Annabel Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 (edited) Does anyone have Silkies that will choose to go up to roost for the night? We have two silkies that are approx 12/13 weeks old. When they were younger they were housed in a Go and would put themselves to bed at night. They have been moved into the MK1 and walk-in run for the last 3 weeks with the other chickens (this was positioned right opposite the Go so they have seen the other chickens going up to roost for weeks)- but they choose to sleep behind the wheels of the MK1 and won't go up. There is a bit a bullying going on (my cream legbar is picking on them a fair bit but this appears to be her usual pecking order stuff). I'm wondering if they are choosing not to go up because they don't want to be up with her. Each night I'm having to pick them up and carry them into the house. Once in there, they sleep together peacefully but in the morning the other chickens all come down but the silkies stay up in the house. I've put a lower 'starter' perch down under the MK1 ladder to give them a step up and they could easily make it if they wanted. Getting a bit fed up of crawling under the original MK1 run that joins the walk in to fetch them with a torch! The cream legbar chases them a little and will peck them as they pass (as she has done with all newbies and those that are not so new but below her- and in fact will barely squat for me) - but one of the silkies in particular will squak an alarm call if the cream legbar so much as heads in her direction so I'm wondering if this chicken is the problem. The other 3 large fowl will happily share a run with them but when the cream legbar joins the run, the silkies will hide and stay there until she leaves. I don't really want to remove the silkies and have to reintroduce as they are now accepted by the other 3. I wonder if I should try bringing the cream legbar down a peg or two. Any advice?? Edited April 8, 2021 by Annabel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 Your CLB sounds like my Gerda. The chasing and pecking is quite normal. But your silkies are still quite young to share space with larger chickens. Silkies are slow to mature in general. As some can have poos sight and they can’t flap or fly at all, it might just be a bit beyond their capabilities to get up the cube. You might want to place the Go in the run and see if they go to bed there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 That's a really good idea and would save some hassle at night time. I did wonder if the silkies are just still a bit too young. I gave them quite a few weeks in the Go with the run so the other chickens could see them and go right up to their run from theirs and now we are free ranging, I let the silkies free range all day but secure the larger ones with a netted area and the silkies go right up to their netted run to see the others - so introductions have been slow and protracted because of their age and size but I think as they will still also be some way off laying, maybe they need some more time to mature. I think I may also carry the CLB round the garden more as I don't like the fact she doesn't squat for me (her rise to power only came after our cockerel chose her as his favourite and some of the older chickens dies- before that she was the bottom of the pecking order; I do think those who have been bottom, fight hard to hold on to top spots). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 It’s more often the chickens lower in the pecking order to assert dominance over new hens. As they see the possibility to rise on the ladder. Not all hens squat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyjonesy Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 I had this problem for a while with my silkies at a similar age and I had a thought that maybe they couldn't see the ladder/entrance well enough, happily a quick trim around the eyes sorted it. At this age I've found you have to trim around the eyes regularly due to the moults etc as they grow. I've also noticed they stand up for themselves better when their vision is clearer. Worth a try if you haven't already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 6 minutes ago, jazzyjonesy said: I had this problem for a while with my silkies at a similar age and I had a thought that maybe they couldn't see the ladder/entrance well enough, happily a quick trim around the eyes sorted it. At this age I've found you have to trim around the eyes regularly due to the moults etc as they grow. I've also noticed they stand up for themselves better when their vision is clearer. Worth a try if you haven't already? Funnily enough I was having this conversation with my daughter yesterday as both of us noticed that one of them (the fluffier one) seems to peck to the side of meal worms and only really gets them by chance so we wondered if she had vision problems. I will do this as my first job today. She is very figetty when held - any tips for holding her sill enough to have fluff cut around the eyes? 10 minutes ago, Cat tails said: It’s more often the chickens lower in the pecking order to assert dominance over new hens. As they see the possibility to rise on the ladder. Not all hens squat. She used to squat immediately on me so much as entering the coop and was the easiest to catch - now it's a case of running her into a corner and even then she'll try and fly up the wall. I have also noticed a change in her behaviour recently - almost a bit cocky... I walk the big girls down the garden to their free-range part of the garden (meal worms in hand)... they all come with me, literally underfoot but she now hangs back at the top end of the garden and watches me feeding the others and lock them in - she prefers to free range the whole garden which I have to let her do as she also has started not coming to the call for corn etc which everyone else does too. This has all come with her recent rise to the top! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyjonesy Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 We found it took two, one to hold and one to cut, I tend to gently hold their head at the top of the neck to prevent any nasty scissor-eye mishaps. Our polish hen on the other hand will happily sit still for the entire grooming session. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 Thank you - we now have given the first haircut! Let's see if that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 Well, Blossom had her hair cut and we now realise she has quite big eyes! She still pecks at random places trying to eat the meal worms in the grass but I know she must be able to see better. Unfortunately, the going up to bed problem is on going. And they love to snuggle up at the end of the 3m cube run- so I'm scrambling 3m and trying to flick them out with a plank of wood from behind the wheels so I can get a hold of them and shoving them through the door. I decided yesterday to not pick them up and bring them down in the morning. I thought if I left them up there, they would eventually get so hungry they'd come down. Nope. By 1p.m I fetched them from the nesting box and put them down. It's such a shame as the cream legbar is a bit of a bully - I'll give them that, but she's not full on nasty yet they seem real scaredy cats. I now have the routine of carrying them down in the mornings, where they then free range all day. I remove the big ladies to a cordoned off section of the garden for their free ranging time - during which time the silkies dart home for food and drink and then they all get locked in together in the afternoon back at home (silkies just hide behind the dust bath until the big ones go to bed, then come out and eat, and finally they settle down to sleep behind the wheels under the house). aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole Wilson Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 We’re getting three Silkies and when I spoke to the breeders they said that Silkies don’t like the ladders. They said that I need to put a ramp in or the ladder grips. Unfortunately the ladder grips are out of stock, So for the time being we will put a ramp up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
