4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[snowchick]

Hi

 

I have 5 chooks - 3 silkies and 2 larger chooks. The 2 larger chooks and the cuckoo silke are ALWAYS together - the other 2 silkies stick together too.

 

Unfortunatley I posted last week that I found one of the silkies dead in the garden - so sign of a fox, probably a heart attack I have been told, however this is the silkie that hung round with the other silkie.

 

So now we have a group of three together still who are really confident and always together and we have one lonley little silkie who is so tiny still and really timid.

 

She is always on her own and I am just really worried about her. The 3 even snuggle up together to sleep together and she is just on her own.

 

Can anyone help or advise?????

 

[Egluntyne]

I'd get her a couple of companions. Just one might present problems.

 

If you can put all the silkies together in a run of their own it might be better for them as the big girls might not welcome little strangers as readily as they accepted the other two silkies.

[snowchick]

Hi thanks for the reply - we have called soooo many breeders and the quickest that we can get one is December?????

[Egluntyne]

Blimey!

[chelsea]

December!?

 

Have you tried the Wernlas collection?

 

http://www.wernlas.com/light_breeds.html

 

they are up your way I think and they deliver.

[snowchick]

Yep - they only have them ready in December

 

They said demand is ridculous

[Luthien]

What about chicken shows? (is that what they are called?) They sometimes sell stock off at the end or you could find someone who breeds them and has some available? Hope that helps and good luck! PLEASE keep us posted, as my mum and I like Silkies (think they looks like my mum )

[Steph101]

Try www.oakmeadowfarm.co.uk or www.domesticfowltrust.co.uk

[Abbey Road Girl]

all I can say from my own limited experience, that a solitary chichen alive may be better than a chicken at the mercy (?) of unfriendly chooks.

 

I had a solitary chicken who seemed happy. Just today I had an email from someone whose surving chicken (after a fox attack) sort of adopted her as a surrogate hen.

 

Can you provide a protected home alone for your Silkey, if all else fails?

 

Wishing you the best of luck!

[Guest]

is there not another breed of a similar size that you could get?

[snowchick]

Thanks for the links, neither of them have anything availbale until December.

 

Can anyone suggest another smaller breed that I could get that is more readily available?

[GEB]

I have four hybrids, but they hang around in a group of three and there is always one loner. I often feel sorry for her, but I think it affects me more than her as I put my emotions on it. In reality she seems perfectly happy. I must add the others do let her eat, drink and sleep with them , just don't really accept her in their company. I got them all together and it's always been this way, I put it down to her being bottom of the pecking order.

[MedusA]

Sorry to hear of your lonely Silkie, snowchick.

 

I got my Silkies from Wernlas a few weeks ago and I know they were selling out fast. I can't believe that nowhere has any until December!!!!! The Jamie&Hugh effect or what?????

 

http://www.warwickshirerarebreedfarm.co.uk/ is another possible source. I have bought chickens from there before.

 

Have you thought about Bantams or smaller breeds like Araucanas who might mix'n'match with Silkies?