While most Silkies are generally considered bantams in the USA, it's not necessarily always the case elsewhere -- I always recommend local chicken groups for the best info for your area!
My dear nice Lady! Please visite my channel and take a look. Quails are half domesticated tiny wild chicken. All sorts of chicken are very social birds. You only have to invest veeer, much time, love and care and they will love you and see you as a mother or alpha figure. My quails would never poop in me or in my bed/nest because of their real feelings they have for me. My last quail died on 2. Dezember thus year in my hands beak on nose on the way to the VET. It is so hard for me being without my so loved feather-children. I shared all of my free time with them and I'm sure that it is possible that you cuties could AS handsome and cuddle-addicted as my chicks. :)
@@user-qo8rl7ew5i this is a new venture for us. From what we’ve found, you need to place the into a small chicken run side by side with the original placing them in it during the day for a week or so. Then try them either free roaming or in the original run for a few hours while you can observe them. After doing this several times, if they get along you should be fine. Like I said, we’re new. Research on TH-cam and see what others have done and decide what you think is best for you and your flock.
I had silkies back in the 70's. I never worried about the winters even though I did check on them. Mom had Road Island Reds in a Coupe. My Silkies were free to roam. She would lay 6 eggs and then hatch them. They both would take the small chicks around andd feed and protect them. The whole time she would lay 6 more eggs. The rooster would take the babies while she would sit on the other eggs and he would keep them warm at night by sitting on them and would scratch and feed them during the day. Once the second nest would hatch then she would bring them to the rooster and they both cared for both clutches. I would go out at night and would find them in tractor shed usually and they rooster and the hen would be sitting on the chicks but both sets would be mixed under mom and dad. The bigger chicks would poke out from under dad and then one of the younger ones under that one. I miss them a lot. I loved having them. They were the only family chickens I ever knew of. He had a clean head and a purple/black rose comb on his head. He looked like a rooster and she had the typical tuff of feathers on her head but they were quite the lookers for chickens. "IF" I could, I would wish to have those exact silkies back. After I went to college Dad took care of them for me for some time but one day he called and said a fox had gotten them. I was sad about losing the Kernal and Abigail. They were the best chickens I ever had. I am getting ready to fence my property and build two coupes. The field will be my Buckey Chickens and the other coupe will be above the yard and those will be my Silkies. I am also thinking of getting some of those Ayam Cemani chickens but will have to wait to see how things go once I get the field and yard fenced in. I prefer to keep the different breeds of chickens seperate. I was told the Silkies I had were Siamese Silkies. It has been so many years I do not know if I can ever find those exact ones but I still want the black skin silkies to have in my yard. Mine were black skin but the dark color was filled with a lot of dark purple, even the rooster rose comb and her featers too. They were Perfect Chickens. They would eat bugs but would not disturbed seeds when we were planting our garden and were a help to keep bugs down while were were planting and even in the garden. Thanks for the Video! I learned some things about these chickens that I didn't know.
My little free range princess silkie comes to my front door whenever she gets wet from rain.. so I bring her in and dry her feathers with my hair dryer on low setting. She seems to appreciate it and has no fear at all! They make the best pets!
I had a silkie rooster his name was King Tut he wasn't very friendly I had to walk backwards so he didn't attack me from behind my neighbor behind me their dog who broke through their neighbors fence and broke through another part of their fence to get three of my silkie only one survived and my son named her tiny. She has a sister but she not a silkie she a big black chicken I'm not sure what she is I don't think she a Jersey Giant but close to them but their were young enough we got another flock mix with silkie and regular chicken and tiny ( the silkie) she is the second of the pecking order I seen her pull some of the others chicken feathers like she is bullying the other chicken. I have another flock of chicken and their separated from my young flock I see my tiny try to pick a fight with one of my older flock. I think my silkie tiny is a feisty silkie.
SILKIES USED TO BE SNOW CHICKENS, originating from China. THAT'S why they have black skin, Downey feathers, and feet that have an extra toe, functioning as 'snow shoes'. Also, the hens are the BEST mommas. My silkie has willingly adopted any 'rescue chicks' and even a duckling. I have never heard of 'grooming' silkies, except for occasional trimming of 'bangs'...must be a mainland thing. 😄
Loved your film. kept Silkies for many years as backyard pets. I have always given their topknots a trim when they start covering their eyes. ...modified mohawks...lol. My girls love being able to see well, and walk around like tiny giraffes after their hair cuts, stretching their necks out and looking around eagerly. 😊
We have kept Silkies in our flock for years we raise almost all our chicks with them. This spring we had a little Silkie hen that chased 4 Geese around our chicken yard because they were picking on her chicks. they are a great breed to keep around in your flocks.
Same, we only have a pair of silkies in our flock (I just couldn't resist) and I swear I crack up so hard when I see the tiny litlle white ball of fluf chase away my giant chubby Plymouth
I lost my favorite silkie rooster to heat stroke. I only mention this because it's not something that was not cautioned in the video. If you have a day over or near 100 F keep an eye on them.
I have got silkie. & I'm A breeder for 10 years. I grew up around chickens. I hate to disappoint you but the splash has strimers he is also A Rooster . I hope you will have goid experience in silkie breeds I know I do. My first silkie I got 9 years ago & she still with me
I just found you, and 30 seconds in I’m impressed lol. I love that you’ve made a written version too, not everyone absorbs information the same way or can watch videos right away. Very cool! That is all, bye.
I know this is an old post, but having had chickens now for a couple years, i kinda laugh about articles that say this chicken acts this way, this other chicken acts this way, etc. I've had 3 silkies. I read about how friendly and docile they are, yadda yadda. Well, somebody forgot to inform the chickens of their supposed personalities. Im here to tell you other than physical characteristics, you can throw the personality stuff out the window. All of my silkies thought they were big bird. Last summer one went very broody. We kicked her out of the coop a couple times. The first time she followed hubby around a good 10 minutes "swearing " at him. It is now mid January and I guess they are finally on speaking terms again. I have seen those little birds grab treats out of the big chickens beak and run away. One of them decided she was a night owl and didn't want to go into the coop till way after dark. She'd be outside still, just scratching around being a chicken. None of them particularly fond of being touched. They were raised together from chicks and were handled as much as the regular chickens, who now are all pretty friendly. Except the silkies. I've read how they hate to be wet. So, all the rest of the chickens had the sense to get outa the rain, silkies be outside and didn't seem to bother them at all, even though they looked like a drowned rat. Even egg laying i think can vary. My silkies almost keep up with the rest. Yea, the eggs are smaller. I prbly wouldn't want *just* silkies for eggs. That said, they're not *that* small. Reading about them, people make it sound like you're gonna get pigeon eggs. Id say they're about like buying small eggs from the store. So my half cents worth is buy whatever chicken you want based on egg color or looks or whatever, but when it comes to personality, much like people, they are all individuals. In the end it usually all works out. 😎
I have been raising silkies since last 4 years. Yes, they do require good amount of care compared to other chicken breeds. I do free range my silkies for few hours everyday and trim their feathers or fur near the eyes once every 2-3 months. I give them a full body bath once every 3 months to keep them clean.
Mine started laying at ~21 weeks old. Last fall I had a silkie hen go broody and I just let her do her thing, she hatched 2 silkies and a brahmin/silkie hybrid; all hens by some dumb luck. 7 weeks ago more chicks hatched (2 silkies and a brahmin/silkie hybrid again). Regarding not letting them free range out of safety, get a dummy garden owl and place it on top of your chicken coop to deter hawks.
One of my Silkie mamas is currently raising her hatched white leghorn babies. 😍😍😍 I have given away so many Silkie roosters that I’m now gathering Silkie eggs as fast as I can to deter more babies. They are a sweet little pet, mine are somewhat snuggly, but I’m not going to go into another generation. When these are gone…I’m done. I’ll miss my bucket therapy in the Silkie pen but they are really high maintenance. Blessings, debby
I’ve owned silkie chickens for over a year now, and one thing I’ve noticed is you can teach them their name and they come. This has only happened with two of my roosters due to being extra hands on for various reasons 😊
Yeah, my daughter in law and I have made that impulse buy as well. We have 11 silkies coming at the end of June so I’m very glad to see this now so we can prepare now. My grandparents and her mom have always had chickens, this is our first venture with them. Our first chicks are near ready to leave the nursery and Pawpaw is getting ready to build the coop. Now I do believe we’ll be building a duplex coop. One place, side by side still together but not together. We’re already getting close to our chicks so yes, we’d hate to loose any of them. Our granddaughters would be really heartbroken 💔. Thanks for sharing this advice. It was well needed!
I just was given 2 month old silkies and we built a mini hoop tractor. 4x6 with 8 ft cattle panels bent into hoops. That way they can free range in our yard safely. Don't know if we got hens or roosters but its nice to have them as pets... If you handle them it helps. I got one that is extremely friendly wants to be all over me the other not so much lol!
I trim my silkies head feathers so that they can see a bit better ( though the breed in general has very poor eyesight) - this helps them with foraging and being able to compete with my other chickens for treats. There is a blood supply to the base of the feathers so you have to be careful not to trim too close to the base. The also look very funny with their little mohawks!
I have had silkies for well over 10 years. I have a backyard garden so I find they are the best. They are quiet and so cuddly. I free range mine and I have not had problems. I don't think I would ever have another breed for my backyard garden. Maybe if I moved out to the country I would get others. Great video!
I've been breeding Silkies and Satins for years now and that Splash Silkie "lily" is a cockerel also. The last buff Silkie that you show does look like a female but she appears to have the wrong comb type for a Silkie which isn't uncommon. The standard call for a walnut comb like your other Silkies have. She appears to have what is called a straight comb. Now granted I didn't get a great look at it. I like the advice that you give, and several of the points that you made are things that I have to try and explain to people over and over again. They definitely are unique and don't behave like other breeds. They are mainly for ornamental, showing, and pet purposes. They make good incubators and mothers. I laugh when people ask about their egg production and politely tell them they should look for another breed that is meant for that if they are wanting eggs. I always recommend keeping Silkies in their own separate coop and not mixed with other standard breeds. Sure, if they are all raised together from chicks they might get along just fine and some people say they don't have any issues mixing theirs but, I personally wouldn't risk it. People also don't realize how hard they are to tell what gender they are compared to most breeds. I do offer DNA sexing but it costs quite a bit but it is the only way to know for sure at a young age. Unless you get one that starts crowing early lol. You can always read more about DNA testing at iqbirdtesting.com. 😀
They say Silkies are poor egg layers but I have a hen which lays an egg every day and doesn't start getting broody unless I leave the eggs in her nest box. She even laid an egg every day in the winter.
I find that female silkies have blue faces, while males have redder faces where the comb is. The "hair" on top of the head is also slightly different between sexes.
I live in the Pacific Northwest. Ours always did fine in winter. That being said the whole flock had easy access to shelter and we kept them all locked up at night and in severe weather. The silkes were always outside with the other birds. I never noticed them to handle cold or wet different than the other breeds. I've never had problems of keeping any of our feather footed birds clean. If your coop is kept clean and they have enough space there's no problem. I also never had a problem with them and predators. That being said most of the danger is at night for chickens. I've never noticed an issue with they're vision. They are very watchful and social. Silkie boys will actually team up to take on a threat. I had two gang up on my Jersey Giant who was getting out of line with another bird. As a whole they are easy going and a lot calmer. Hand raised birds and using a heating pad rather than a light to warm them makes a huge difference in chicken personalities. (Do your research before attempting the heating pad method. It requires a little set up to do right and safely) When you get to know the breed it's easy to tell the girls from the boys but yes it can be hard when they are young.
I love the breed! They are such a friendly wonderful chicken. We handled ours as chicks and they were super friendly. Winter in a small hutch our 5 hens did absolutely fine..important to have dry straw (bedding) and draft free but in freezing rain and snow here in AR they did fine.
Lily is definitely a roo 😀 Don’t worry because I’ve had some baby boys that have a girlie name as well. It might be the reason Johnny Cash sang “A Boy Named Sue” lol
I love my silkies. I got one to breed with an orloff hen and now I have this amazing silkie rooster with a golden mullet and amazing browns and whites. His name is GOLDENHAWK and he is definitely a rocker.
First time silkie owner my self, and i absolutely love my girls! I bought them from Tractor Supply back in April, when they was little chicks, and all the tag said was "assorted bantams," $3.50 ea. I ended up with 2 black bearded female silkies, 2 black rosecombs (1 male, 1 female), and 1 golden laced cochin (male). Like every body else i had to wait and see what the sexes was when they crowed or laid a egg. They have been raised together and still are together. My silkies just started laying 2 wks ago and have laid every other day since. I also read on the breeding that some times it won't take if the fur around the vent isn't kept trimmed. Although i'm not sure on that note just yet, but i do know the cochin "loves" the silkie hens, lol. Everything i have read says it's best to wait til the following spring to hatch the eggs so i'll learn more first hand on that next year. Great video btw, i'm still curious about the cold weather as well so i'll just keep a close eye on them.
We have 17 silkies and we keep hatching more every few months. We hatch out really interesting silkies too- like a few days ago we hatched a little white one with blue and pink skin. We even hatched a black one even though all our adult silkies are white, blue, and some sort of light colored partridge. My goal is to get one of those orange or partridge silkies and maybe even one of those black and white splash ones. But we have to sell the 2 roosters we have and bring in new ones to get more colors.
We gave our silkies ten quail eggs as sort of a joke/test to see if they could hatch them. They absolutely did and were mad that we took them away. We aren't doing this anymore obviously and we really didn't think it would work.
I can't believe you found them at tractor supply our tractor supply refuses to get them! I handle my chickens because their pets for me I love to snuggle chickens and it takes two seconds for a bird to just love me
I have a large flock that are free range on my 30 acre farm in Florida. The Silkies and the Orpingtons hang out in/around the large coop (a 30x25 foot barn I converted), while the other chickens and turkeys roam around in the woods. The silkies are great for breeding more chicks, which is the only reason I have them.
I have 22 Silkies and one Satin. When raising Silkies and regular size chickens we also have Bantams, Brahmas and Cochin chickens you definitely need separate housing for the Silkies and Bantams!! The reason for this, the bigger chickens pick on the small ones and also you have to feed Silkies and Bantams crumbles not pellets. Pellets are too big for the Silkies/Bantams they can actually choke on it. We built our chicken coop with 8" cedar channel siding with metal roofing and 1x2 welded wire to make it predator proof, also put windows in it and divided the middle of the chicken coop with 1x2 welded wire Silkies on one side the bigger chickens on the other. Both sides have separate door entrances and heat lamps throughout the entire winter. With me being a Silkie owner for 20 years Silkies do need heat lamp!! I wish I could post pictures on here to show you what the chicken coop looks like.
I had wanted to get 1 silkie hen to be the brooder for any eggs that hatch later, but decided against it because I just didn't want to deal with roosters. But silkie moms are outstandingly broody.
We have 20 total chickens, 2 silkie hens included. Bullied at first, fine now. Texas heat no problem for them. Cold ok because small coop and they all generate plenty of heat, and the coop stays closed up during winter cold, ventilated during summer heat. All stay cooped during day in small run and shaded heat and all do fine. Silkies run around with all the other chickens free ranging when we're home. Predators grabbed many other chickens but not either of the silkies yet. Amazing. Silkies free range just fine on our heavily wooded land.
We are raising one baby chick silkie which was a complete mistake as they gave us the wrong breed. We love her though and decided to keep her. We have one other silkie but she was a surprise gift and was given as an adult. So this is our first silkie that we are raising. We realized that she seems much more cold than the rest even though she is the same age as the other babies so I completely agree with the cold theory! Thank you for the great information!!!
A girlfriend of mine was looking to rehome a silkie rooster and we took him in. It did take quite some time as he is our only silkie for the girls to warm up to him. But he is the best rooster and really takes care of his girls.
Hey your silkies are gorgeous I also have to let you know your lily is actually a roo I have been breeding silkies for a year now and he definitely has streamers which is a 100% tell sign of a rooster
I have silkies just love them and are with my big girl flock of cochins, brahmas , marons, speckled suffix, ... and do have other bantans about 70 birds, hard to count all so active. They were all raised together and amazing how well they all get along. The silkies stand up for themselves. Also silkies like to roost next to the big birds their security blankets. Built my coop in layer of shelves and roosts at different levels and at very top 7' 1/2 feet. Amazing how the silkies will go all the way to top as have shelves they can jump up with perches at all along different levels to hop up. Silkies love it and will climb right up with the bigger birds. Some still sleep in nesting boxes find 2 or 3 in one box. I do keep 4 heaters in coop as in northern state. Keeps temperature above freezing like at 40-45% , not to hot. keep bedding deep 6" at least to keep them dry in coop. I do open door to let them all out even in snow. Silkies are first ones out love to run around in snow. I Do keep hay out daily in sheltered areas and roost outside for them too, that go above snow level they can get out of snow or they can get back in coop if get cold, all works out never lost one to the cold very healthy active birds. the key is lots of warm water don't let water freeze up and also feed warm mashes helps. LOL ENJOY YOUR PETS!
We just got 12 new hens, and 4 are silkie cross Rhode Island reds and they are soooo beautiful and actually have been laying the most of our whole flock! Small little golf ball sized eggs tho
Concerning winter cold with chickens, I have heard that Frizzle Chickens are more susseptable to the cold and the explanaton was the feathers are configured is a way that doesn't keep out the cold. Apparently, a tighter feather configuration helps to insulate the chicken's body.
My functional part of my silkies are incubation. The hens get broody more often throughout the year. So free natural incubator. They are very winter hardy, with good insulation. Off grid straws and good coop insulation -35 degrees... I am happy with them.
My father kept a rather large flock of chickens when I was growing up and we always had 2-3 silkie roosters and 10-13 silkie hens at any given time. We also had several other breeds Araucana, Sebright, Buff Orpington, Polish, are just a few we had and we always had at least 1 rooster and 2-5 hens per rooster of each breed. My observations on Silkies are this they did fine in cold as long as it was a dry cold. The roost always had an open door to the run and we only kept a heat lamp on when it got down into the negative teens and we supplemented with more corn in their feed to boost their internal heat. The male silkies were always the most aggressive of the roosters of any breed we had, the only male birds that were more aggressive were the wild turkeys that we raised. The female silkies were the most docile and submissive hens in the flock. They were the best brooders of the hens if you take a weekend trip you are likely to come back to at least one of them guarding a nest. A fun breed to have and they are really interesting to watch molting and you get to see all that black skin.
We love our silkies. It's really interesting because our rooster has a HUGE comb on his head but he was completely almost identical to his sister at a few weeks old. Now he is a lot bigger and his sister has stayed really small. I will say though, I wasn't expecting to love them so much but me and my kids LOVE them. We have a variety of chickens and they all hang together. They just established their pecking order and get along just fine now. I haven't noticed in issues with them all being together.
I was questioning the fact that she had just 2 roosters. It looked like the first 3 we're roosters. I've only had silkies and chickens for a year now so means I'm new. We got 4 silkies and have hatched 6. Every female has a tiny almost no comb and a lot less fluffy with a totally different hairstyles (afro vs mullet). They are old enough to start crowing and harassing all the hens trying to "learn how they do it on the animal channel" lol. So is this just by chance I have a clear difference in roosters and hens?
Fantastic information! I’m in love with my Silkies… my covered coop cost me 2500$ for 2 Silkies!!! 😂😂😂 but I love them I’m glad you’re not the only one who had an impulse by tractor supply!!!
Silkies handle cold well from my experience. We had them up in Iowa and they handled the cold very well. We had a couple of winters get to -20 F. They do good in a flock with gentle breeds that they've grown up with. The cochins and brahmas got along with them just fine.
I have 3 silkie hens and 2 silkie roos. I just got more silkie chicks. I keep my silkies with my Seramas and old English chicks so when it's cold they all can heat each other and have each others company. Great birds! 🥰😍
Great job describing the silkies! Ours do great free dancing but we don't have trees, so fewer aerial predators than most people have. They also have plenty of other chickens out with them to help alert them of potential danger. Unfortunately because they pretty much don't fly at all, they are more prone to ground predators like coyotes, raccoons and even snakes (the latter is a problem in our part of Texas in the summer). But their sweetness definitely makes them worth the extra attention 😍😍😍
Ive had a silkie rooster that was sooo mean, by far the meanest I've ever had. I also find the hens go broody constantly. In the winter I don't find they need more heat but they can get wet because of their feathers and then they need some extra help to get dry. We bring them in the garage and use a hair dryer to fully dry the bird, and then put them back in the coop with the other birds. I do partially free range my birds and at least in a mixed flock have not noticed a problem with predators.
We have a short 3ft fence and the silkies are the only ones that stay in. Our big silkie rooster jumps over the fence but the other 2 cannot. Our black silkie hen Mavis has her eyes mostly covered and she is in her own little world. She broods on and off every 3-4 weeks and pretty funny opening the box and finding her sitting on 8 eggs from all the other girls! She also does not take any crap from the full size hens. She is by far our sweetest chicken. Worse part of silkies is you cannot sex them as chicks and by the time you know half your birds are roosters, you have fallen in love with them and dont want to get rid of them. :) We have two silkie roosters, one black and one white and at least they do not crow much and are not nearly as loud as little bantom roosters. One suggestion is to make sure your roosts are accessible for the silkies because they cannot fly but they can jump over a foot. Our roosts are about 3 ft off the floor so I built a ladder up to the roost and they can jump up to the roost.
Silkies also need a higher protein feed. We mix game crumbles in with their food to make sure they are getting the proper amount. My silkies lay almost every day.
Such a good video! Thank you for compiling all the facts for us 😊 I was wondering, how much to the males crow? Is it louder / less loud than other breeds, and do they crow extremely early in the morning? I’d love to have silkies as pets but I’m a late sleeper, and having a rooster singing their heart out at 5 in the morning every day would probably drive me stir crazy 😅
We recently got two Silkies and were told they were bad layers... We've had an egg every day without fail and 2 eggs a day 3 times a week. Pretty good if you ask me!
Silkies are fine with cold but not wind or rain also silkies should have black comb and wattles. To tell roosters and hens apart as chicks if you don’t want to do vent sexing you can look at how they stand the roosters being more upright and sometimes you can look at their feet (which isn’t the most reliable but) the roosters tend to have thicker, bigger feet (I have some 6 week old chicks with a hen and have already figured out their genders). I wouldn’t recommend keeping silkies with other big breeds but you can try.
