One of my silkies was being stupid (refused to stay in the barn, insisted on perching out behind the shed, etc.) and I was afraid she was going to get taken by a predator. So I dropped her in with the standards this winter.
This is what I noticed:
After some initial bullying, in which she got a slightly bloody crest, she settled in fairly well. She does sleep on the floor. At feeding time, she's in the middle of the pan, first for the rush. I have two larger rubber pans for twenty-four hens. She tends to sit in the coop door during the day, for sunlight.
She's now higher up on the pecking order than the younger leghorns (8-monthers), but definitely no-where near the top. Bullying has completely ceased.
In our coop, we have:
Eleven Leghorns
Four silkiexEE pullets
Four Production Reds
One leghorn-cross rooster
One black Sexlink hen (home-brewed PRxBR)
Four EEs.
I free-feed 16% layer pellets/mash (whatever's available) with the occasional handful of corn, kitchen scraps, and any eggs that are damaged.
The coop is 85 square feet, ten feet smaller than recommended. There is a bucket upside down in the middle to serve as both a sight-line breaker and a seat.
The run is a little larger than 400 square feet and bare.
Based on this, I would say that mature, adult silkies can be integrated into a flock unless your hens are tremendous bullies. I am less confident about juvenile silkies.
