Crests

The American Silkie is known for its huge crests, and the first question people often ask when they see one is: "Can they really see?" The answer depends on the individual bird.

Some hens can go without a single trim and see perfectly fine, while others can actually become depressed if their vision is blocked.

Most often, it's only the feathers under the eyes that interfere with sight. For my larger-crested girls, I do sometimes trim feathers in front of and above the eyes, but I try to avoid this whenever possible to keep their natural look intact.

My experience: I use scissors designed for dog paws to trim around my Silkies' eyes. These scissors are short with rounded edges, which makes trimming much easier and safer.

I had a hen who had a small crest for most of her life. After a particularly hard molt, she suddenly grew a huge crest. While I thought it looked beautiful, I noticed a change in her behavior: she was basically standing still and not jumping from the perch.

I realized that some hens can have trouble seeing when their crest suddenly grows large, and she wasn't used to it. I concluded that she was likely depressed due to lack of sight. To test my theory, I tied her crest in a small "bun," and she immediately became a different, more active hen!

Since some of my Silkies like to chew on hair ties, I opted for a trim instead, which solved the problem safely.