11/25/2023 0 Comments Silkie chicken picturesVentilation is very important to the health of your birds. Silkies do not do well with drafts so you want that air moving up above them. We installed windows up high, so that there is plenty of air movement. Their fluffy feathers do not let water bead off of them. We put on a metal roof with a steep slant. Next the walls were built and the roof rafters put on. They have a hard time with steep inclines, so the ramps need to be long and low. You want to make it up off of the ground but at the same time as low as possible for silkies. We started by making the floor of the coop. Now we are building our fourth coop and using all of the information gained from the other coops, we are able to have the best silkie coop possible. You want them to be looking at their best and poo stains are not attractive. A silkie pen needs to be kept neat and tidy. I scrubbed them weekly but they eventually started to come away from the walls. The other coops had plastic sheeting on the floor and sides. The pen walls and floor are painted with industrial enamel which is super easy to keep clean. Everything is easily stored inside of the coop, such as food, bedding, brooms and assorted tools. There is a long walkway inside with four sections of divided pens. We overbuilt it, but I was glad that we did. I find it best to trim above and below the eyes so that they can find food and water. Silkies do not like high ramps, especially with their eyesight often being blocked by feathers. We made sure that the ramp to the ground was a long gradual incline. We did not bother putting in a roosting pole or nesting boxes. In a few years we found a second ice house to refurbish as we continued to expand our chicken habit. Silkies go broody often but can’t fly up to nesting boxes that are very far off of the ground. They also did not use the nesting boxes, but preferred to find a corner on the floor in which to lay their eggs. The next morning they would be covered in poo from the roosting birds above them. I found that the silkies did not “fly” up to the roost pole with the others but would sleep on the floor directly under them. We had a variety of breeds of chickens to start out with but I really fell in love with the silkies. We added electricity out to it, put in nest boxes and roosting poles and had a ramp going down to a chain link fence enclosed run. It was built very sturdy and was well insulated for winter. The first coop we had was a refurbished ice house. The only chickens we have at VJP Poultry are silkies so we are always thinking of ways to improve housing with their uniqueness in mind. Silkies are different from other breeds of chickens in several ways and these differences can be reflected in the type of coop you end up designing or purchasing. Silkie chickens have slightly different requirements when it comes to housing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |