Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[AngBantamLuv]

Most of my silkies prefer to huddle. They have little houses in their covered runs. A few of them like to sleep ON the house in summer. Houses are in covered runs that are greenhouse tarped on all sides come winter. There are a few gaps, but it stays very noticeably warmer than outside in winter in case some of them hop up there.

My large fowl have 2x4s laid flat and screwed to wood sawhorses for roosts. They also have a small piece of plywood across one part because some of the large fowl prefer to cuddle in the big space. When I had a silkie rooster in with them, he'd sleep wherever his favorite hen slept. The wide roosts let him just lay down.

When i had my silkies, they did both. One roosted to sleep w a D'uccle, the other cuddled on the floor w a D'uccle. At least they each had a sleeping buddy. Of course the roost bar was only 4" off the ground.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Hey yall...I know I voted here on the poll, but for the life of me can't remember if I posted or got distracted!
So forgive me if this is a duplicate post from month or so ago - I looked back in reading yalls posts but still didn't see anything from myself.
I have 3 silkies and 1 polish.
1 is a blue silkie and 2 are splash.
We are finally building much larger coop with much better ventilation! My concern is regarding the roosts.
My polish luvs to roost up high but has been unable to due to pre-fab coop setup. Now he will definitely be able to get high!
10'x20' and 7' tall.
The polish is a definite cockrel and is tormenting my lil silkies pitifully! I'm debating re-homing him. He has always been such a great chicken...til the hormones kicked in and now he is constantly chasing them, pecking them, etc. No blood or injury but I do think it has lead to one of my paints having quite a few issues (sitting alone during the day, losing weight though eating n drinking normal from what I can tell.) The polish and her used to be quite close and would always be the only ones to come get treats from my hand. Not any more! I've even tried the submission hold with the polish and all that did is make him refuse to come near me now. He won't let me pick him up anymore since that either...though he immediately submitted to me.
What are yalls thoughts? They have been together since day one hatching. They are now 12 weeks old. Unsure what sex the silkies are still. Here's pics if that might help.
This is the sweet splash bearded silkie (Vanilli) the polish has really given a hard time..and she has lost some weight. I thought she was sick (IB or respiratory illness) but she seems to be doing fine now except for trying to escape polish attacks.

This is Milli (yep I named the two white splash after Milli n Vanilli duo from what 90s that lip sang at awards!) She has never wanted anything to do with anyone LOL.

And this is Mango. I've always thought Mango might be a cockrel because since 4 weeks old he and polish would stare each other down and then bump chests! Now Mango just runs away from polish like the other silkies do.

And this is my bullying silver-laced cockrel Polish (yeah I named him Polish)lol.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Hey yall...I know I voted here on the poll, but for the life of me can't remember if I posted or got distracted!
So forgive me if this is a duplicate post from month or so ago - I looked back in reading yalls posts but still didn't see anything from myself.
I have 3 silkies and 1 polish.
1 is a blue silkie and 2 are white paints
We are finally building much larger coop with much better ventilation! My concern is regarding the roosts.
My polish luvs to roost up high but has been unable to due to pre-fab coop setup. Now he will definitely be able to get high!
10'x20' and 7' tall.
The polish is a definite cockrel and is tormenting my lil silkies pitifully! I'm debating re-homing him. He has always been such a great chicken...til the hormones kicked in and now he is constantly chasing them, pecking them, etc. No blood or injury but I do think it has lead to one of my paints having quite a few issues (sitting alone during the day, losing weight though eating n drinking normal from what I can tell.) The polish and her used to be quite close and would always be the only ones to come get treats from my hand. Not any more! I've even tried the submission hold with the polish and all that did is make him refuse to come near me now. He won't let me pick him up anymore since that either...though he immediately submitted to me.
What are yalls thoughts? They have been together since day one hatching. They are now 12 weeks old. Unsure what sex the silkies are still. Here's pics if that might help.
This is the sweet paint bearded silkie (Vanilli) the polish has really given a hard time..and she has lost some weight. I thought she was sick (IB or respiratory illness) but she seems to be doing fine now except for trying to escape polish attacks.
View attachment 2773583
This is Milli (yep I named the two white paints after Milli n Vanilli duo from what 90s that lip sang at awards!) She has never wanted anything to do with anyone LOL.
View attachment 2773593
And this is Mango. I've always thought Mango might be a cockrel because since 4 weeks old he and polish would stare each other down and then bump chests! Now Mango just runs away from polish like the other silkies do.
View attachment 2773597
And this is my bullying silver-laced cockrel Polish (yeah I named him Polish)lol.
View attachment 2773602

I had the prettiest silkies, and a gorgeous blue frizzle bantam cochin.. the silkies were just too loud for my house (house chickens here) and that particular cochin was just MEAN.. i cried about rehoming them, but i realized the people taking them were super nice and i had nothing to worry about. I think if the chicken doesn't fit in your flock, rehoming is just fine. They might have a total change of personality or even better environment somewhere else!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hey yall...I know I voted here on the poll, but for the life of me can't remember if I posted or got distracted!
So forgive me if this is a duplicate post from month or so ago - I looked back in reading yalls posts but still didn't see anything from myself.
I have 3 silkies and 1 polish.
1 is a blue silkie and 2 are white paints
We are finally building much larger coop with much better ventilation! My concern is regarding the roosts.
My polish luvs to roost up high but has been unable to due to pre-fab coop setup. Now he will definitely be able to get high!
10'x20' and 7' tall.
The polish is a definite cockrel and is tormenting my lil silkies pitifully! I'm debating re-homing him. He has always been such a great chicken...til the hormones kicked in and now he is constantly chasing them, pecking them, etc. No blood or injury but I do think it has lead to one of my paints having quite a few issues (sitting alone during the day, losing weight though eating n drinking normal from what I can tell.) The polish and her used to be quite close and would always be the only ones to come get treats from my hand. Not any more! I've even tried the submission hold with the polish and all that did is make him refuse to come near me now. He won't let me pick him up anymore since that either...though he immediately submitted to me.
What are yalls thoughts? They have been together since day one hatching. They are now 12 weeks old. Unsure what sex the silkies are still. Here's pics if that might help.
This is the sweet paint bearded silkie (Vanilli) the polish has really given a hard time..and she has lost some weight. I thought she was sick (IB or respiratory illness) but she seems to be doing fine now except for trying to escape polish attacks.
View attachment 2773583
This is Milli (yep I named the two white paints after Milli n Vanilli duo from what 90s that lip sang at awards!) She has never wanted anything to do with anyone LOL.
View attachment 2773593
And this is Mango. I've always thought Mango might be a cockrel because since 4 weeks old he and polish would stare each other down and then bump chests! Now Mango just runs away from polish like the other silkies do.
View attachment 2773597
And this is my bullying silver-laced cockrel Polish (yeah I named him Polish)lol.
View attachment 2773602

Pretty little silkies and polish you have.
Good advice from @AngBantamLuv.
This is the problem when you have same age boys and girls. The boys mature faster and their hormones turn them into oversexed teenagers. I had a cockerel that started trying to mount his same age brooder mates at 3 months, something they had no interest in. I had to put him in his own space for about a month, where he could still see the others, then he calmed down and had better manners.
My current cockerel is 3 and half months and has started chasing the girls and pecks them quite hard. No mounting behavior yet and he is not crowing yet either. He gets "time outs" for a few hours when he behaves like this and it does seem it help, but I may need to put him in his own space for a few months as well, if his behavior escalates. If you want to keep your Polish, then you may want to keep him separated for a bit, until the girls catch up with him maturity wise.
It does look like you have two pullets and one cockerel in your silkies. Mango being male. Though silkies are tricky. If you want, you can post close ups of their combs with their crests pushed back to help confirm genders.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Ill post pics tomorrow, but i found an old pic of my girls when they were 3 days old.. and compared them to the new polish, and i think im back to thinking these polish are also bantams.. yay! I forgot how teenie tiny the D'uccles are as new chicks! I have the same waterer and feeder as reference.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

It does look like you have two pullets and one cockerel in your silkies. Mango being male.

I didn't realize how much I DIDN'T want a rooster til polish has become awful!
Here's close up couple weeks ago of Mango. You think he's a cockrel as well?
Poor Vanilli was still in coop by herself this morning. She came to me for food but didn't wanna be held...then I'm sure she regretted that once Polish went to chasing her. I've locked him out of the run for a few hours.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Sounds like for your little pullets best interests you should keep Polish in a separate space until you decide what to do with him. I sell my extra birds by posting on Craigslist “farm and garden” section. Really clear, good photos help. May take awhile.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Sounds like for your little pullets best interests you should keep Polish in a separate space until you decide what to do with him. I sell my extra birds by posting on Craigslist “farm and garden” section. Really clear, good photos help. May take awhile.

That last pic was of Mango...I corrected the post where I said Polish.

 

[LaurEliz]

I love, love, love silkies. I am highly considering fizzling out of my mixed flock and ONLY having silkies. No free ranging if I do that though lol.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I love, love, love silkies. I am highly considering fizzling out of my mixed flock and ONLY having silkies. No free ranging if I do that though lol.

Why would u not be able to free range? Or roam as I like to call it?