Silkie hens are awesome pets! They are cute and smart animals that can live inside your apartment. They are noisy animals and they can be toilet trained to not poop on your house because these girls are smart. These Hens can be pets on a city because they won't disturb your neighbors as they don't make noises. They lay 5 to 6 eggs a day so having them as a pet can be beneficial because they can give you free food. In China, they were raised for meat because their meat can prevent cancer. Their meat don't look appetizing though because it is black and dark blue in color. I will not eat mine though because they are my pets. This is the only chicken breed that can live inside your house because they are smart, they don't make noises. These critters are very sweet and docile to humans. Their eggs have baby blue colored shells but I do eat their eggs because of these eggs are rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Their eggs can prevent heart disease. I have 4 hens living inside my house and they get along with my dog and cat. I know people from States where it is illegal to have chickens in the city but non of their neighbors know they have chickens because silkies don't make noises.
They are so funny, look at their fluffy feet! They seem to like having a stroke too. I have two dogs who are quite strong and as they both like to play a bit rough, they may cause an injury to the bird without meaning to. I'm glad to hear that they all get along well in your household. You say that they are quiet, but don't they cluck at all. I would be concerned that the neighbours would complain. I'm interested to know how you trained them.
They dont cluck at all, That is why they were becoming popular apartment pets. You got a cute pet and that give you eggs. They have longer lives than layer hens too. Just make sure you are buying a hen and not a rooster. All roosters cluck. I cannot edit my previous post, so I need to make a correction to my typo. They are not noisy animals at all.
How did you train them for their toilet? Where do they do their business? Do you have a litter tray like cats have in apartments and how do you get them to use it? It was enough for me teaching my pup to do his business outside, I think I would find training chickens quite difficult, I wouldn't know where to start. Silly question maybe, but do hens lay eggs without a cockerel? (rooster)
Wow! I have never seen such fluffy hens before, they are quite cute and funny. If they are not noisy and can be potty trained then they make great pets and to have free food everyday from them makes it even better. You must save a lot in food then as eggs can be eaten any time of the day and in many different ways.
Hens lay eggs without a rooster. If you have a rooster around, You are going to have fertile eggs that will turn into chicks. If you dont' have roosters, their eggs won't be fertile. In other words the commercial eggs we eat are chicken period. Yup they use litter boxes like cats.
This is the first that I see this kind of chicken. We don't have this in our place. They look indeed funny for the bulky feathers around their body. What chicken breed that is common to us are Leghorn, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Welsummer, Naked Neck, Old English Game fowl, Asil, and Bisaya (native chicken) among others.
You can simply try to find breeders from your country. It is a common chicken in Asia so if you are Asian, You can find this chicken in China town either alive or dressed. It's meat is high in anti-oxidants so it is used for curing cancer but I just keep them for pets because their eggs have the same benefits. If you are in the US or Canada there are websites out there that sells them as pets. It is becoming a popular city pet in the US.
Many years ago, I had a pair of Silkies, and they were very cute little pets. I lived out in the country, and in a warm enough climate that they lived outside and wandered around the yard eating bugs all day. I had a big dog with very long hair, and at night the Silkies would snuggle up next to the dog and you almost didn't see them sleeping because they were pretty much buried inside of his long, furry coat. I know that chicken are all much smarter than we give them credit for being; but I have never tried to housetrain one, and had no idea that they would learn to do this. We live in the city, and chickens are not allowed inside the city limits here; but as long as they didn't make any noise, we might be able to have a few of them as pets and no one would care. I think that I will consider this and maybe find a safe place where they could be outside in the yard and sleep inside where they would be safe from predators.
My hens are giving me 3 eggs a day each. Silkie is not really a layer breed of chicken because it is a breed originally made for medicinal meat for cancer treatment. I have no plans of starting an egg business and the eggs I got everyday is good enough to feed a family. These chicks are not really picky eaters. I feed them fish guts because it gives them protein and protein helps them produce eggs. they are omnivorous so I give them an omnivorous diet. I don't buy chicken feed because I just feed them vegetable and fruit trimmings, fish offal and leftovers. I have sunflowers on my garden so I give them the occasional; sunflower seeds.
