I have never had a silky but they do seem to be more skittish than most birds.
The problem with these Chinese made Grandpa feeders is the training requirements needed with a guillotine style overhead door. We sell a similar type, M.A. 2017, and we tell customers NOT to block the lid open because when you do you are teaching the birds that the lid isn't supposed to move when they step on the treadle. Then of course they are much harder to train than an inward swinging door so the birds pretty much have to go without feed for hours if not days before they become bold enough to risk this scary contraption.
But, Silkies are so light and small, a normal treadle feeder especially a rat proof feeder would have to be so light as to be much less rat proof. If you don't already have rats, buying a duck step with the treadle feeder and tweaking the spring and the weight of the treadle might work. I would block the sides of the treadle with concrete blocks or milk jugs filled with water or sand to prevent the birds from approaching from the side.
I would also order the soft close version so that the tiny birds have a shot at getting their head out if they are feeding beside another bird and not standing on the treadle. From the video they seem to have a very fast reaction response but as we say in Oklahoma, farm animals are never safe around moving equipment and Oklahoma State Senators.
I keep seeing this problem with silkies and feeders popping up. I wonder if a feeder with a very, very, slow closing door would be a solution? Keep the weight required stiff so that some full size birds would be needed to operate the feeder, keep the spring loaded door to prevent rats or squirrels from just pushing the door open, but slow that door down, way way down, to make it safe for the smaller birds.
