Here is our list of Silkie chicken facts to know before bringing them home. We’re not experts, so we always recommend asking the pros for the best advice. This post contains affiliate links, which may lead to a commission if purchased. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
Silkie Chicken Facts to Know Before Buying
We’ve just about completed our first season with Silkie chickens! While we absolutely love these adorable, fluffy little critters, there are some Silkie chicken facts we wish we’d known before we purchased them. If you’re on the fence about buying these cute little guys, hopefully these points help you make up your mind!
Silkies can make great mamas.
This fluffy chicken breed may be the best chick-raiser around. One of the cuter Silkie chicken facts is how much they love to take care of babies. Even baby animals of other species! Silkies have been known to take ducklings, kittens, and even dogs under their wing.
Silkies are not great for egg supply.
For those looking to up their egg collection, one of the more important Silkie chicken facts is that they don’t lay many eggs. Like any bird, they’ll lay some eggs. But they’re not as regular as “egg laying” breeds, and the eggs are pretty small. On the plus side, the eggs they lay are extremely adorable!
Silkie roosters & pullets are hard to tell apart.
This is true especially at a young age! Silkies are considered bantam chickens (in the U.S., for the most part, anyway), and most experts agree that vent sexing to determine the gender of a chick is not safe or reliable for bantam breeds. Therefore, most Silkie chicks must be purchased “straight run”, or as a random mix of male & female. To further complicate matters, Silkies take quite a while to mature, and males & females are notoriously hard to tell apart until they’re sexually mature. Silkie owners really don’t know 100% if they have a male or female until the chicken either crows or lays an egg. There are subtle differences, between the sexes, but they’re pretty hard to tell apart for a while!
Silkies need extra grooming or a pristine coop.
Aren’t those cute little bell-bottomed feet adorable? I think so too! As it turns out, they’re an extra layer of maintenance, too. When they step in a pile of poo, it gets all up in their little pajama pants. They do the best job of cleaning off that they can, but their process isn’t perfect. This becomes an especially big problem during the winter, when it can cause their leg feathers to freeze and stick to their poor little feet. Plan to pay extra attention to making sure they have a super clean environment and fresh little tootsies.
Silkies aren’t really cut out for free ranging.
This is one of the Silkie chicken facts that we wish we’d known before we bought Silkies. Because their adorable head & face feathers often impair their vision, Silkies aren’t really cut out for the free range life. I have seen Silkies free ranging before, but they’re much more likely to be picked off by air predators than their chicken counterparts since they can’t always see a hawk coming in for the kill. We keep our Silkies and Polishes safe & covered at all times. This is is the chicken run we purchased for them. Even though it was an added expense, it is well worth the peace of mind.
Silkies aren’t waterproof.
Of course, fully-feathered chickens aren’t waterproof, either. But their flight feathers offer more water protection than Silkies’ down feathers. The down will get totally soaked, and these poor little guys will lose just about all heat retention abilities. Even though all chickens should always have access to shelter from the elements, it’s really imperative that Silkies have a totally dry environment to live, if not just to escape to, at the very least.
Silkies are not always more tame.
One of the more surprising Silkie chicken facts is that Silkies are not always more tame than other breeds. In fact, our Easter Eggers are much more tame than our Silkies. We believe this is because we spent a lot more time with the Easter Eggers as they matured. Our Silkies are just about as flighty as they come. However, with proper socialization, Silkies can certainly be the most tame, pet-like birds around. It just doesn’t always happen automatically.
Some say Silkies aren’t cut out for winter.
One of the most confusing parts about using the internet to learn chicken care is that there are so many differing opinions. For example, one blogger says that Silkies can’t stay warm like other chickens in the winter. Another blogger says they stay even warmer than “regular” chickens. So who should you believe? I wish I had the answer for you. But knowing that so many people claim Silkies struggle to stay warm in the winter is enough for me to be a little more cautious with them when it comes to cold weather chicken care. We have a radiant heater for chickens for them to use, if they need it.
Silkies really cannot fly.
Many people are surprised to learn that most chickens can fly quite a bit! This is one of those Silkie chicken facts that sets them apart, however. Silkies don’t have the flight feathers that other chickens have, so they really can’t fly. This makes them easier keepers for those who are worried about birds hopping the fence. However, it also makes them more susceptible to ground predators.
Silkies can be prone to bullying.
Because of their more docile nature, Silkie chickens can be prone to bullying from other chickens. For this reason, it is imperative that a flock with Silkies and other breeds have plenty of space to roam, as well as a chicken keeper who keeps an eye on the more docile birds for injuries. Chickens can quickly turn a small wound into a life threatening attack, so a Silkie who is being picked on or is injured should be separated immediately.
Silkies In Summary
We were surprised to learn a few of these Silkie chicken facts after already purchasing and raising the chicks. If we’d known some of these points before we acquired them, we probably would have decided that Silkies aren’t for us. We love to free range and prefer chickens who need minimal care. However, Silkies may be the perfect breed for others. For example, those on a suburban fenced lot may appreciate Silkies for their inability to fly out of the yard! Deciding whether to buy Silkie chickens is a personal decision.