My hens are here!!!

Thanks Aaron

They do have roosting bars, and I think one or two of them perch, but they seem to sleep huddled up in the bedding together. Actually, in the nesting box! When I checked last night I couldn't see any perchers throught the little vent. I might check when they are asleep with a torch!

 

Good idea. If you do have floor sleepers, try picking them up and popping on the perch after dark. You might have to do this for several nights until they get the idea. At the very least, it prevents them being pooped on by the perch sleepers and it prevents them from sleeping on their own droppings, which can lead to mucky bums and under carriages! It also makes it easier to clean the house when you have neat little piles of poo!

Any eggs yet?

 

Nah, I reckon they've got a racket going at day break, and they're selling them out the back of the coop. I've seen Betty having a crafty cigarette with one of the Jackdaws, and I reckon they're trading eggs for contraband.

 

:hehe::hehe:

 

I have just had such a good time reading all the posts about the silkies. We have 6 hens, 2 quite old plymouths' 2 pies and 2 speckles. We had the usual bullying when the 4 newbies arrived, they get there in the end as long as there is room to get out of the way! Ours have an outside run (fenced off portion of the garden ) which is down to grass mainly. My husband has just built them a rain shelter, as now there are 6 there is not room under thier hut for all of them to shelter at once.
Good luck with your girls and enjoy!!:gnthb:
tattan

 

Thanks tattan,

I have to make them a winter home now too - going to make them a smaller pen with bark chip on the floor.

My hubby had an excellent idea of dividing the garden next year.

We have a large pen in the garden of chicken wire and bamboo canes! They also have their secure run which they go in when we can't keep an eye, but I am aware that it isn't really big enough.

My hubby suggested putting an arch halfway down the garden, with a pretty gate, or double gates, and a fence dividing the garden, with a wooden top and posts, but some kind of mesh nailed to it. He said we can grow roses over the arch, pretty climbers and shrubs over the fence, and have it as a feature. That way the chickens only have access to half of the garden, without the need for a rather unsightly 'pen'.

What do you think?

 

Sounds like a plan. Our neighbour has done something similar and it works well...or it would if he would put down a decent surface for his chickens, instead of leaving them with mud :(

The good thing about Silkies is their total inability to fly or get off the ground more than about three feet. So a four foot high fence would easily contain them.

 

Glad you think it's an option. I think one member of my extended family thinks we'll be making the garden smaller, but we want a garden with interest and different areas to explore. I think in a strange way it might make the garden look bigger, as there won't be a big void half way up the garden and then an 'end'. Plus we don't intend for it to be the chicken area for them to trash, just a part of the garden they have access to.

They aren't trashing the bit of garden they have at the moment, apart from their dust bath.

I am totally bored of waiting for eggs though!

 

It's not the best time of year for egg laying. And Silkies are difficult to tell when they are ready to lay.

We have a long, narrow garden (15 foot wide) and the chicken run, which is permanent and where they have access to all day, occupies the last quarter. I can remember (just) the garden when it was just one long expanse and now that it has been divided up several times, it does look longer. Optical illusion, etc.

If you can find a garden bench or something like that, put it in that area and then you'll have a great place to sit with them, having a chat and wasting time. I can really recommend it. Just watch out for poops that they will leave there when they decide to sit on it too! Are they getting friendly?

 

I intend to get a bench for the area, a little private retreat - apart from hens of course!!

They are getting friendly, although we seem to have had no time over the past couple of weeks to get out and spend time with them. On the cards for this weekend though.

I thought I read that Silkies lay in the winter. But who knows. I put a stop to the scam they had going with the jackdaws! I refuse to allow the chickens to develop smoking habits!

They are loving the autumn leaves, although with all the breezy weather lately and the falling leaves they seem more excitable than when it was sunny and warm.

 

A handful of corn is good to encourage them to come closer if they are a bit wary of you still. At the very least it will let them know you 'come in peace' and bring goodies to boot.

Silkies are known for being winter layers. But they might just be the wrong hatch for laying now and will wait until Spring. Chickens start laying at about five months old, but the time of year they were hatched also is a deciding factor.

 

Ahh, I didn't know that! We picked a couple up today while moving the run, I'm dreadful at catching them! Really nervous at making the grab! We noticed that Fedorie is reddening on her wattles and a bit above her beak, so I should imagine they are maturing.

They are very friendly, just not 'hop up on your lap' friendly yet. They cluck about excitedly as we go up the garden, and when I go in the pen and clean them out they are SO nosey, and I have to keep gently shooing them away as they try to help! They also will come and peck food from our laps if we sit on the floor, so I think they are doing quite well.

As you know by now, I'm the impatient type! So when I say they are not totally tame yet, I mean they don't leap up into my arms to greet me! (Which is of course my ultimate aim :yez: ) And I'm gonna catch that flying pig circling my house...

 

Sounds like you are doing fine. We have one Silkie that will grab food out of our hands. The two bantams will also be quick tame and friendly, but only if they are in lay. The others, not at all.

I hope their combs don't get too red - the standard for Silkies is mulberry coloured at the lightest! A good indication of coming into lay is if they start to 'squat' when you stand over them and try to pick them up. In a nutshell, as you are in charge, they view you as the dominant 'male' of the flock and are therefore squatting for you (or a cock bird!) to mount them and fertilise their eggs - which they are then laying. The squatting is a cross between 'come hither' and submission! No point in a male fertilising a hen that isn't laying, is there?

 

I just noticed that it has a red tinge to it. It doesn't look 'red' just looking a reddish grey - purple.

I panicked at first that it meant she was a cockerel. But looked it up and seems to just mean maturing. Hoping they would have tried to crow by now!

 

How old are they?