Silkie Guide
a guide to fluffy love
Consider getting these lovley creatures?
I have gatherd here some facts, myths and what to think about if you want to keep your Silkies happy and healthy, that are specfic to the Silkie.
When I write this I assume that you have read some basic about chickens or just have knowledge about chickens in general. These facts are specfic to Silkies.
DISCLAIMER: These facts are based on my own research and my experience from owning silkies. Every silkies are n indivudal and diffrent needs. These facts are to guide people who are intrested in buying silkies.
This Guide will go thrue:
- How hardy they are for weather
- Broodytime
- Sexing: Roosters vs Hens
- Crests: Do you need to trim?
- Bullied or Bullies?
- Silkie Roosters
- Common afflictions & diseases
- Myth: Silkies dont roost
- Myth or not: More Protein in their diet
Every section has a footnote about my experience in the topic.
Hardy, just not an ornament
Due to ther looks the silkies often get missunderstood as "delicate". Only to be used and some sort of ornaments. In fact they are more hardy than they look like.Many think the silkie will crumble at just the sign of cold. In fact that they can handle as much cold as any other chicken breed.
The Silkie dont have big as combs as other breeds makes them less susceptible to frostbite.
Due to their fur like feathers the only thing they are more sensetive against is the wind.
A wet silkie, in windy weathercould actully make your bird really sick.
In fact that its shown that silkies handle cold better than they handle the heat. Meaning they are more sensetive for heatstrokes.
Yes, they are broody, ALOT!
I usally tell people who are thinking about silkies: take what you think is alot of broodiness and multipliy it with 10. This is true!
Its rare for my nestboxes to be empty for weeks. Its even more rare for see all my 10 silkies togheter, since atleast one is always broody.All you need is a good strategy to break them and a good routine to handle them while they are broody, so they can stay healthy.
How do you know that your hen is about to go broody?
- She will be moody. You will you will get some growls, low and high.
- She will do what I call dragonstance. She will lower her neck and spread her wings to make her self look bigger.
- She will pick up trash and lay it on her back (Most common is straw, but they use everything)
- The most obvious sign, she will clucking
How do you know that your hen is broody?
- She will go what I call pancake mode, basicly she becomes flat.
- When you pet her she will give away a very diffrent growl and tuck her head almost against her belly. Fluffing her self up making her look bigger.
- It vary from hen to hen how often she will go broody but an average is about every third month. Then she will be broody about 21 days, have a break from laying eggs for about 2-8 weeks. Lay for about 2-4 weeks before she goes broody again.
Sexing
They will make you wait for it
Silkies are one of the hardest chicken breeds to sex. This is due to that they mature slower than other breeds.
Many use the sentence "wait for an crow or an egg, this is the only way you will know".
I usally tell people who get silkie chicks, go with your gut feeling , when they wait for conformation.
To explain how to sex you silkies Im gonna write down some notes how to tell the diffrence between a boy and a girl Silkie:
- CREST: Hens have a more round crest, while the roosters does more look like they have a mullet from the 80s. This is due to the roosters devolp whats known as streamers.
- COMB: The Silkie hen basicly only have a slight bump as a comb. Some hens tho do get mistaken as rooster due to bigger combs (This is normal and a variationen to the indivudal) The Rooster have whats known as the mullberry comb. This is basicly a big brain looking thing, with a purple color. (while the hens mostly have the same color as their skin).
- NECK FEATHERS: The rooster devolp whats known as hackle feathers. This basicly look like a mane on the rooster. They are more pointy in the edges. While the hens are more straight in the edges and look like normal feathers.
- FEATHERY FEET: The rooster will have more and longer feathers on their feet. While the hens are basicly just fluffy.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The feathery feet can appear on hens also (genetics), but its less common. The roosters also have bigger feet, while most hens have tiny. - POSTURE: The hens have a more of a round form and stands closer to the ground. The rooster will have a more standing posture, similar to the Trex.
If you know what to look for you can start seeing sex around week 8 and forward (but some can take 1 year).
When can you start seeing the signs?
- CROW: On average they crow around week 15. (Some have had baby silkie rooster already crowing at week 3.)
- STREAMERS: Also pops up on average around week 12-15. They startout basicly as just longer crest hairs.
- HACKLE FEATHERS: This is the first sign I have seen on my roosters. They are easy to compare if you have a hen to compare too.
- EGG: On avrage a Silkie lays egg around week 25, but it does vary alot from hen to hen. (Some girls can take a year!)
- GUTFEELING SIGNS: None of these are a conformation on sex but it can start the guessing game. As baby chicks the roosters will most often have the more standing posture already, they will also be bigger. Some baby roosters will already have the bigger and feathery feet. When the baby chicks start devolp crests. On some hens you can already see the more round shape.
Check out my detailed guide to sexing silkies
- For Pete I knew for sure when the hackle feathers came. He started crowing early at 16 weeks and his comb came around week 20.
- Bartholomew I bought as a sexed rooster but got told all the time that he looked "girly". His crow came at week 17.
- For Gigi we still had doubts for the longest time. He looked really girly for the longest. He fooled many with girly looks. He had tho very standing up posture which got me thinking early, but they the streamers started to pop and week 20 his first crow came and comb around week 25.
Big crests
Yes they can see
The american silkie is known of their huge crests and first people ask when they see them "can they really see?" Answer is it depends on individual.
Some girls can go without a single trim and see perfectly fine, while others will actully get depressed when they cant see.
They come in alot of diffrent looks
Satins, frizzle and naked necks
Satins
They still have the silkie genetics and shape but they have the normal feathering. The satins can have the most amazing feather patterns, compared to the normal silkie. The Satin exist also in nacked necks and frizzle.
They look like your typical duster. The most outstanding look of the frizzle is their bent feathers making them look all curly.
Breeding the frizzle has one important note: breeding frizzle to frizzle will give the baby chick whats known as frazzle. While they look gorgeous at start its an unethical breeding, cause due to having 2 copies of the frizzle gene causes the feathers to break very easily.
That unqiue look of a vulture has come from generation of breeding that started with the breed Turken.
They can come in two diffrent looks one called showgirl and the other stripper. What set them apart is how many sets of the nacked neck gene they have. You can see this with with the puff on their neck called a bowtie. The showgirl has the bowtie while the stripper does not.
Check out my article about naked necks
Silkies and other breeds
That fluff comes with an attitude
One of the biggest myth I have learned from others is that silkies would be a bully vicitim for other breeds. What has been reported is silkies are often ones that bullies.
Silkie Roosters
The boys "can" work togheter
They are also more easy going on the girls. There for the rule 1 rooster to 10 hens dosent apply so much to silkies. On a silkie rooster you can usally have 4 girls.
Keep in mind every rooster is diffrent, while some work good on 4 girls. Another can be really rough on the girls. Also that not every personality clash togheter, so not every rooster can work togheter.
Genetic Diseases
That fluff comes with a downside
Unfortantly silkies are prone to certain conditions and diseases. First they are very prone to vitamin deficincies, with the most common being vitamin E, which causes Wry neck. A disease which casues them to loose the control of the muscles in their neck.
My experience: I had a routine before I got my chickens with my ducks already using supplement vitamins, but I stepped it up about abit when I learned about silkies need for more vitamins.
I use a powder Vitamin on their feed which I sprinkle on at each serving. My feeling is that its easier to control how much vitamins they get from their feed rather using it in their water.
BUT I also give them liquid vitamins in their water once a week, just to make sure they get what they need. I copied this routine from my chicken mentor.
Since I also have a girl that have had wry neck twice, despite the extra vitamins. I do add one scoop of sunflowerseeds to their feed. Which is rich in Vitamim E and Selenium
- What Multivitamin I use
- What liquid multivitamin I use
Read more about wry neck and the importance of vitamin E
With the right breeding the amount of vaulted skulls born can be reduced.
A swedish article about Vaulted skulls
Roosting or not roosting
Not all silkies sleep in a pile
This is a big myth that silkies dont roost. You should always give them the optition to roost. Since silkies cant fly on the same way as other chickens they have a harder time to get to a high perch. When they cant get to the perch they sleep in a pile.
You can either give them a perch in a lower height or you can build it like a ladder or stairs like I have done.
You might have to teach them to use the perch (if they still prefers the pile after this, let them). How you teach them os basicly put them on the perch at bedtime for a few days.
Every silkie is going to be diffrent. Some seem to prefer to sleep in a pile, while others really do it the old fashion way and roost.
Myth: High Protein Diet
Not a proven fact
I take this fact as last since this is more of a rumour in the silkie community and not a proven fact, that is that silkies need higher protein. This rumour/myth has caused more harm than good and takes away the focus from whats important in a silkie diet, nutrion dense food. Lay your focus on the vitamins! To much protein in a bird diet can cause gout and joint problems.
My experience: I used to believe in this myth. Until I joined the group "Crossbeak and Special Needs" the admins of this group with high knowledge showed me the myth and harm to much protein can do. Only thing I add now in form of protein is 1/2dl sunflowerseeds for the vitamin E and during molting season Verm-X Poultry Zest.