I don’t treat the silkies different then my other chickens and let him free range like it wants. If something flies over he just start running with the others. Indeed terrible eyesight though, a bit funny sometimes 😇 My silkie just loves to free range when it’s raining, all the others are under cover and the silkie just keeps on going, not a problem she says. I can agree they shouldn’t be kept with very feisty breeds.
ive actually had my silkies since the day you posted this and they didnt get introduced to our big flock because we were planning to wait about a week and then we surprisingly got given two young (as in 5 weeks) sebrings and my small silkie flock has taken them under their wing (no pun intended) 😂 i actually free roam my silkies and they are completely fine being free roamed🥰😍😎
Silkies are my favorite breed. Definitely the most friendly in general. I had an oddball silkie rooster Mr Silk. Had 300+ chickens at one time of Phoenix, Cochin, Rode island reds, Americaunas, Barred rock, Buff orphingtons, and sooo many more. BUT the absolute top dog of the farm was Mr Silk. He would beat up roosters 4 times his size. When they fight they jump and kick each other so he would pretend like he was going to jump which made the other roosters jump and when the were coming down he would spring up and batter them. He would also grab a beak full of feathers and lock on while kicking until they retreated. He was extremely smart and agile to say the least lol. The rest of the roosters just got to where they stayed out of his way honestly. I had a few pretty bad fights but never lost any from fighting. Mr Silk didn't do any real physical damage, mainly just battered them and I think scared them because they didn't seem to know how to actually fight the little fella. He was one of a kind. He NEVER attacked a human. He loved getting under our feet and receiving attention. I'm in North Texas and only had minor issues with cold weather. If there was an ice storm they'd need a heat lamp. They did get hot though when it would get in the high 90s or triple digits. They just need water and a good shaded area for hot summers. They are so much fun. I sold off all of my flock because it got so out of control. I'm now 10-15 years later starting a new flock. My wife decided she couldn't live without turkeys so we bought 6 at Tractor Supply. Lost one because it was very hot yesterday so I pulled the heat lamps back then we had to take our kids back from visitation and it rained a bit, power went out. Returned and power was back but 5 Silkie chicks were laying on their sides. At first glance I thought they were gone but my wife and I got them out and noticed they were barely breathing so I ran warm water over them one at a time as she used the blow dryer. Surprisingly they all snapped back after a few hours. When we checked again the Turkey chick was down. Did the same with it but sadly it didn't make it. I guess the extreme heat then being cold and wet was too much for it. Now we are looking for a new brown Turkey. Today the all the others were totally fine thankful. It has been a long day replacing wet bedding with dry and drying out the babies troth I with you the best of luck with your Silkies though! Loved seeing yours.
Not sure if this has been brought up already in the comments but another consideration before keeping silkies is their predisposition to vit. Deficiency and more importantly, their inclination toward developing symptoms related to the Marek's virus; the first is treatable when identified early enough but the only course of action against the virus is supportive care to keep the immune system well managed and stress to a minimum.
Great video! We breed silkies and just love them. FYI your splash is a boy :) You can tell because of the "streamers" growing out of the back of his head. Girls have a more uniform rounded crest. Enjoy them!
I'm getting 4 silkies (3 girls and a boy) and I'm definitely gonna take these tips for when I get them. I'm probably gonna keep them in a coop of their own and since we don't have winter where I live, they're gonna be fine but if it's too hot, they're gonna have to go into my house to keep them cool
I also live in very hot area (Az) but in the house would be difficult. I think I’ll try mist system or large fan and ice bottles for them to lay next to. Hope it works.
@@laurab.8607 I currently have 3 silkies now and since it switches between rain and dry seasons (Philippine weather) and what I do is I used a tarp draped over their cage and when it comes to the rain and it's pulled up when it's warmer or just sunny. I'm gonna definitely try the ice in the waterer thing if they get too hot in the summer because our heat here is basically scorchingly painful at times.
Glad i found this channel . We ended up with a grey baby silkie. I had never seen one with so much feathers on the feet glad to find out what to be aware of. We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet
I got my first silkie in march n it does great with the other chickens i bought at the same time (a bantam, and 2 amberlinks) the amberlinks honestly act like their the silkie and bantams mommas 🤣 they will let them lay under them and everything!
how long after this video did it take till you realized Lilly was not a Lilly but in face a Larry? that comb and those streamers on the head are a dead giveaway!
I have had silkies as pets for 10 years. They are probably the most spoilt chickens in the Southern Hemisphere 😁 One thing that worries me a lot, and I can’t control is them being egg bound. It is a terribly traumatic experience, and a horrible way to die. I’ve lost one girl and I’m still devastated. She was fine when she went to bed but we found her the next morning and she’d died during the night 😢 I’ve also rescued a double egg bound girl and managed to save her as she had symptoms and I recognised them immediately.
And just to add, the other 3 girls I had seemed (noticeably) to be ‘not themselves’ for a couple of weeks afterwards - very quiet and almost like they were mourning her… I was surprised at this because she was my youngest and well down the pecking order and used to get bullied a little, the fact that I hand raised her might have had something to do with it, she was so docile and lotuses to jump into my arms when I’d come home from work 😔
I have about 15 SILKIES...I also have 4 Silkie hens that decided to set they all hatched out Babies middle of winter and still going strong! They all get along with the FLOCK..
I only have one silkie rooster bantam. I was worried if he would survive the winter but to our surprise, he has done just as well in low teen temps. The cold has not effected him at all and we don’t give any supplemental heat. He also usually lays down by himself so he is not surviving off the other’s body heat.
Because the feathers do not have barbs in them and thus do not interlock, silkies loose a lot more heat than normal/smooth feathered birds, simular to how chicks cannot hold heat because of their down and thus require suplimental heat. I personally give additional heat when the temperature goes past -10°c, and you have to make sure they don't get water in their beards in the winter as they will freeze up. I have kept silkies for years no, and breed them as well. My personal birds get "haircuts" to remove feathers from around their eyes so they can free range. Another thing is in the winter if they are allowed outdoors, their feet need to be checked regularly as the feathers on their feet act like brooms and will cake up and freeze. Besides that very good points. P.s. Lily is a rooster...
You officially stole my heart when you said "this is Mr. Bigfoot". Lol I will definitely be naming my first rooster bigfoot, and ironically I'm working on launching a TH-cam channel called Mr.Bigfoot... I thought it followed the format, with Mr. Beast and Mr. Ballen
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
While most Silkies are generally considered bantams in the USA, it's not necessarily always the case elsewhere -- I always recommend local chicken groups for the best info for your area!
My dear nice Lady!
Please visite my channel and take a look.
Quails are half domesticated tiny wild chicken.
All sorts of chicken are very social birds.
You only have to invest veeer, much time, love and care and they will love you and see you as a mother or alpha figure.
My quails would never poop in me or in my bed/nest because of their real feelings they have for me.
My last quail died on 2. Dezember thus year in my hands beak on nose on the way to the VET.
It is so hard for me being without my so loved feather-children.
I shared all of my free time with them and I'm sure that it is possible that you cuties could AS handsome and cuddle-addicted as my chicks. :)
@@user-qo8rl7ew5i this is a new venture for us. From what we’ve found, you need to place the into a small chicken run side by side with the original placing them in it during the day for a week or so. Then try them either free roaming or in the original run for a few hours while you can observe them. After doing this several times, if they get along you should be fine. Like I said, we’re new. Research on TH-cam and see what others have done and decide what you think is best for you and your flock.
I had silkies back in the 70's. I never worried about the winters even though I did check on them. Mom had Road Island Reds in a Coupe. My Silkies were free to roam. She would lay 6 eggs and then hatch them. They both would take the small chicks around andd feed and protect them. The whole time she would lay 6 more eggs. The rooster would take the babies while she would sit on the other eggs and he would keep them warm at night by sitting on them and would scratch and feed them during the day. Once the second nest would hatch then she would bring them to the rooster and they both cared for both clutches. I would go out at night and would find them in tractor shed usually and they rooster and the hen would be sitting on the chicks but both sets would be mixed under mom and dad. The bigger chicks would poke out from under dad and then one of the younger ones under that one. I miss them a lot. I loved having them. They were the only family chickens I ever knew of. He had a clean head and a purple/black rose comb on his head. He looked like a rooster and she had the typical tuff of feathers on her head but they were quite the lookers for chickens. "IF" I could, I would wish to have those exact silkies back. After I went to college Dad took care of them for me for some time but one day he called and said a fox had gotten them. I was sad about losing the Kernal and Abigail. They were the best chickens I ever had. I am getting ready to fence my property and build two coupes. The field will be my Buckey Chickens and the other coupe will be above the yard and those will be my Silkies. I am also thinking of getting some of those Ayam Cemani chickens but will have to wait to see how things go once I get the field and yard fenced in. I prefer to keep the different breeds of chickens seperate. I was told the Silkies I had were Siamese Silkies. It has been so many years I do not know if I can ever find those exact ones but I still want the black skin silkies to have in my yard. Mine were black skin but the dark color was filled with a lot of dark purple, even the rooster rose comb and her featers too. They were Perfect Chickens. They would eat bugs but would not disturbed seeds when we were planting our garden and were a help to keep bugs down while were were planting and even in the garden.
