Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[AngBantamLuv]

I have a question for the Silkie experts…I have my two silkies Betty and Fuzzbert, and they were part of my original 6 chickens I got back in April with 4 standard size chickens. Well 3 of the 4 standards were boys so I rehomed 2 of them and kept the favorite. The four of them were my OG coop and always slept 4 in a row on their roost bar with the silkies huddled under the two big chickens for warmth. Well on Christmas my sweet boy, Eevee the Lav Orp rooster, died in my arms from an illness. Not having him in the coop with the three girls has caused a bit of a reshuffling—with Charlie the big hen wanting to be in the other bigger coop with the younger pullets and bantam Cochins. The silkies want to stay in their original coop and I think it suits their size better and their ability to reach good roost bars and a nest box but it’s a lot colder now when they sleep with just each other for warmth. Are they going to be okay? Lonely? Cold? The illness in my flock is a contagious and lifelong one so I’m not really wanting to get more chickens and sentence them to a life of illness as an option either :-( the bantam Cochins like sleeping on the roosts way up high in the other coop so I don’t really want to take them away from their happy place either! I am just worried they will get cold and lonely and I’m feeling sad that my boy is gone. He always let them snuggle under him at night he was a really good boy and my first chicken I ever loved.

What temps are you getting at night? Is the disease mareks? You can get vaccinated chicks if that's the case. So sorry about losing your boy, especially a first chicken ❤

 

[Sara S]

I have a question for the Silkie experts…I have my two silkies Betty and Fuzzbert, and they were part of my original 6 chickens I got back in April with 4 standard size chickens. Well 3 of the 4 standards were boys so I rehomed 2 of them and kept the favorite. The four of them were my OG coop and always slept 4 in a row on their roost bar with the silkies huddled under the two big chickens for warmth. Well on Christmas my sweet boy, Eevee the Lav Orp rooster, died in my arms from an illness. Not having him in the coop with the three girls has caused a bit of a reshuffling—with Charlie the big hen wanting to be in the other bigger coop with the younger pullets and bantam Cochins. The silkies want to stay in their original coop and I think it suits their size better and their ability to reach good roost bars and a nest box but it’s a lot colder now when they sleep with just each other for warmth. Are they going to be okay? Lonely? Cold? The illness in my flock is a contagious and lifelong one so I’m not really wanting to get more chickens and sentence them to a life of illness as an option either :-( the bantam Cochins like sleeping on the roosts way up high in the other coop so I don’t really want to take them away from their happy place either! I am just worried they will get cold and lonely and I’m feeling sad that my boy is gone. He always let them snuggle under him at night he was a really good boy and my first chicken I ever loved.

Aww your chickens are beautiful I have a hen that’s a silkie polish mix, she sleeps in my screen room on a pile of straw, not much of a rooster ( like as in she doesn’t roost). Bob Ross is definitely always warm but your chickens should be okay. I don’t really know much about regular silkies but here’s mine! My americaun mocha used to do that with my head hen before she was stolen, it’s so sad when someone loses a chicken and it’s like losing a kid sometimes

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I have a question for the Silkie experts…I have my two silkies Betty and Fuzzbert, and they were part of my original 6 chickens I got back in April with 4 standard size chickens. Well 3 of the 4 standards were boys so I rehomed 2 of them and kept the favorite. The four of them were my OG coop and always slept 4 in a row on their roost bar with the silkies huddled under the two big chickens for warmth. Well on Christmas my sweet boy, Eevee the Lav Orp rooster, died in my arms from an illness. Not having him in the coop with the three girls has caused a bit of a reshuffling—with Charlie the big hen wanting to be in the other bigger coop with the younger pullets and bantam Cochins. The silkies want to stay in their original coop and I think it suits their size better and their ability to reach good roost bars and a nest box but it’s a lot colder now when they sleep with just each other for warmth. Are they going to be okay? Lonely? Cold? The illness in my flock is a contagious and lifelong one so I’m not really wanting to get more chickens and sentence them to a life of illness as an option either :-( the bantam Cochins like sleeping on the roosts way up high in the other coop so I don’t really want to take them away from their happy place either! I am just worried they will get cold and lonely and I’m feeling sad that my boy is gone. He always let them snuggle under him at night he was a really good boy and my first chicken I ever loved.

