(Soon-to-be) New Chick Owner. Need Some Help! :)

[Fluffy Chick 15]

Hi, Im new and Im planning on getting my first little group of chickens. Im going to first get some Silkie chicks. I hear that they are hard to keep alive. Does anyone have any suggestions? If anyone raises Silkies please let me know. And, I know its pretty much impossible, but does anyone have any methods to tell wether a silkie chick is a rooster or a hen? Thanks, I would love the advice/help!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Don't know a lot about silkies but I'll give you a bump. Although this late at night you still might not get an answer. Maybe ask again in the morning when more folks are on.

 

[NattiFan]

Hope you get your answer.......

 

[plantguy90]

I just got my first Silkie chicks Tuesday. I had a lot of DOA's but the ones that were alive seem very healthy. Gave them sugar water at first, they ate and drank right away. Took me awhile to get the brooder temp right, and the have put up with me bothering them. Added a Rhode Island Red chick to the mix yesterday as I am short a red layer in my lineup. So far so good. Oh and they are cute, and its pretty fun to try raising them. Hope yours goes well.

 

[Fluffy Chick 15]

Thanks guys. Yeah, I might try to re-post this now that more poeple are on.

 

[kandyg_99]

Silkie's are the only birds I have and I have never had a problem hatching them or raising them.

 

[chicmom]

I've raised silkie chicks, and they weren't hard to raise at all! Of course they are a bantam sized breed, so they seem very tiny, but they did just as well as my standard sized chicks.

Here's what I do for baby chicks.......

I use pine shavings for bedding.

I use a heat lamp, suspended above so that I can lower it or raise it to get the proper temp, which at first is 99 degrees. (That's the temp directly under the lamp. You wanna keep that in a corner of the brooder (I use a large plastic storage bin). That way, if it's too warm for them, they can get away from the light.....

Put some marbles in the chick waterer so nobody drowns,

For the first 3 to 4 days, I put some bounty paper towels down over the pine bedding and sprinkle food and a little grit on there for them because they will just peck around ALOT. I also have a chick feeder full of food, and that's it!

Piece of cake!

Silkies shouldn't be difficult--good luck to you Dear!

Sharon

 

[Fluffy Chick 15]

Thanks! Is there anything special I need to get for them or raise them like normal chicks? Does it matter if I put a different breed of chicks in with the silkies? And is there a minimum of chicks I should buy to start with, 2, 4, 5? Thanks

 

[chkinut]

Quote:
i'd like to know the answer to that myself. i'm getting 7 EE and 1 BO (standard chicks) around april 13th. in the mean time, i've got 9 showgirl (showgirls are naked neck silkies...in case u weren't sure what i was talking about) eggs in the bator, due to hatch march 31st. THEN i'm gonna hatch 14 silkie eggs starting around april 3rd. so i'm wanting to keep all these chicks together if possible. i'm going to keep one showgirl and one silkie out of my bantams as house pets (pretty much). so i'm keeping 2. as far as the amount you wanna keep, that's up to you....unless the place ur ordering from requires a minimum order? i ordered my standard chicks from My Pet Chicken and their minimum order for me was 8. so i had to order 8, even though i'm only gonna keep 4 or 5. good luck!