Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[PioneerChicks]

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), too

Mongoose sound really bad
We have similar problems with hawks (and sparrow hawks) here.
Thank God there is hardware cloth!

You have problems with sparrow hawks (aka kestrels)? I though they weren't a problem for chickens! *Nervously scans sky*

 

[LynnaePB]

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

I love the coop, it looks great (and very secure)!

We've been getting supplies together for our new silkie run as well. If I've calculated things correctly we'll need almost 500 feet of hardware cloth to completely enclose the sides and top (with a foot or two of skirting as well)......I'm not looking forward to having to put all that on.

I really hope little Kinoko keeps improving and getting better! My vaulted girl who seemed to suffer some head trauma took 2-3 days to really start getting back to acting normal (and I think I was lucky that it only took that long).

The babies are all just lovely! I love the way little Eko's spots are coming in, I bet he'll be a handsome little guy!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Hello everyone, I've been reading through this thread a lot since it appears I may now be on my way to becoming a silkie owner. My daughter has wanted them since we first got chickens and I've always used the excuse that our chickens free range all day and a silkie would be a walking snack to predators. Then I built a pen for growing out the chicks I hatch in the incubator until they are placed once they are ready to move outside. Sneaky devil let me get the thing built then informed me my excuse for not letting her have a silkie went out the window. Remained firm, no silkies. Until 2 weeks ago when my neighbor up the road asked me if I was still using my incubator because she wanted to test her silkie's egg's fertility and had no incubator and none of her hens have went broody yet. Told her I'd already stored it for the season but then out of the blue with no warning one of my Marans hens went broody on me a few days later. Tried to break her for a few days and she was having none of it. And since she is a proven girl who was a wonderful mom last time I called my neighbor and told her if she was still collecting eggs and storing them right I could take a few and let my hen try and hatch them out. I had 8 eggs delivered to me the next day, and her son dropped them off. While yes they'd been stored and rotated in a egg carton he brought them to me in a zip lock bag! They were also filthy. I cleaned them with a dry paper towel as best I could but didn't have much hope for them, especially 2 that were 14 days old so I added 2 extra eggs from my own hens. Yesterday was day 8 of incubation so last night I went out to candle the eggs. I was floored, all 8 of the silkie eggs have a dancing baby inside them. My own 2 eggs, 1 I will candle again in 3 days and probably toss, think its a clear but that was the last one I candled and by then momma had enough of me. The other egg is a Marans egg and with the darker shell I thought I saw veining, but not sure. My neighbor doesn't want the chicks back if any hatch, so the plan is to keep 2 chicks for my girl to raise and place the rest when they are about a week old. If they do hatch, I already have a home lined up for them. My daughter is excited and looking forward to her "alien" chickens as she calls them. These chicks should be black as that is the only color she has so they will fit in with my Black Copper Marans. I've read that silkie's are super hard to sex, and it cannot be done early. That is going to be difficult for me as by 3 weeks old 90% of the time my chicks are accurately sexable. I've told her if we keep 2, and one or both turn out to be boys they will have to be rehomed and will possibly try again. Last thing I need is a sneaky silkie boy showing affections to my marans girls so only boys allowed are my Marans. I've read on here that silkies tend to be super friendly pets and great with children. Considering how my daughter and well myself included have spoiled and babied our current flock I find it hard to imagine even friendlier chickens. I guess time will tell. These fluff balls may worm their way into my heart and become permanent fixtures like my Marans have, but, for me personally that will take some doing.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hello everyone, I've been reading through this thread a lot since it appears I may now be on my way to becoming a silkie owner. My daughter has wanted them since we first got chickens and I've always used the excuse that our chickens free range all day and a silkie would be a walking snack to predators. Then I built a pen for growing out the chicks I hatch in the incubator until they are placed once they are ready to move outside. Sneaky devil let me get the thing built then informed me my excuse for not letting her have a silkie went out the window. Remained firm, no silkies. Until 2 weeks ago when my neighbor up the road asked me if I was still using my incubator because she wanted to test her silkie's egg's fertility and had no incubator and none of her hens have went broody yet. Told her I'd already stored it for the season but then out of the blue with no warning one of my Marans hens went broody on me a few days later. Tried to break her for a few days and she was having none of it. And since she is a proven girl who was a wonderful mom last time I called my neighbor and told her if she was still collecting eggs and storing them right I could take a few and let my hen try and hatch them out. I had 8 eggs delivered to me the next day, and her son dropped them off. While yes they'd been stored and rotated in a egg carton he brought them to me in a zip lock bag! They were also filthy. I cleaned them with a dry paper towel as best I could but didn't have much hope for them, especially 2 that were 14 days old so I added 2 extra eggs from my own hens. Yesterday was day 8 of incubation so last night I went out to candle the eggs. I was floored, all 8 of the silkie eggs have a dancing baby inside them. My own 2 eggs, 1 I will candle again in 3 days and probably toss, think its a clear but that was the last one I candled and by then momma had enough of me. The other egg is a Marans egg and with the darker shell I thought I saw veining, but not sure. My neighbor doesn't want the chicks back if any hatch, so the plan is to keep 2 chicks for my girl to raise and place the rest when they are about a week old. If they do hatch, I already have a home lined up for them. My daughter is excited and looking forward to her "alien" chickens as she calls them. These chicks should be black as that is the only color she has so they will fit in with my Black Copper Marans. I've read that silkie's are super hard to sex, and it cannot be done early. That is going to be difficult for me as by 3 weeks old 90% of the time my chicks are accurately sexable. I've told her if we keep 2, and one or both turn out to be boys they will have to be rehomed and will possibly try again. Last thing I need is a sneaky silkie boy showing affections to my marans girls so only boys allowed are my Marans. I've read on here that silkies tend to be super friendly pets and great with children. Considering how my daughter and well myself included have spoiled and babied our current flock I find it hard to imagine even friendlier chickens. I guess time will tell. These fluff balls may worm their way into my heart and become permanent fixtures like my Marans have, but, for me personally that will take some doing.