Thanks for the Video! I learned some things about these chickens that I didn't know.
My little free range princess silkie comes to my front door whenever she gets wet from rain.. so I bring her in and dry her feathers with my hair dryer on low setting. She seems to appreciate it and has no fear at all! They make the best pets!
Thats sonds like just about the cutest thing in the world, "Mama, sky's wet again :( I require assistance."
I had a silkie rooster his name was King Tut he wasn't very friendly I had to walk backwards so he didn't attack me from behind my neighbor behind me their dog who broke through their neighbors fence and broke through another part of their fence to get three of my silkie only one survived and my son named her tiny. She has a sister but she not a silkie she a big black chicken I'm not sure what she is I don't think she a Jersey Giant but close to them but their were young enough we got another flock mix with silkie and regular chicken and tiny ( the silkie) she is the second of the pecking order I seen her pull some of the others chicken feathers like she is bullying the other chicken. I have another flock of chicken and their separated from my young flock I see my tiny try to pick a fight with one of my older flock. I think my silkie tiny is a feisty silkie.
SILKIES USED TO BE SNOW CHICKENS, originating from China. THAT'S why they have black skin, Downey feathers, and feet that have an extra toe, functioning as 'snow shoes'. Also, the hens are the BEST mommas. My silkie has willingly adopted any 'rescue chicks' and even a duckling. I have never heard of 'grooming' silkies, except for occasional trimming of 'bangs'...must be a mainland thing. 😄
Thanks for the info I'm a 11 year old and Im already raising 10 silkies
Good for you. You will have some knowledge that someday most wish they had.
lets go gamer
I’m 12 and I’m getting silkies and I’m so excited
I’m 13 and I have 2 silkies
I’m 10 raising 3
Loved your film. kept Silkies for many years as backyard pets. I have always given their topknots a trim when they start covering their eyes. ...modified mohawks...lol. My girls love being able to see well, and walk around like tiny giraffes after their hair cuts, stretching their necks out and looking around eagerly. 😊
We have kept Silkies in our flock for years we raise almost all our chicks with them. This spring we had a little Silkie hen that chased 4 Geese around our chicken yard because they were picking on her chicks. they are a great breed to keep around in your flocks.
How cute!! Small but mighty indeed! 🥰
The picture this put in my head just cracked me up. Silkies are such sweeties but don’t mess with a mommas chicks!
Our white silkies are bullying our australops 🤣
One of my buff silkies used to bully one of our buff Orpingtons who was 3 times bigger than she was. LOL
Same, we only have a pair of silkies in our flock (I just couldn't resist) and I swear I crack up so hard when I see the tiny litlle white ball of fluf chase away my giant chubby Plymouth
I lost my favorite silkie rooster to heat stroke. I only mention this because it's not something that was not cautioned in the video. If you have a day over or near 100 F keep an eye on them.
Do you recommend a fan? Or should I just bring them inside? I am getting silkies but live in California
I’m in Mississippi getting some as pets
@@avery3613 A fan is perfect for silkies. It's also super nice to do ice cubes in the water 🧡
Our silkie/ Americana mix loved standing in front of the fan on hot days.
Sorry you lost your favourite one (or any of the flock, for that matter). Thanks for highlighting the issue.
I have got silkie. & I'm A breeder for 10 years. I grew up around chickens. I hate to disappoint you but the splash has strimers he is also A Rooster . I hope you will have goid experience in silkie breeds I know I do. My first silkie I got 9 years ago & she still with me
I just found you, and 30 seconds in I’m impressed lol. I love that you’ve made a written version too, not everyone absorbs information the same way or can watch videos right away. Very cool! That is all, bye.
I know this is an old post, but having had chickens now for a couple years, i kinda laugh about articles that say this chicken acts this way, this other chicken acts this way, etc. I've had 3 silkies. I read about how friendly and docile they are, yadda yadda. Well, somebody forgot to inform the chickens of their supposed personalities. Im here to tell you other than physical characteristics, you can throw the personality stuff out the window. All of my silkies thought they were big bird. Last summer one went very broody. We kicked her out of the coop a couple times. The first time she followed hubby around a good 10 minutes "swearing " at him. It is now mid January and I guess they are finally on speaking terms again. I have seen those little birds grab treats out of the big chickens beak and run away. One of them decided she was a night owl and didn't want to go into the coop till way after dark. She'd be outside still, just scratching around being a chicken. None of them particularly fond of being touched. They were raised together from chicks and were handled as much as the regular chickens, who now are all pretty friendly. Except the silkies. I've read how they hate to be wet. So, all the rest of the chickens had the sense to get outa the rain, silkies be outside and didn't seem to bother them at all, even though they looked like a drowned rat. Even egg laying i think can vary. My silkies almost keep up with the rest. Yea, the eggs are smaller. I prbly wouldn't want *just* silkies for eggs. That said, they're not *that* small. Reading about them, people make it sound like you're gonna get pigeon eggs. Id say they're about like buying small eggs from the store. So my half cents worth is buy whatever chicken you want based on egg color or looks or whatever, but when it comes to personality, much like people, they are all individuals. In the end it usually all works out. 😎
I have been raising silkies since last 4 years. Yes, they do require good amount of care compared to other chicken breeds. I do free range my silkies for few hours everyday and trim their feathers or fur near the eyes once every 2-3 months. I give them a full body bath once every 3 months to keep them clean.
How do you bathe silke ? I have one that is always getting dirty from crown to below neck.... Its like every day
@@NoorFatima-oh7qoFill a sink or bathtub up to their belly. Use baby shampoo when done dry them with a hair dryer.
Mine started laying at ~21 weeks old. Last fall I had a silkie hen go broody and I just let her do her thing, she hatched 2 silkies and a brahmin/silkie hybrid; all hens by some dumb luck. 7 weeks ago more chicks hatched (2 silkies and a brahmin/silkie hybrid again). Regarding not letting them free range out of safety, get a dummy garden owl and place it on top of your chicken coop to deter hawks.
One of my Silkie mamas is currently raising her hatched white leghorn babies. 😍😍😍 I have given away so many Silkie roosters that I’m now gathering Silkie eggs as fast as I can to deter more babies. They are a sweet little pet, mine are somewhat snuggly, but I’m not going to go into another generation. When these are gone…I’m done. I’ll miss my bucket therapy in the Silkie pen but they are really high maintenance.
Blessings, debby
I’ve owned silkie chickens for over a year now, and one thing I’ve noticed is you can teach them their name and they come. This has only happened with two of my roosters due to being extra hands on for various reasons 😊
I have two silkies Floyd and Zoot - they are the cuddliest birds I've ever had
Yeah, my daughter in law and I have made that impulse buy as well. We have 11 silkies coming at the end of June so I’m very glad to see this now so we can prepare now. My grandparents and her mom have always had chickens, this is our first venture with them. Our first chicks are near ready to leave the nursery and Pawpaw is getting ready to build the coop. Now I do believe we’ll be building a duplex coop. One place, side by side still together but not together. We’re already getting close to our chicks so yes, we’d hate to loose any of them. Our granddaughters would be really heartbroken 💔. Thanks for sharing this advice. It was well needed!
Just did an impulse buy of 3 Silkies today so glad I found your video!
I just was given 2 month old silkies and we built a mini hoop tractor. 4x6 with 8 ft cattle panels bent into hoops. That way they can free range in our yard safely. Don't know if we got hens or roosters but its nice to have them as pets... If you handle them it helps. I got one that is extremely friendly wants to be all over me the other not so much lol!
I trim my silkies head feathers so that they can see a bit better ( though the breed in general has very poor eyesight) - this helps them with foraging and being able to compete with my other chickens for treats. There is a blood supply to the base of the feathers so you have to be careful not to trim too close to the base. The also look very funny with their little mohawks!
What do you use to cut the feathers?
I've had chicken's and ducks for 3 years but just hatched my first silkie today. My 8 year old is hoping to show one 😬🤞Thanks for the info.
