Not in my experience. Just be sure they aren't wet on cold winter nights and be gentle with the vaulted skull chicks. I also feed all my chickens fermented feed and other things to strengthen their immune systems.
Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!
- Thread starter HuffleClaw
- Start date
Kinoko just now. She’s moving a bit slower than normal still but otherwise seems to be fine. Maybe she’ll just be “slow” from now on. She does have a vaulted skull (Polish/silkie) so I should’ve known better than to put her in with adult layer hens.
Have to be careful having silkies with large fowl.
I had a rooster called Genghis Pumpkin. He was orange and absolutely terrorized anything that wasn't a silkie since attitude counts the most. He had my large fowl ameraucana roosters running in fear of him. He'd attack any other chicken breed he'd see.
I had large fowl EEs, ameraucana, brahma, and rock hens at that time. They ran in fear if they saw anything silkie. Pumpkin always lead his hens on his land acquisition march.
Finally after a couple years, one older ameraucana hen got fed up with him ripping out feathers and finally stood up to him. Pumpkin had a vaulted skull and she got one good peck in before running away.
The peck blinded him. He could only tell where high contrast shadows were.
I did pen him up with his favorite hens and they'd tidbit call him to the food and water. He was very depressed and I had to put him down several months later when it got darker for winter and he refused to leave the coop even with the girls escorting him.
I had a rooster called Genghis Pumpkin. He was orange and absolutely terrorized anything that wasn't a silkie since attitude counts the most. He had my large fowl ameraucana roosters running in fear of him. He'd attack any other chicken breed he'd see.
I had large fowl EEs, ameraucana, brahma, and rock hens at that time. They ran in fear if they saw anything silkie. Pumpkin always lead his hens on his land acquisition march.
Finally after a couple years, one older ameraucana hen got fed up with him ripping out feathers and finally stood up to him. Pumpkin had a vaulted skull and she got one good peck in before running away.
The peck blinded him. He could only tell where high contrast shadows were.
I did pen him up with his favorite hens and they'd tidbit call him to the food and water. He was very depressed and I had to put him down several months later when it got darker for winter and he refused to leave the coop even with the girls escorting him.
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Finally finished the Silkie coop yesterday. Had to cover the entire enclosure with hardware cloth, that was a big job! Original intention was to move all the adult Silkies over and then integrate the younger ones with them as well. The silkie hybrids were going to join the layers and I’ve been working on integrating them for the past month. The “look don’t touch” method. Unfortunately one my layer hens viciously attacked Kinoko and I was pretty sure we had lost her.
They were under observation and I turned away for just a moment and that’s all it took. Kinoko was floundering on the ground and was unable to get up. I picked her up and I was sure she had broken her neck. We brought her inside last night and this morning gave her warm mash and Nutradrench and some egg yolk. She was unable to eat or drink anything but later this morning I found her in the cage pecking away slowly at the food. She is now back in with her buddies and is a little unsteady on her feet but I think she will be OK. I think she sustained a head injury.
So after that hard lesson, I decided to just put all the young ones together and they can make their own little flock. Have the two young Silkies and Hanabi in the A-frame inside the new run so they can all get to know each other.
So far the others all seem to be getting along nicely.
So we have 7 in the new coop/run:
Three month old hybrids, Kinoko and Hikari, 9 week old Amai, 6 week old Eko,
then the 3 littles in the A frame: 1 month old Hanabi, 4 week old Yuki and 2 week old Himawari. The littles will come in at night and I have heat in the A frame, mostly for Himawari’s sake.View attachment 2684827View attachment 2684828View attachment 2684829View attachment 2684830View attachment 2684831View attachment 2684832View attachment 2684833View attachment 2684834View attachment 2684835View attachment 2684836
Oh noKinoko just now. She’s moving a bit slower than normal still but otherwise seems to be fine. Maybe she’ll just be “slow” from now on. She does have a vaulted skull (Polish/silkie) so I should’ve known better than to put her in with adult layer hens.
- - I'm so sorry about Kinoko - hopefully she will feel better soon and perk up 
Perhaps she does have a head trauma and just needs a bit more time to stabilize. Poor sweet girl
I think it is great that she does have her sister's support and the support from her group, this will help her
Finally finished the Silkie coop yesterday. Had to cover the entire enclosure with hardware cloth, that was a big job! Original intention was to move all the adult Silkies over and then integrate the younger ones with them as well. The silkie hybrids were going to join the layers and I’ve been working on integrating them for the past month. The “look don’t touch” method. Unfortunately one my layer hens viciously attacked Kinoko and I was pretty sure we had lost her.
They were under observation and I turned away for just a moment and that’s all it took. Kinoko was floundering on the ground and was unable to get up. I picked her up and I was sure she had broken her neck. We brought her inside last night and this morning gave her warm mash and Nutradrench and some egg yolk. She was unable to eat or drink anything but later this morning I found her in the cage pecking away slowly at the food. She is now back in with her buddies and is a little unsteady on her feet but I think she will be OK. I think she sustained a head injury.