Sounds like you were meant to have silkies, with the constellation of events that lead them to you. You can have the silkies DNA tested for gender, if you must know early.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Maybe I am meant to have 1 or 2 silkies seeing how things are playing out after years of saying no. It's also hard really to tell my daughter no this time around as she works so hard in school and helps with the horse and chicken chores and really does not ask for a whole lot. As far as dna testing, I really do not have to know right away. I'm just spoiled with my Black Copper Marans, unless I have a late maturing bird *had 2 this year* by 2 1/2 to 3 weeks old I wake up overnight to a chick going from nothing to boom, I have wattles and a comb. I'm glad these chicks will be black, if I have to have a few that is my preferred color. If they were to be white it would be a hard NO. I don't care for white chickens personally. I'm not as excited as my daughter, but I will give them a fair chance. And truthfully, even the broody raised ones I get attached to all the chicks I raise and its very hard to let them go so I'm sure these guys will win me over. Who knows, maybe they will be the key this year to breaking my horrible rooster streak. Currently sitting at about a 80% of hatching out boys.

 

[Chickeria]

Hi LadiesAndJane how is Kinoko doing? I hope she feels better

 

[Chickeria]

You have problems with sparrow hawks (aka kestrels)? I though they weren't a problem for chickens! *Nervously scans sky*

Hi PioneerChicks, I think you are right and kestrels are not a problem for chickens (we do have kestrels, too, they brood every year at the neighbour's place).
I'm in Europe and we do have here a species called Eurasian sparrowhawk - as I understand (I loked them up to find the correct name in English) they are luckily not present in the United States!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_sparrowhawk
Males are small, but the females are much bigger and hunt birds to the size of doves. I have witnessed them hunting in my parent's garden (which is kind of a 'forest-garden') - they come easily through the branches like out of nowhere and are very fast. They even look totally like shrinked hawks.

My Silkies are bantams and especially two girls - Herzchen and Schorschette - are very small, much smaller than a dove (they are 7 weeks old now). Poupette and Violetta are on the smaller side, too. The other 8 are about the size of a dove now...
I'm really afraid.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hi LadiesAndJane how is Kinoko doing? I hope she feels better

She is doing much better today, thanks!
She objected to being picked up, which was more like her normal self!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hi PioneerChicks, I think you are right and kestrels are not a problem for chickens (we do have kestrels, too, they brood every year at the neighbour's place).
I'm in Europe and we do have here a species called Eurasian sparrowhawk - as I understand (I loked them up to find the correct name in English) they are luckily not present in the United States!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_sparrowhawk
Males are small, but the females are much bigger and hunt birds to the size of doves. I have witnessed them hunting in my parent's garden (which is kind of a 'forest-garden') - they come easily through the branches like out of nowhere and are very fast. They even look totally like shrinked hawks.

My Silkies are bantams and especially two girls - Herzchen and Schorschette - are very small, much smaller than a dove (they are 7 weeks old now). Poupette and Violetta are on the smaller side, too. The other 8 are about the size of a dove now...
I'm really afraid.

Can you make an enclosed run for them?
Does not need to necessarily be full on hardware cloth, I know of many that use bird netting over the top to prevent overhead threats, will not deter weasels or other predators though.
You need to weigh your predator threat against expense and hassle building a safe environment for your birds.
I am slightly paranoid about predators, so I go all out. I also do not let them free range unless I am right there. I know many others who let their birds free range and do not have any problems. I find though, that silkies are quite defenseless and need a little more protection.

 

[ronkonkoma]

New Silkie pics. Can we put a watermark on our pics here? I’ve found my pics stolen on the net before and even used as someone else’s profile pic