"Small but Mighty" Love that :) I just adopted two Silkie chicks - Your video was very helpful! I will be keeping a close eye on them 💛
I have had silkies for well over 10 years. I have a backyard garden so I find they are the best. They are quiet and so cuddly. I free range mine and I have not had problems. I don't think I would ever have another breed for my backyard garden. Maybe if I moved out to the country I would get others. Great video!
I've been breeding Silkies and Satins for years now and that Splash Silkie "lily" is a cockerel also. The last buff Silkie that you show does look like a female but she appears to have the wrong comb type for a Silkie which isn't uncommon. The standard call for a walnut comb like your other Silkies have. She appears to have what is called a straight comb. Now granted I didn't get a great look at it. I like the advice that you give, and several of the points that you made are things that I have to try and explain to people over and over again. They definitely are unique and don't behave like other breeds. They are mainly for ornamental, showing, and pet purposes. They make good incubators and mothers. I laugh when people ask about their egg production and politely tell them they should look for another breed that is meant for that if they are wanting eggs. I always recommend keeping Silkies in their own separate coop and not mixed with other standard breeds. Sure, if they are all raised together from chicks they might get along just fine and some people say they don't have any issues mixing theirs but, I personally wouldn't risk it. People also don't realize how hard they are to tell what gender they are compared to most breeds. I do offer DNA sexing but it costs quite a bit but it is the only way to know for sure at a young age. Unless you get one that starts crowing early lol. You can always read more about DNA testing at iqbirdtesting.com. 😀
Yep, agree splash is a boy. Tons of streamers. :)
I'd love more information on your silkies if you breed and sell hens only :)
👀.....what they taste like tho? Lol
They say Silkies are poor egg layers but I have a hen which lays an egg every day and doesn't start getting broody unless I leave the eggs in her nest box. She even laid an egg every day in the winter.
I find that female silkies have blue faces, while males have redder faces where the comb is. The "hair" on top of the head is also slightly different between sexes.
I live in the Pacific Northwest. Ours always did fine in winter. That being said the whole flock had easy access to shelter and we kept them all locked up at night and in severe weather. The silkes were always outside with the other birds. I never noticed them to handle cold or wet different than the other breeds. I've never had problems of keeping any of our feather footed birds clean. If your coop is kept clean and they have enough space there's no problem. I also never had a problem with them and predators. That being said most of the danger is at night for chickens. I've never noticed an issue with they're vision. They are very watchful and social. Silkie boys will actually team up to take on a threat. I had two gang up on my Jersey Giant who was getting out of line with another bird. As a whole they are easy going and a lot calmer. Hand raised birds and using a heating pad rather than a light to warm them makes a huge difference in chicken personalities. (Do your research before attempting the heating pad method. It requires a little set up to do right and safely) When you get to know the breed it's easy to tell the girls from the boys but yes it can be hard when they are young.
I love the breed! They are such a friendly wonderful chicken. We handled ours as chicks and they were super friendly. Winter in a small hutch our 5 hens did absolutely fine..important to have dry straw (bedding) and draft free but in freezing rain and snow here in AR they did fine.
Oh thank goodness I saw youre in Arkansas. Im about to buy 4 and wondered how theyd do
Lily is definitely a roo 😀 Don’t worry because I’ve had some baby boys that have a girlie name as well. It might be the reason Johnny Cash sang “A Boy Named Sue” lol
I love my silkies. I got one to breed with an orloff hen and now I have this amazing silkie rooster with a golden mullet and amazing browns and whites. His name is GOLDENHAWK and he is definitely a rocker.
Love your overall knowledge, and your relaxed manner when sharing!
I've enjoyed my Silkies. They make loyal companions & affectionate lap pets.
They become family members.
First time silkie owner my self, and i absolutely love my girls! I bought them from Tractor Supply back in April, when they was little chicks, and all the tag said was "assorted bantams," $3.50 ea. I ended up with 2 black bearded female silkies, 2 black rosecombs (1 male, 1 female), and 1 golden laced cochin (male). Like every body else i had to wait and see what the sexes was when they crowed or laid a egg. They have been raised together and still are together. My silkies just started laying 2 wks ago and have laid every other day since. I also read on the breeding that some times it won't take if the fur around the vent isn't kept trimmed. Although i'm not sure on that note just yet, but i do know the cochin "loves" the silkie hens, lol. Everything i have read says it's best to wait til the following spring to hatch the eggs so i'll learn more first hand on that next year. Great video btw, i'm still curious about the cold weather as well so i'll just keep a close eye on them.
We have 17 silkies and we keep hatching more every few months.
We hatch out really interesting silkies too- like a few days ago we hatched a little white one with blue and pink skin. We even hatched a black one even though all our adult silkies are white, blue, and some sort of light colored partridge.
My goal is to get one of those orange or partridge silkies and maybe even one of those black and white splash ones. But we have to sell the 2 roosters we have and bring in new ones to get more colors.
how much you sell the rooster?
Are you still selling a silkie rooster?
Whoops… just got mine on an impulse buy today 😂😂
We gave our silkies ten quail eggs as sort of a joke/test to see if they could hatch them. They absolutely did and were mad that we took them away. We aren't doing this anymore obviously and we really didn't think it would work.
I can't believe you found them at tractor supply our tractor supply refuses to get them!
I handle my chickens because their pets for me I love to snuggle chickens and it takes two seconds for a bird to just love me
I have a large flock that are free range on my 30 acre farm in Florida. The Silkies and the Orpingtons hang out in/around the large coop (a 30x25 foot barn I converted), while the other chickens and turkeys roam around in the woods. The silkies are great for breeding more chicks, which is the only reason I have them.
Silkies are great with kids because they’re so gentle- make sure kids are old enough to treat them gently!
I have 22 Silkies and one Satin. When raising Silkies and regular size chickens we also have Bantams, Brahmas and Cochin chickens you definitely need separate housing for the Silkies and Bantams!! The reason for this, the bigger chickens pick on the small ones and also you have to feed Silkies and Bantams crumbles not pellets. Pellets are too big for the Silkies/Bantams they can actually choke on it. We built our chicken coop with 8" cedar channel siding with metal roofing and 1x2 welded wire to make it predator proof, also put windows in it and divided the middle of the chicken coop with 1x2 welded wire Silkies on one side the bigger chickens on the other. Both sides have separate door entrances and heat lamps throughout the entire winter. With me being a Silkie owner for 20 years Silkies do need heat lamp!! I wish I could post pictures on here to show you what the chicken coop looks like.
Silkies can eat mini pellets though.
Also if the summers get super hot, they need a fan too.
What do they eat?
@@babynieve9612 they need the crumbles of whatever type you decide. Example If laying eggs use the layer crumbles and not the layer pellets.
Hello what do you use for heat??
I had wanted to get 1 silkie hen to be the brooder for any eggs that hatch later, but decided against it because I just didn't want to deal with roosters. But silkie moms are outstandingly broody.
We have 20 total chickens, 2 silkie hens included. Bullied at first, fine now. Texas heat no problem for them. Cold ok because small coop and they all generate plenty of heat, and the coop stays closed up during winter cold, ventilated during summer heat. All stay cooped during day in small run and shaded heat and all do fine. Silkies run around with all the other chickens free ranging when we're home. Predators grabbed many other chickens but not either of the silkies yet. Amazing. Silkies free range just fine on our heavily wooded land.
we clip the fuzz around their eyes. They are very thankful when we do.
We are raising one baby chick silkie which was a complete mistake as they gave us the wrong breed. We love her though and decided to keep her. We have one other silkie but she was a surprise gift and was given as an adult. So this is our first silkie that we are raising. We realized that she seems much more cold than the rest even though she is the same age as the other babies so I completely agree with the cold theory! Thank you for the great information!!!
A girlfriend of mine was looking to rehome a silkie rooster and we took him in. It did take quite some time as he is our only silkie for the girls to warm up to him. But he is the best rooster and really takes care of his girls.
