What breed of LF do you have? Just wondering
Silkie thread!
- Thread starter americana-chick
- Start date
I have Faverolles.
Cool!
Bloveschickens- what breed are your LF? That may help determine whether or not you can mix Silkies in with them (keeping in mind that even within a breed, each bird still has its own individual personalities).
I also fall into the group that keeps their Silkies in their own coop. I've tried mixing them with standards, but it never worked out long term. This past spring, my broody Silkie hens raised some turkey poults I picked up at a swap. They were together for almost 5 months when I came home one day and found all of my Silkies crests picked bald and one of them injured, so everyone was separated once again (obviously turkeys are a lot bigger than a LF chicken, but the example is there to show that it didn't take long for things to get ugly between them).
Its true that lots of people on BYC house their Silkies with LF, but you have to take lots of factors into consideration. Lots of peoples chickens grew up together, some Silkies have very assertive personalities while others do not, space, even the quality of the Silkies can be a deciding factor (for example, my Silkies have large crests that impede their vision, making it much more difficult for them to get away from bullies while hatchery/pet quality Silkies can generally see well because they typically lack a large crest).
Anyway, I certainly don't want to bum your joy on planning to get Silkies, they're a wonderful breed! But, if you do decide to get them and find you can't integrate them into your flock, you'll definitely need to have a back up plan. You wouldn't need a large coop for two of them, so you might consider putting together a separate coop for them just in case. You could build it out of scraps you have lying around to cut costs, even feeders and drinkers can be slapped together out of things most people throw away on a fairly regular basis (think pie tins, peanut butter jars, things like that).
I raise blue, black and splash, I have for a while and I love the variety of color I get from them. They can all be bred together, since blue doesn't breed true. If you're not breeding yours, or even if you like surprises, mix it up and get whatever strikes your fancy. While I love whites, I also chose not to have that color for reasons already mentioned. I can't stand when they're all dirty, it really bothers me. One of my splash hens always seems to get into something that makes her look dingy, and when I can't stand to see her like that anymore, she gets a bath. If I had a flock of whites, I could imagine how much work that would require for me to keep them clean
Good luck!
I also fall into the group that keeps their Silkies in their own coop. I've tried mixing them with standards, but it never worked out long term. This past spring, my broody Silkie hens raised some turkey poults I picked up at a swap. They were together for almost 5 months when I came home one day and found all of my Silkies crests picked bald and one of them injured, so everyone was separated once again (obviously turkeys are a lot bigger than a LF chicken, but the example is there to show that it didn't take long for things to get ugly between them).
Its true that lots of people on BYC house their Silkies with LF, but you have to take lots of factors into consideration. Lots of peoples chickens grew up together, some Silkies have very assertive personalities while others do not, space, even the quality of the Silkies can be a deciding factor (for example, my Silkies have large crests that impede their vision, making it much more difficult for them to get away from bullies while hatchery/pet quality Silkies can generally see well because they typically lack a large crest).
Anyway, I certainly don't want to bum your joy on planning to get Silkies, they're a wonderful breed! But, if you do decide to get them and find you can't integrate them into your flock, you'll definitely need to have a back up plan. You wouldn't need a large coop for two of them, so you might consider putting together a separate coop for them just in case. You could build it out of scraps you have lying around to cut costs, even feeders and drinkers can be slapped together out of things most people throw away on a fairly regular basis (think pie tins, peanut butter jars, things like that).
I raise blue, black and splash, I have for a while and I love the variety of color I get from them. They can all be bred together, since blue doesn't breed true. If you're not breeding yours, or even if you like surprises, mix it up and get whatever strikes your fancy. While I love whites, I also chose not to have that color for reasons already mentioned. I can't stand when they're all dirty, it really bothers me. One of my splash hens always seems to get into something that makes her look dingy, and when I can't stand to see her like that anymore, she gets a bath. If I had a flock of whites, I could imagine how much work that would require for me to keep them clean
Good luck!
I have Faverolles.
As I understand it, Faverolles are pretty docile. Has this been your experience? I've spoken with several people who say their Faverolles are typically at the very bottom of the pecking list when mixed with other docile large breeds including Cochins, Orpingtons, etc., so you may not have any problems as long as your careful about the introductions. Do you have a means of keeping them separated from one another for while, but perhaps still in site of one another while the Silkies grow a bit?
Oh...and if you're looking for people to tell you NOT to get Silkies you may not find them here. I feel pretty confident in saying that we all love our Silkies and sing their praises to anyone who will listen.
Thank you everyone for your responses! I am very bummed that so many people are saying that I should not mix silkies with large fowl hens. But there are also so many people who say they have not had a problem with it and there silkies get along with large fowl hens just fine. So now I don't know what to do. Should I just not get the silkies?
Don't give up hope. My silkie showgirl is in a coop/pen with my Olive Egger, Araucana & peahen. They all get along great.
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Thank you for your reply. I do think I will probably still get 2 sillies and try it out, because so many people do not have problems with mixing bantams and standards, and also silkies are a little larger than most bantams. My birds a pretty docile and do not bully each other at all, so I don't think I will have a problem with them living together if I introduce them carefully.
Don't give up hope. My silkie showgirl is in a coop/pen with my Olive Egger, Araucana & peahen. They all get along great.
As I understand it, Faverolles are pretty docile. Has this been your experience? I've spoken with several people who say their Faverolles are typically at the very bottom of the pecking list when mixed with other docile large breeds including Cochins, Orpingtons, etc., so you may not have any problems as long as your careful about the introductions. Do you have a means of keeping them separated from one another for while, but perhaps still in site of one another while the Silkies grow a bit?
Oh...and if you're looking for people to tell you NOT to get Silkies you may not find them here. I feel pretty confident in saying that we all love our Silkies and sing their praises to anyone who will listen.If anyone tried to talk me into giving up mine they'd be in for one heck of a fight. I honestly think they do a magnificent job of rounding out my mixed flock and I love the tenacity and dominance of my Silkie cockerel.
I've found my faverolles to be extremely docile and sweet! I've raised my faverolles and silkies together from chicks. My silkie cockrel was actually picking on my Faverolles cockrel today. He took it for a few minutes then put him in his place. They all seem very similar in temperament.
This chick hatched out of an egg marked blue, she is white, no color at all. Someone told me she could be a splash but wouldn't she have spots of color now or could that come later?
My diluted splash hatch out white. They get the spots when they start feathering out.
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