I am so truly sorry you lost your boy.
You must be devastated.
Amazing how attached to these sweet creatures we become.
The Silkies should be fine, they can huddle together for warmth. As long as your coop is well protected from drafts, they should be all right.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I recently got 3 white silky hens...should be laying.
They are very fluffy and look great.
They travelled 4 hours in a box ( in a car) and when they arrived there were 2 eggs.
Since then ( 4 weeks), there have been no eggs.
Initially I gave them layers pellets which they sort of ate.
Then I got them a large bag of scratch mix which they enthusiastically eat.
They have a yard to free range in with lots of grass in it.
I don't know what I am doing wrong.
I have had silkies before and they were good layers.
I've compared them to pictures, I'm pretty sure they are girls and there has been no crowing.
HELP please
Anne-Marie

Congratulations on your new Silkies!
I feed my bantams crumble, could be that’s what yours are used to and why they didn’t eat much of the pellets. You don’t want to give them too much scratch, it’s like giving kids candy and they won’t eat their regular food. Treats in general shouldn’t make up more than about 10% of their total diet. I usually give mine a handful of scratch spread around the run mid morning to give them something to do, after they’ve eaten their regular food for breakfast! Agree with others that the stress of moving can put them off of laying for several weeks sometimes. I switched my coops around a few weeks ago and one of my girls hasn’t laid since!
Yours should start laying as soon as they are settled in.

 

[kurby22]

I am so truly sorry you lost your boy.
You must be devastated.
Amazing how attached to these sweet creatures we become.
The Silkies should be fine, they can huddle together for warmth. As long as your coop is well protected from drafts, they should be all right.

Okay thank you! I am just feeling bad for them because they seem a bit confused about what they should do at night

I’m sad that I can’t have anymore chickens till I lose all of them either, it just sucks! I want all the chickens

 

[kurby22]

What temps are you getting at night? Is the disease mareks? You can get vaccinated chicks if that's the case. So sorry about losing your boy, especially a first chicken ❤

It’s been down to the low 30s here which is cold for Central Valley California! No, not Mareks…they all have Mycoplasma and also battling dry pox :-( Seems to be hitting my boys much worse than the girls. They’re all on Tylan, but if I don’t see improvement in a couple days I will try something else! Poor babies

 

[AngBantamLuv]

It’s been down to the low 30s here which is cold for Central Valley California! No, not Mareks…they all have Mycoplasma and also battling dry pox :-( Seems to be hitting my boys much worse than the girls. They’re all on Tylan, but if I don’t see improvement in a couple days I will try something else! Poor babies

I just did some reading on mycoplasma.. sorry, that sounds tough to deal with. My chickens just got over dry pox as well. Took about 3 weeks. I changed out all the litter and gave them epsom salt baths. I'll do that again one more time, since the dry skin that falls off is contagious. They did look a bit tired and were irritated by it, but it just ran its course. Im positive they caught it from mosquitoes.. there were sooo many everywhere when i first put them outside (they were house chickens prior). Wish i had eradicated the mosquitoes quicker than i did.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Normal crow:
BaBaBaBaDOOOOOOOOO

Ginger's crow:
GRAAAAAAAGGGGHH. *FUNNY GRUMBLE*

My neighbour laughs at my roosters crow -says he sounds like he has laryngitis!

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Well only 1 Christmas chick ended up hatching unfortunately dunno why I've had a terrible run with infertile eggs last season and this season too! This season now with new rooster Biscuit still didn't solve the problem. Hopefully if it's the molting then the fertility should go back up soon.
It is a little cutie but probably a boy knowing my luck and 6 months of no egg laying from Chickaletta with being broody and raising this chick, not really worth it.

 

[kurby22]

I just did some reading on mycoplasma.. sorry, that sounds tough to deal with. My chickens just got over dry pox as well. Took about 3 weeks. I changed out all the litter and gave them epsom salt baths. I'll do that again one more time, since the dry skin that falls off is contagious. They did look a bit tired and were irritated by it, but it just ran its course. Im positive they caught it from mosquitoes.. there were sooo many everywhere when i first put them outside (they were house chickens prior). Wish i had eradicated the mosquitoes quicker than i did.

Yeah MG is a real pain in the butt and makes the chickens pretty miserable I hate all the things that torment our chickens and mosquitoes are to blame for so many! Most of my chickens that seem to be somewhat more immune to the MG issues got dry pox and have managed to deal with it just fine. But my rooster boy and Marianne, whom I refer to as Patient Zero or Typhoid Marianne, both had wet pox and the roosters were all in his throat so he just got worse and worse until he could no longer breathe. Marianne has the lesions inside her beak but her throat looks okay. I’m not sure she’s going to make it though. She looks pretty bad tonight. :-(

Anyway, didn’t want to hijack the thread, just feeling a bit desperate and worried for the silkies and my other babies.