Will Silkies get along with 6 other hens?

[battagliac]

My wife wants to get 2 silkies and we are wondering if they will be OK in the same coop and run with our other hens. The big orpingtons are pretty bossy with other smaller chickens, so wondering how the silkies would do, and if this is a good idea. thanks

 

[4hchickmama]

My silkies run together with my LF, in fact my silkie hen is the top lady, but some LF can be too rough with them. If you introduced slowly, they would probably be okay depending upon your housing situation.

p.s. I'm right up the road from you in Rocklin.

 

[battagliac]

Thanks for the information. We will probably get our silkies in Lincoln at the California Country Ranch, which has an add on craigslist for them. http://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/3582107817.html
http://californiacountryranch.blogspot.com/p/silkie-chicks-all-ages-show-and-pet.html

We have a pretty big run (~25 x 25) and coop, which we are almost finished with, and we let them all out to roam our 1 acre parcel 4-5 days/week, so I think they would have plenty of space. Just have to watch the hawks since these silkies are so small.

Thanks again,
Mitsuyo & Charlie

 

[4hchickmama]

That is Sheri. I got mine from her too. She is awesome and has great birds. Silkies are VERY prone to hawk attacks because they cannot see very well.

 

[RainyPeeps]

My Silkies do great with our 4 big girls. I have 2 Silkies. We even added them to the flock later. The big girls were around 5 months old and the Silkies about 8 weeks old when we moved the silkies into an area that was parallel to the big girls area. It shared a common fence, so they could check each other out and get used to each other. We left them like this for about a week, maybe more I don't remember. We would let them all out into the yard at the same time. The big girls didn't act like they cared when there was such good grass to nibble.

Then we moved them into the big girls area. We moved their whole little coop my husband built into the area so they would have their own space in case they were picked on. Which they were a little at first. Nothing major, I think just normal establishing of the pecking order. Then once the Silkies were full grown we took their little house out. They had some trouble with the ramp to the big coop though. Their little coop didn't have one. We would find them huddled just outside the coop and we would place them inside each night. Eventually they got it. Thank goodness!

Now they all get along great! No problems.

Good luck!

 

[RainyPeeps]

Oh yeah, wanted to add that now they are in the big coop they still don't sleep on perches. Which I think is the norm for Silkies. So be sure and have an area for them to huddle and sleep that they won't get pooped on from above!

 

[4hchickmama]

Oh and they also have trouble climbing a ramp....so if you have a ramp up to your coop, they might need to be taught to coop up. I just got a new coop with a bigger ramp and the silkies had to be shown how to do it. It took like 2 weeks, but now they do it. They don't roost, at all.