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

[Madbird]

Hi, does anyone keep a silkie, or silkies in a mixed flock with other breeds/varieties?

 

I have read that they can possibly suffer from bullying?

 

I have always loved them but the other half wanted chooks for egg producing ability so in the end we went for other varieties however now I have space for two, possibly three more chooks and wondered if I would be asking for trouble trying to introduce a silkie now? (LF not banty)

 

What do you think?

[bigmommasally]

I've got a Silkie with an Orpington and 3 Hybrids. She's not bullied in fact she bullies the Orpington! But I don't think she's particulary happy as she seems a bit of a loner, so we have been talking about getting another Silkie or 2 to keep her company.

[Madbird]

I did wonder if they would need to be kept in twos or threes and prefer the company of other silkies...

 

Hmmm, will have to have a think....

[RichardandFamily]

I have 1 white silkie called snowy who is my favourite BUT she was slightly bullied by the others so we got her a friend Blanche another white silkie and now they hang around together all day long. The reason they get bullied is because they cannot see that well because of their crest therefore they are the bottom of the pecking order and get bullied. Silkies are quite small and some refer to them as bantams (even though you can get silkie bantams as well!) so beware of that. In my opinion silkies are great, are kids love them as you can just walk over to them and pick them up and they are very cute and their eggs are a perfect size!

 

If you were going to get some I would definitely get at least 2-3 as like I said they can get bullied.

 

Good Luck

Richard

[Palmer06]

Hi,

I started of with silkies and i have had no problem with mixing a frizzle in with them but i must admit that there is a little upset between the ranks at the moment but i am hopeing this is just because the frizzle is broody!

I did have one uspet this year when i tried to mix. I had two silkies in a seperate run and tried to mix "The Kray Twins" with them. They got on fine for a several days and a morning with no problem not even a peck! but then one dinner time i got a phone call saying one of the silkies had been badly attacked.

I must admit mine always seem never to be far away from the other silkies!

[sheik]

We had two silkies and two hybrids, which worked well - but we had to rehome one silkie due to it being a rooster. The resulting flock of three were happy chickens, with no bullying whatsoever. but the silkie was a bit slower than the hybrids and we felt a bit sorry for her having to run after them two greedy hybrids all the time. So, we introduced a sablepoot bantam, which are smaller than silkies and have feathered toes which makes them quite slow.

The whole flock is now very happy and the bantam often keeps the silkie company when she is broody (happens a lot with silkies).

 

Pics here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37254

 

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