Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Chicken poppy]

First and foremost - ABSOLUTELY NO HATING ON SILKIES ALLOWED!!! If you aren’t here to support our fuzzy friends, don’t respond.

Silkies get a bad rap for the following:
"Looks like a dust mop"
"Too hard to maintain"
"Poor immune system"
"Dumber than rocks"
"0 predator awareness"
And oh, so much more.

Well my friends - I thought so too, until I actually got silkies for myself. These are some of the most wonderful birds out there.

I’ve found them to be highly heat tolerant, wonderful mothers, having the strongest immune systems in my Bantam flock, GREAT LAYERS (that’s right folks), adorable as all get out, and more.

I currently have 9 silkies - and my rooster has been nothing but a gentleman to his ladies. They free range daily and I’ve not had a silkie get killed by a predator yet. My hens average 5 eggs a week - not too bad for a silkie, eh?


Most of the time, these silkie haters haven’t even owned the breed, but rather pretend they know everything.


So... let the fun begin! Support our silkies!

Pictures always welcome.

Be mindful, and respect others...

Off-topic discussions are allowed, though try to maintain the subject of silkies.

-Kayla-

Super awesome and sweet! Hopefully this doesnt come off hatefully, but the roosters are sure noisy at times! They dont crow a lot, but when they do it sounds like a little kazoo. Seriously adorable though!

 

[Chicken poppy]

Also will for sure post my little mini silkie flock! Looking to breed em!

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Super awesome and sweet! Hopefully this doesnt come off hatefully, but the roosters are sure noisy at times! They dont crow a lot, but when they do it sounds like a little kazoo. Seriously adorable though!

I have a cute little male silkie chick.. hoping he doesn't crow a lot, but I'd be ok w a kazoo!

 

[chickengr]

I took Char off her eggs yesterday and she had pooped on the eggs hopefully they will still hatch ok.
She refused to eat and drink untill I kept encouragingly dipping her beak in the water and food. Finally she did drink and eat and then back to the eggs. I'll be taking her off daily now I think since she's so committed!

try to take her off at the same time every day. that's what I do with stubborn broodies. at some stage they start getting up at that time.

 

[chickengr]

I’ve had to rehome more than one of my older girls when introducing new birds unfortunately. My very human friendly Wyandotte, Rosie, would actually go in for the kill anytime I tried to introduce a new bird. She’s the one that almost killed poor Kinoko last year after a failed integration attempt. Rosie was lower on the pecking order and I believe this is why she acted that way. Probably normal chicken behavior, but I can’t accept bullies! She did go to a new home and I do get reports about her once in a while and she is doing well.

wyandottes are not a good choice for mixed flocks. I had one and that was my first and last wyandotte.

 

[Chicken poppy]

I have a cute little male silkie chick.. hoping he doesn't crow a lot, but I'd be ok w a kazoo!

They dont crow a lot, but when they do it sure is funny! it gets a bit better/clearer sounding later on. If you hear a bat screech at first, tottally normal haha! Cute once they practice.

 

[chickengr]

I find that roos keep hens in line. they are noisy though.

 

[kurby22]

wyandottes are not a good choice for mixed flocks. I had one and that was my first and last wyandotte.

I have heard that a lot about Wyandottes! My girl Charlie isn’t warm and fuzzy with any of the chickens or me, but she also leaves them all alone and wants to be near me all the time too. I actually saw my white Silkie Betty giving her a few pecks on the head so she’d move over on the roost bar Betty White is just a sassy little white fluffer! She also runs off all the young boys I have. Was amazing, my giant Lav Orp rooster she had no problem allowing him to mate her…but now that he’s gone :-( she has snubbed the new boys! And no one pesters Fuzzbert…she’s the same age as Betty and should be laying but she hasn’t and none of the boys are interested in her. The silkies definitely rule the flock and are the smallest in the flock I have the Wyandotte, English Orpingtons, full sized Cochins, Marans, Ameraucanas, and 4 bantam Cochins…and Betty and Fuzzy boss them all around

 

[kurby22]

So this isn’t specifically a Silkie topic, but I have a question about the frizzle gene and y’all in this thread probably understand it pretty well! If a chicken carries the frizzle gene, is it always expressed? Or can a smooth feathered chicken be carrying the frizzle gene and pass it on to their progeny? I ask because I have a frizzle Cochin and I can’t figure her out! I thought I understood the gene…but thinking now maybe I don’t! So Ms Frizzle is a blue frizzle Cochin. She came from a bunch of eggs laid by a blue smooth feathered Cochin that got out of her pen while the breeder was on vacation and apparently spent time with several other men! The breeder has Cochins, Langshans, Marans, and Isbars (@LadiesAndJane sorry I know you’ve heard all this already!). One of the male Cochins she has is a black frizzle Cochin. So my original theory was that I wouldn’t get a frizzle Cochin unless the mom had mated with the black frizzle rooster. But now I’m not sure that’s true. I thought it was a dominant gene—is it more nuanced than that? I got my first egg from her today and it seems way too dark to be a Cochin egg. It looks like a light chocolate Marans egg with a hint of purple. It’s really pretty! But not what I’d expect from a Cochin-Cochin pairing. She also has some hackles but not all, that are copper colored which made me wonder too—but thought it might just be leakage! Anyway! I don’t really care other than that I want to understand how the frizzle gene actually works! :-D Thanks!!

**edit to add - If one of the parents had to be a frizzle (exhibiting frizzle) then the egg must not be hers—right? Chicken genetics are just so hard for me for some reason!

 

[chickengr]

I have heard that a lot about Wyandottes! My girl Charlie isn’t warm and fuzzy with any of the chickens or me, but she also leaves them all alone and wants to be near me all the time too. I actually saw my white Silkie Betty giving her a few pecks on the head so she’d move over on the roost bar Betty White is just a sassy little white fluffer! She also runs off all the young boys I have. Was amazing, my giant Lav Orp rooster she had no problem allowing him to mate her…but now that he’s gone :-( she has snubbed the new boys! And no one pesters Fuzzbert…she’s the same age as Betty and should be laying but she hasn’t and none of the boys are interested in her. The silkies definitely rule the flock and are the smallest in the flock I have the Wyandotte, English Orpingtons, full sized Cochins, Marans, Ameraucanas, and 4 bantam Cochins…and Betty and Fuzzy boss them all around

the wyandotte hen I had was friendly with me.

I have never tried to keep silkies with any LF chickens.