Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[chickengr]

Hey everyone,

I could really use some opinions and reassurances.
I bought a silkie pullet back in October. She was supposed to be 5 1/2 months old. It is now April and she is 11 months old and still no egg. Everything about her screams pullet to me, but, I have been wrong before when I first got silkies. These pictures were taken a few minutes ago. She is a pullet right?
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These were taken last week.
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a beautifull girl.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Its female. Some can take a long time to lay. Make sure she doesn't have any place to hide eggs. I have sneaky silkies who will do that.

Thank you so much. Silkies are so hard to sex and waiting this long I was starting to second guess myself. I am still kicking myself a little bit for jumping the gun and selling one to my cousins last summer. I thought girl, then at 4 months old she started to look like my Ezzie who I thought was a girl until about 5 months old. My cousins came to buy some other chicks and her grandson fell in love with it. I cannot keep another rooster so before I got even more attached I made a little boy very happy and they knew they were possibly getting a rooster. In November I got a gloating phone call that the little rooster was now laying eggs at 7 months old. The bright side is that they are smitten with her and she is a pampered spoiled chicken who has become her grandsons pet. They also now want more silkies.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

a beautifull girl.

Thank you.

 

[duneslider]

Maybe this isn't the right place for this post but I need a little advice on Silkies. We are getting some chicks soon and my wife really wants a couple of silkies. I am a little concerned about silkies mixed with some bigger birds and maybe the differences in care/housing, etc. We live in an area that allows chickens but roosters are a no go due to the noise. I am worried we will end up with roos and have that issue to deal with.

What other concerns do I need to be aware of with having a couple of silkies mixed with something like Easter Eggers, or Sex Links? We will most likely be starting with 6-7 chickens and see how that goes, 2 of which would be silkies.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Maybe this isn't the right place for this post but I need a little advice on Silkies. We are getting some chicks soon and my wife really wants a couple of silkies. I am a little concerned about silkies mixed with some bigger birds and maybe the differences in care/housing, etc. We live in an area that allows chickens but roosters are a no go due to the noise. I am worried we will end up with roos and have that issue to deal with.

What other concerns do I need to be aware of with having a couple of silkies mixed with something like Easter Eggers, or Sex Links? We will most likely be starting with 6-7 chickens and see how that goes, 2 of which would be silkies.

I house my silkies with my bigger birds. I have 2, a rooster and a pullet who is taking forever to lay. My rooster will be 3 in May, he was hatched out and broody raised. I also kept his larger hatch mate Marans rooster. The 2 of them have always had a wonderful working relationship. Truth be told, my big marans boy Bubba is below the silkie Branch in pecking order. Bubba has his harem of hens, tends to most of the escort calls and watches for predators. Branch has his harem, but where he excels at is daddy to the chicks. I have never had a better rooster around chicks. If he could, he would incubate the eggs himself. I do not know how he knows, but he will ignore a setting hen until the chicks start pipping. Then he is right there talking to her and the chicks. I have had him sit in the nest with some of the hens during hatching and she welcomed him. When she is done rearing the chicks he takes over for a few more weeks. My girls tend to let them go between 6 to 8 weeks. He takes over as "Momma" until they are at least 10 to 12 weeks. My silkie girls that I have had have either became the top hens 2nd in command or minion like I call them or have their own minions who they boss around. The problem I can see is where silkies are so hard to sex. You could buy 2 with your others but be prepared to have to wait 5+ months to find out one of them is a rooster.
My current pullet Poppet with her minions.