So after that hard lesson, I decided to just put all the young ones together and they can make their own little flock. Have the two young Silkies and Hanabi in the A-frame inside the new run so they can all get to know each other.
So far the others all seem to be getting along nicely.
So we have 7 in the new coop/run:
Three month old hybrids, Kinoko and Hikari, 9 week old Amai, 6 week old Eko,
then the 3 littles in the A frame: 1 month old Hanabi, 4 week old Yuki and 2 week old Himawari. The littles will come in at night and I have heat in the A frame, mostly for Himawari’s sake.
What a great new coop and run, I love it! Everything looks so secure
(...I'm freaking out at the moment, today I saw a mouse weasel at my friend's place which is just across the field next to my parent's place)The girls and boys look happy and settled in!
Hanabi has GROWN! She is even bigger than little Yuki! Now at the moment Himawari is the tiny one
Amai has grown, too! And so much fluff!
Eko is such a handsome boy
Best wishes for sweet little Kinoko - I hope she will recover fully and feel better soon
It is good to see dear Hikari by her side.
Thank you so much for all your kind words and positive thoughts!
The girls and boys look happy and settled in!
Hanabi has GROWN! She is even bigger than little Yuki! Now at the moment Himawari is the tiny one
Amai has grown, too! And so much fluff!
Eko is such a handsome boy
Best wishes for sweet little Kinoko - I hope she will recover fully and feel better soon
It is good to see dear Hikari by her side.
I really appreciate it!
I think Kinoko will be OK, I was relieved to see that she was fine this morning when I went to let them out of the coop.
All the youngsters are getting along well.
Yes, my husband always thinks I go overboard with the hardware cloth but I have had more than one friend lose their chicks and chickens to mongoose here.
Pretty sure weasels are similar predators. Mongoose can dig, climb and fit through very small spaces. They are daytime predators as well.
We also have hawks here so when I let them free range I have to stay and make sure to keep my eyes on the sky. They are actually endangered native Hawaiian hawks and very rare, but I have seen them more than once flying overhead.
One thing we don’t have to worry about here are snakes, we just don’t have any on the island. It’s illegal to keep them as pets. We also don’t have raccoons which are some of the worst predators for chickens!
Omg i love the setup and all of the babies!!Finally finished the Silkie coop yesterday. Had to cover the entire enclosure with hardware cloth, that was a big job! Original intention was to move all the adult Silkies over and then integrate the younger ones with them as well. The silkie hybrids were going to join the layers and I’ve been working on integrating them for the past month. The “look don’t touch” method. Unfortunately one my layer hens viciously attacked Kinoko and I was pretty sure we had lost her.
They were under observation and I turned away for just a moment and that’s all it took. Kinoko was floundering on the ground and was unable to get up. I picked her up and I was sure she had broken her neck. We brought her inside last night and this morning gave her warm mash and Nutradrench and some egg yolk. She was unable to eat or drink anything but later this morning I found her in the cage pecking away slowly at the food. She is now back in with her buddies and is a little unsteady on her feet but I think she will be OK. I think she sustained a head injury.
So after that hard lesson, I decided to just put all the young ones together and they can make their own little flock. Have the two young Silkies and Hanabi in the A-frame inside the new run so they can all get to know each other.
So far the others all seem to be getting along nicely.
So we have 7 in the new coop/run:
Three month old hybrids, Kinoko and Hikari, 9 week old Amai, 6 week old Eko,
then the 3 littles in the A frame: 1 month old Hanabi, 4 week old Yuki and 2 week old Himawari. The littles will come in at night and I have heat in the A frame, mostly for Himawari’s sake.
Thank you so much for all your kind words and positive thoughts!
I really appreciate it!
I think Kinoko will be OK, I was relieved to see that she was fine this morning when I went to let them out of the coop.
All the youngsters are getting along well.
Yes, my husband always thinks I go overboard with the hardware cloth but I have had more than one friend lose their chicks and chickens to mongoose here.
Pretty sure weasels are similar predators. Mongoose can dig, climb and fit through very small spaces. They are daytime predators as well.
We also have hawks here so when I let them free range I have to stay and make sure to keep my eyes on the sky. They are actually endangered native Hawaiian hawks and very rare, but I have seen them more than once flying overhead.
One thing we don’t have to worry about here are snakes, we just don’t have any on the island. It’s illegal to keep them as pets. We also don’t have raccoons which are some of the worst predators for chickens!
That Kinoko ate this morning is definitely a very good sign and that she wants to be with her sister and her friends (not wants or tries to hide), tooMongoose sound really bad
We have similar problems with hawks (and sparrow hawks) here.
Thank God there is hardware cloth!
Sweet little Easter! - Body posture makes me think male but the little face/the expression looks very girlish to me. (Well yes I know I'm of no help 
)
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