I have a Polish and I give her hair cuts around her eyes whenever the feathers grow long. She's stylish lol
Hey your silkies are gorgeous I also have to let you know your lily is actually a roo I have been breeding silkies for a year now and he definitely has streamers which is a 100% tell sign of a rooster
I said the same thing ! She will know when it starts to crow...ha ha ha
Yup, definitely a Roo. Lol
I'm an f.n.g when it comes to chickens especially silkies. What exactly are signs of roosters in this breed? And what are streamers?
Yep, when she held it up and said 'This is a hen,' I was like NOPE, that's a rooster.
I have silkies just love them and are with my big girl flock of cochins, brahmas , marons, speckled suffix, ... and do have other bantans about 70 birds, hard to count all so active. They were all raised together and amazing how well they all get along. The silkies stand up for themselves. Also silkies like to roost next to the big birds their security blankets. Built my coop in layer of shelves and roosts at different levels and at very top 7' 1/2 feet. Amazing how the silkies will go all the way to top as have shelves they can jump up with perches at all along different levels to hop up. Silkies love it and will climb right up with the bigger birds. Some still sleep in nesting boxes find 2 or 3 in one box. I do keep 4 heaters in coop as in northern state. Keeps temperature above freezing like at 40-45% , not to hot. keep bedding deep 6" at least to keep them dry in coop. I do open door to let them all out even in snow. Silkies are first ones out love to run around in snow. I Do keep hay out daily in sheltered areas and roost outside for them too, that go above snow level they can get out of snow or they can get back in coop if get cold, all works out never lost one to the cold very healthy active birds. the key is lots of warm water don't let water freeze up and also feed warm mashes helps. LOL ENJOY YOUR PETS!
Oh my gosh I had to keep replaying 6:20. "Don't disrespect my size". Should have named him Napoleon😆
We just got 12 new hens, and 4 are silkie cross Rhode Island reds and they are soooo beautiful and actually have been laying the most of our whole flock! Small little golf ball sized eggs tho
I just found out about Silkies today and found this video very informative. One day I hope to get some chickens. Thank you ☺♥
Concerning winter cold with chickens, I have heard that Frizzle Chickens are more susseptable to the cold and the explanaton was the feathers are configured is a way that doesn't keep out the cold. Apparently, a tighter feather configuration helps to insulate the chicken's body.
My functional part of my silkies are incubation. The hens get broody more often throughout the year. So free natural incubator. They are very winter hardy, with good insulation. Off grid straws and good coop insulation -35 degrees... I am happy with them.
Chester is small but mighty 😂😂😃
Silkies do fine in the winter, as long as they are kept dry.
My father kept a rather large flock of chickens when I was growing up and we always had 2-3 silkie roosters and 10-13 silkie hens at any given time. We also had several other breeds Araucana, Sebright, Buff Orpington, Polish, are just a few we had and we always had at least 1 rooster and 2-5 hens per rooster of each breed. My observations on Silkies are this they did fine in cold as long as it was a dry cold. The roost always had an open door to the run and we only kept a heat lamp on when it got down into the negative teens and we supplemented with more corn in their feed to boost their internal heat. The male silkies were always the most aggressive of the roosters of any breed we had, the only male birds that were more aggressive were the wild turkeys that we raised. The female silkies were the most docile and submissive hens in the flock. They were the best brooders of the hens if you take a weekend trip you are likely to come back to at least one of them guarding a nest. A fun breed to have and they are really interesting to watch molting and you get to see all that black skin.
We love our silkies. It's really interesting because our rooster has a HUGE comb on his head but he was completely almost identical to his sister at a few weeks old. Now he is a lot bigger and his sister has stayed really small. I will say though, I wasn't expecting to love them so much but me and my kids LOVE them. We have a variety of chickens and they all hang together. They just established their pecking order and get along just fine now. I haven't noticed in issues with them all being together.
I was questioning the fact that she had just 2 roosters. It looked like the first 3 we're roosters. I've only had silkies and chickens for a year now so means I'm new. We got 4 silkies and have hatched 6. Every female has a tiny almost no comb and a lot less fluffy with a totally different hairstyles (afro vs mullet). They are old enough to start crowing and harassing all the hens trying to "learn how they do it on the animal channel" lol.
So is this just by chance I have a clear difference in roosters and hens?
a MUST for hatching eggs and caring for chicks
Fantastic information! I’m in love with my Silkies… my covered coop cost me 2500$ for 2 Silkies!!! 😂😂😂 but I love them I’m glad you’re not the only one who had an impulse by tractor supply!!!
Silkies handle cold well from my experience. We had them up in Iowa and they handled the cold very well. We had a couple of winters get to -20 F. They do good in a flock with gentle breeds that they've grown up with. The cochins and brahmas got along with them just fine.
I have 3 silkie hens and 2 silkie roos. I just got more silkie chicks. I keep my silkies with my Seramas and old English chicks so when it's cold they all can heat each other and have each others company. Great birds! 🥰😍
LOVE my silkies!! They are such funny cool birds. I especially love my silkie roosters, such cool little dudes
Great job describing the silkies! Ours do great free dancing but we don't have trees, so fewer aerial predators than most people have. They also have plenty of other chickens out with them to help alert them of potential danger. Unfortunately because they pretty much don't fly at all, they are more prone to ground predators like coyotes, raccoons and even snakes (the latter is a problem in our part of Texas in the summer). But their sweetness definitely makes them worth the extra attention 😍😍😍
Free dancing!?? I assume you mean free range/ranging?
Ive had a silkie rooster that was sooo mean, by far the meanest I've ever had. I also find the hens go broody constantly. In the winter I don't find they need more heat but they can get wet because of their feathers and then they need some extra help to get dry. We bring them in the garage and use a hair dryer to fully dry the bird, and then put them back in the coop with the other birds. I do partially free range my birds and at least in a mixed flock have not noticed a problem with predators.
We just love our silkies. Cant have chickens and go without. Thanks for sharing. -Daniel
We have a short 3ft fence and the silkies are the only ones that stay in. Our big silkie rooster jumps over the fence but the other 2 cannot. Our black silkie hen Mavis has her eyes mostly covered and she is in her own little world. She broods on and off every 3-4 weeks and pretty funny opening the box and finding her sitting on 8 eggs from all the other girls! She also does not take any crap from the full size hens. She is by far our sweetest chicken. Worse part of silkies is you cannot sex them as chicks and by the time you know half your birds are roosters, you have fallen in love with them and dont want to get rid of them. :) We have two silkie roosters, one black and one white and at least they do not crow much and are not nearly as loud as little bantom roosters.
One suggestion is to make sure your roosts are accessible for the silkies because they cannot fly but they can jump over a foot. Our roosts are about 3 ft off the floor so I built a ladder up to the roost and they can jump up to the roost.
I adore reading all kf your comments 😊😊
Silkies also need a higher protein feed. We mix game crumbles in with their food to make sure they are getting the proper amount. My silkies lay almost every day.
Such a good video! Thank you for compiling all the facts for us 😊 I was wondering, how much to the males crow? Is it louder / less loud than other breeds, and do they crow extremely early in the morning? I’d love to have silkies as pets but I’m a late sleeper, and having a rooster singing their heart out at 5 in the morning every day would probably drive me stir crazy 😅
I just moved and got 4 silkies too! Thanks for all the info!
All of this is very true. Great info. We haven’t had any problems with winter time temps. We did just lose one of our silkies to bullying.
We recently got two Silkies and were told they were bad layers... We've had an egg every day without fail and 2 eggs a day 3 times a week. Pretty good if you ask me!
Would love to know what are you feeding them ? That might make the difference.
Silkies are fine with cold but not wind or rain also silkies should have black comb and wattles. To tell roosters and hens apart as chicks if you don’t want to do vent sexing you can look at how they stand the roosters being more upright and sometimes you can look at their feet (which isn’t the most reliable but) the roosters tend to have thicker, bigger feet (I have some 6 week old chicks with a hen and have already figured out their genders). I wouldn’t recommend keeping silkies with other big breeds but you can try.
