Solar powered silkies?

[SilkieLegs]

We have nine white silkies. They go in and out of the coop run all day - free range. At night, when the sun sets they huddle up and stop right in the middle of the yard. We carry each one (with a snuggle) and put them up inside the coop each night. I think they do it in purpose. If I lock them in the run, they just huddle on the ground. Why won't they go up the ramp and into the coop? They find their way down each morning just fine.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You can try putting a light in the coop- even a battery-powered one and they may go in there for you.

Sometimes silkies have a hard time with ramps. Since they are going in and out all day, I am thinking they think it is spooky in there at dusk.

Keeping their feed in the coop is another thing that helps tremendously.

 

[Pathfinders]

ChickensAreSweet is right, putting the feed into the coop will encourage your Silkies to go back in at night.

Silkies are sometimes silly, and can also be hampered by their large crests, and some can't even see well because of them! If your birds have crests that look like ours did (we used to breed Silkies), then you might consider using some "hair tape" to pull them up and out of the way of their eyes. Hair tape won't hurt their feathers, and will keep them from dunking their heads in their waterers too (we had one hen who learned this trick, and did so often so she could see better.)

Here's a photo of one of our Silkies who needed hair tape:

 

[aart]

Pathfinders...we need to see a silkie with the hair tape

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Going to google hair tape now....

 

[Pathfinders]

Pathfinders...we need to see a silkie with the hair tape

LOL! I wish I could post a pic with it, but alas, we sold all our bantams when our kids went to college (having two kids in college at the same time puts a serious crimp in your poultry budget, never mind losing all my chore help!) All I have are LF Buckeyes now.

But here's a link to a thread here on BYC about it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/340755/how-do-i-tie-up-silkies-hat-feeble-attempt-pic

 

[Pathfinders]

Going to google hair tape now....

Amazon has three sellers selling "hair set tape."