to share between them. But a few weeks ago, I thought the dominant one was going to kill the other. I had to forcefully go after the dominant roo to give the other one time enough to get far, far away. They are back to tentatively co-existing again but now I've put nets up over my chicken yard so none of my chickens can hop the fence and go rogue. I'm a little worried about how that might affect the dynamics between the two roos....

Anyway, I choose to make a 2nd coop & run for the Silkies so they wouldn't be bullied by the bigger chickens. I can't imagine that I'd have either enough girls OR enough space to make 2 Silkie roos get along.....