 

[duneslider]

I house my silkies with my bigger birds. I have 2, a rooster and a pullet who is taking forever to lay. My rooster will be 3 in May, he was hatched out and broody raised. I also kept his larger hatch mate Marans rooster. The 2 of them have always had a wonderful working relationship. Truth be told, my big marans boy Bubba is below the silkie Branch in pecking order. Bubba has his harem of hens, tends to most of the escort calls and watches for predators. Branch has his harem, but where he excels at is daddy to the chicks. I have never had a better rooster around chicks. If he could, he would incubate the eggs himself. I do not know how he knows, but he will ignore a setting hen until the chicks start pipping. Then he is right there talking to her and the chicks. I have had him sit in the nest with some of the hens during hatching and she welcomed him. When she is done rearing the chicks he takes over for a few more weeks. My girls tend to let them go between 6 to 8 weeks. He takes over as "Momma" until they are at least 10 to 12 weeks. My silkie girls that I have had have either became the top hens 2nd in command or minion like I call them or have their own minions who they boss around. The problem I can see is where silkies are so hard to sex. You could buy 2 with your others but be prepared to have to wait 5+ months to find out one of them is a rooster.
My current pullet Poppet with her minions.
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Thanks for the info! How loud are the silkie roosters? If they aren't loud we wouldn't care if we had a rooster, we are sort of on an odd lot and while technically roosters aren't allowed (due to noise) we are large enough that we could probably be fine if we wanted to push the issue. We are trying to be good neighbors basically, we have had ducks which are technically not permitted either but haven't had issues and neighbors were fine with it.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Thanks for the info! How loud are the silkie roosters? If they aren't loud we wouldn't care if we had a rooster, we are sort of on an odd lot and while technically roosters aren't allowed (due to noise) we are large enough that we could probably be fine if we wanted to push the issue. We are trying to be good neighbors basically, we have had ducks which are technically not permitted either but haven't had issues and neighbors were fine with it.

It took some coaxing but I was able to get a video of both my boys crowing. To be fair, they normally crow first thing in the mornings for about 20ish minutes. The rest of the day they may crow hear or there, but it is not constant. Personally, I do not mind crowing, I love it. I would rather hear a rooster crow then dogs constantly barking or loud music playing. I also find my hens are noisier then the boys when they sing the egg song, or fight over the same nest. As you can hear, Branch's is more high pitched but it does not carry. Bubba's is deeper therefore I can hear it from a longer distance. If I am in the house, I tend to hear Bubba's more often then Branch's.

 

[Elliemae1984]

Maybe this isn't the right place for this post but I need a little advice on Silkies. We are getting some chicks soon and my wife really wants a couple of silkies. I am a little concerned about silkies mixed with some bigger birds and maybe the differences in care/housing, etc. We live in an area that allows chickens but roosters are a no go due to the noise. I am worried we will end up with roos and have that issue to deal with.

What other concerns do I need to be aware of with having a couple of silkies mixed with something like Easter Eggers, or Sex Links? We will most likely be starting with 6-7 chickens and see how that goes, 2 of which would be silkies.

With my previous flock we had 2 silkies in with 4 RIR and white leghorns. We had no issues with bullying or anything since they were raised together. They got along very well and the big girls taught the silkies to roost up way higher than my silkies will go on their own now.

The only issue we eventually found was we had to be more careful when the silkies were free ranging since they wouldn’t see danger (fox, eagle, etc) coming as early as the others. We lost one silkie that way. Just meant we only let them free range while we were outside, so not a big deal at all.

Getting roosters is always a concern since silkies are sold straight run. I would get at least 4 silkie chicks with the assumption 2 will be boys and will need to be rehomed. Or get 6. Or 8. Or…..

 

[Hinotori]

I've had issues with large fowl and silkies. I had some hatchery barred rocks that kept trying to kill the bbs silkies I had. Nothing stopped them.

On the flip side, I also had a breed aggressive silkie rooster. He would attack anything that wasn't a silkie. The wheaten ameraucana roosters ran of they saw him even though he was a third their size. Well all the large fowl ran if they saw a silkie by that point because of him. Generally the silkies have gotten along very well with ameraucana and easter eggers for me.

All depends on the birds.

Silkie roosters can be quite loud if they want to be. Mine crow regularly. Roosters do crow less of there aren't other roosters around

 

[MrsMeanGreen]

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-

My surprise Silkie bantams from the feed store yesterday. I was happy to get $4 chicks and told the gentleman to give me the 5 smallest since they were being trampled in the bin by BR cockerels. I was ecstatic but terrified when I saw black legs and 5 toes. Now I'm trying to learn, quick, fast, and in a hurry!