Lone Silkie Question

[WendyTestaburger]

Looking for advice about silkies. I'm planning to get 10 or so chicks this week. Since silkies are straight run I'd like to get one and if it turns out to be a rooster, he would be the only one in our flock.

The babies would all be the same age or hatched within the last 1.5 weeks. Will they get along well with a silkie at this age?

When theyre coop ready - if I keep the silkie's feathers trimmed to see well - will they have problems when I eventually integrate them with my current flock of 9? I was thinking since there will be 10 or 11 newbies all coming in at once might lessen any bullying on the silkie but also don't want to put it in a bad situation being the only tiny one.

Also, we're adding another coop so should I plan to have a little ladder for the silkie to get up to the roost?

 

[Debbie292d]

Looking for advice about silkies. I'm planning to get 10 or so chicks this week. Since silkies are straight run I'd like to get one and if it turns out to be a rooster, he would be the only one in our flock.

The babies would all be the same age or hatched within the last 1.5 weeks. Will they get along well with a silkie at this age?

When theyre coop ready - if I keep the silkie's feathers trimmed to see well - will they have problems when I eventually integrate them with my current flock of 9? I was thinking since there will be 10 or 11 newbies all coming in at once might lessen any bullying on the silkie but also don't want to put it in a bad situation being the only tiny one.

Also, we're adding another coop so should I plan to have a little ladder for the silkie to get up to the roost?

Chicks within a couple of weeks would get along just like if you went shopping for various chicks at a farm store.

I've had various ages of silkies all mixed in the same brooder from day old to three weeks old. Once I had a few speckled sussex and the little orphan I had at the time learned to watch out for where they walk as they were huge at three weeks old compared to the two-day-old silkie.

Silkies can't fly well, if at all. We have ladders for ours they use to get up and down. It is a 3/4 plywood board about 8" wide with slats on it.

 

[WendyTestaburger]

Chicks within a couple of weeks would get along just like if you went shopping for various chicks at a farm store.

I've had various ages of silkies all mixed in the same brooder from day old to three weeks old. Once I had a few speckled sussex and the little orphan I had at the time learned to watch out for where they walk as they were huge at three weeks old compared to the two-day-old silkie.

Silkies can't fly well, if at all. We have ladders for ours they use to get up and down. It is a 3/4 plywood board about 8" wide with slats on it.

What about if there is only one silkie and the rest are normal size hens? Would that still be fine? I think it'll get along well with the ones it grows up with (the other 9 I buy that are the same age) but I'm more worried about when I integrate with my current flock of 9 adult hens, will the silkie be a target?

 

[Debbie292d]

I would try get a couple more silkies if I were you as in the beginning, growing up, they'd be okay but as they become adults, smaller breeds could get picked on. If you have about 3-4 of them, they can hang together and won't be so picked on.