Do you think I could keep 2 silkies with 2 medium sized birds if they’re raised together from day 1?
I don’t treat the silkies different then my other chickens and let him free range like it wants. If something flies over he just start running with the others. Indeed terrible eyesight though, a bit funny sometimes 😇
My silkie just loves to free range when it’s raining, all the others are under cover and the silkie just keeps on going, not a problem she says.
I can agree they shouldn’t be kept with very feisty breeds.
Silkies are just our favorite. Can't have chickens and not have our silkies. Thanks for the video-Daniel
ive actually had my silkies since the day you posted this and they didnt get introduced to our big flock because we were planning to wait about a week and then we surprisingly got given two young (as in 5 weeks) sebrings and my small silkie flock has taken them under their wing (no pun intended) 😂 i actually free roam my silkies and they are completely fine being free roamed🥰😍😎
Silkies are my favorite breed. Definitely the most friendly in general. I had an oddball silkie rooster Mr Silk. Had 300+ chickens at one time of Phoenix, Cochin, Rode island reds, Americaunas, Barred rock, Buff orphingtons, and sooo many more. BUT the absolute top dog of the farm was Mr Silk. He would beat up roosters 4 times his size. When they fight they jump and kick each other so he would pretend like he was going to jump which made the other roosters jump and when the were coming down he would spring up and batter them. He would also grab a beak full of feathers and lock on while kicking until they retreated. He was extremely smart and agile to say the least lol. The rest of the roosters just got to where they stayed out of his way honestly. I had a few pretty bad fights but never lost any from fighting. Mr Silk didn't do any real physical damage, mainly just battered them and I think scared them because they didn't seem to know how to actually fight the little fella. He was one of a kind. He NEVER attacked a human. He loved getting under our feet and receiving attention. I'm in North Texas and only had minor issues with cold weather. If there was an ice storm they'd need a heat lamp. They did get hot though when it would get in the high 90s or triple digits. They just need water and a good shaded area for hot summers. They are so much fun. I sold off all of my flock because it got so out of control. I'm now 10-15 years later starting a new flock. My wife decided she couldn't live without turkeys so we bought 6 at Tractor Supply. Lost one because it was very hot yesterday so I pulled the heat lamps back then we had to take our kids back from visitation and it rained a bit, power went out. Returned and power was back but 5 Silkie chicks were laying on their sides. At first glance I thought they were gone but my wife and I got them out and noticed they were barely breathing so I ran warm water over them one at a time as she used the blow dryer. Surprisingly they all snapped back after a few hours. When we checked again the Turkey chick was down. Did the same with it but sadly it didn't make it. I guess the extreme heat then being cold and wet was too much for it. Now we are looking for a new brown Turkey. Today the all the others were totally fine thankful. It has been a long day replacing wet bedding with dry and drying out the babies troth
I with you the best of luck with your Silkies though! Loved seeing yours.
Do they have a little house to go into to escape the weather, or did this happen despite that?
erm... how did you know to post this on the day that i picked up my three silkies.😂😍
Not sure if this has been brought up already in the comments but another consideration before keeping silkies is their predisposition to vit. Deficiency and more importantly, their inclination toward developing symptoms related to the Marek's virus; the first is treatable when identified early enough but the only course of action against the virus is supportive care to keep the immune system well managed and stress to a minimum.
Great video! We breed silkies and just love them. FYI your splash is a boy :) You can tell because of the "streamers" growing out of the back of his head. Girls have a more uniform rounded crest. Enjoy them!
I concur Splash roo
We have them too! Theyre still young and little and so cute! We always have chickens or ducks, or something that way, live itttt
lilly is a rooster! "streamer" feathers on the crest (puff) on the head. DEFINITELY a rooster!
I'm getting 4 silkies (3 girls and a boy) and I'm definitely gonna take these tips for when I get them. I'm probably gonna keep them in a coop of their own and since we don't have winter where I live, they're gonna be fine but if it's too hot, they're gonna have to go into my house to keep them cool
I also live in very hot area (Az) but in the house would be difficult. I think I’ll try mist system or large fan and ice bottles for them to lay next to. Hope it works.
@@laurab.8607 I currently have 3 silkies now and since it switches between rain and dry seasons (Philippine weather) and what I do is I used a tarp draped over their cage and when it comes to the rain and it's pulled up when it's warmer or just sunny. I'm gonna definitely try the ice in the waterer thing if they get too hot in the summer because our heat here is basically scorchingly painful at times.
Glad i found this channel . We ended up with a grey baby silkie. I had never seen one with so much feathers on the feet glad to find out what to be aware of. We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet
I got my first silkie in march n it does great with the other chickens i bought at the same time (a bantam, and 2 amberlinks) the amberlinks honestly act like their the silkie and bantams mommas 🤣 they will let them lay under them and everything!
Can you do a video on how to hold chickens, how to feel comfortable around chickens please!?
Pick them up with both hands, keeping their wings close to their body. Place them on your lap and cuddle them😊
Didn't realize Zooey Deschanel knew so much about chickens.. Cool!
This is great. I'm getting my first chickens this week and they are all white silkies. They are so stinking cute.
How are they? 😍
how long after this video did it take till you realized Lilly was not a Lilly but in face a Larry? that comb and those streamers on the head are a dead giveaway!
I took a good look at your silky.
I am studying American Silky in Korea and raising several species.
I have had silkies as pets for 10 years. They are probably the most spoilt chickens in the Southern Hemisphere 😁
One thing that worries me a lot, and I can’t control is them being egg bound.
It is a terribly traumatic experience, and a horrible way to die. I’ve lost one girl and I’m still devastated. She was fine when she went to bed but we found her the next morning and she’d died during the night 😢
I’ve also rescued a double egg bound girl and managed to save her as she had symptoms and I recognised them immediately.
And just to add, the other 3 girls I had seemed (noticeably) to be ‘not themselves’ for a couple of weeks afterwards - very quiet and almost like they were mourning her… I was surprised at this because she was my youngest and well down the pecking order and used to get bullied a little, the fact that I hand raised her might have had something to do with it, she was so docile and lotuses to jump into my arms when I’d come home from work 😔
I have about 15 SILKIES...I also have 4 Silkie hens that decided to set they all hatched out Babies middle of winter and still going strong! They all get along with the FLOCK..
I only have one silkie rooster bantam. I was worried if he would survive the winter but to our surprise, he has done just as well in low teen temps. The cold has not effected him at all and we don’t give any supplemental heat. He also usually lays down by himself so he is not surviving off the other’s body heat.
I recently got one just like Chester, hes a cuddle bug, but does not like the cold weather and we live in the desert, the Coachella Valley to be exact
So excited to watch this! I adore them and I've been doing a lot of research before potentially adding them to my future flock
My silkies have done good in the cold. They have a dry coop to stay in during the cold
Because the feathers do not have barbs in them and thus do not interlock, silkies loose a lot more heat than normal/smooth feathered birds, simular to how chicks cannot hold heat because of their down and thus require suplimental heat. I personally give additional heat when the temperature goes past -10°c, and you have to make sure they don't get water in their beards in the winter as they will freeze up.
I have kept silkies for years no, and breed them as well. My personal birds get "haircuts" to remove feathers from around their eyes so they can free range.
Another thing is in the winter if they are allowed outdoors, their feet need to be checked regularly as the feathers on their feet act like brooms and will cake up and freeze.
Besides that very good points.
P.s. Lily is a rooster...
Silkies lose* heat...
You officially stole my heart when you said "this is Mr. Bigfoot". Lol I will definitely be naming my first rooster bigfoot, and ironically I'm working on launching a TH-cam channel called Mr.Bigfoot... I thought it followed the format, with Mr. Beast and Mr. Ballen
Thank you! I’m new to silkie ownership.
Can you raise them with other breeds to have them brood eggs?
Ours are really feisty. Such cute floofballs
Some people actually trim or shave those feathers around their eyes and they're usually calm enough to just sit there and let you do it.