Silkies

We have two Silkies that we have been raising with our meat birds, which are a Cornish Rock Cross.  The Silkies are about two months old and real small, they are bantams and will only get a little bigger than they are now.  They live in a small coop and run with about 40 of the meat birds who are about 1 month old and at least twice as big.  We have been moving the Silkies with the younger meat chicks who are now about 1.5 weeks old.  We don't like the Silkies with the meat birds and want to move them in with the layers as soon as possible.  We have about 60 layers of various breeds and ages.  Mostly Barred Rock and Ameraucanas about half of whom are about 6 months old.  There are also 3 roosters one of which is huge, literally about 5 times the size of the Silkies.  We want to move them because the area is much bigger with a lot of pasture area.  We also think the meat birds are kind of dumb and lazy and lame and the Silkies are so much more interesting.  They are tough and hold their own with these bigger chickens.

Is it a good idea to put these Silkies in that run and coop at this point or any point?
What troubles might we have?
Is there anything to make the move easier?

I would not put the bantams in with the larger birds as they likely will be attacked and killed.

Personally I would keep them in a separate coop of their own.  I have two Silkies that live in a little coop of their own; they are out foraging in the yard during the day when the other birds are also out, though they usually stay separate.

Ludi Ludi wrote:
I would not put the bantams in with the larger birds as they likely will be attacked and killed.

Personally I would keep them in a separate coop of their own.  I have two Silkies that live in a little coop of their own; they are out foraging in the yard during the day when the other birds are also out, though they usually stay separate.

That sounds like a good solution.  So your Silkies are with larger birds during the day without trouble?  Do you think the problems would occur only in the coop?

There tend to only be problems if the birds are confined together - if the little ones can't run away from the bigger ones.  I've never had serious problems with fights as long as various birds who don't get along can avoid each other.

Ludi Ludi wrote:
There tend to only be problems if the birds are confined together - if the little ones can't run away from the bigger ones.  I've never had serious problems with fights as long as various birds who don't get along can avoid each other.

Thanks, I think we will build a small coop and try that out.  Ours are because they are pretty and we want to try their meat b/c we heard it is black as is their skin and bones.  I've also heard they are good brooders.  What do you do with your Silkies? 

We've eaten some of the Silkies - their meat looks like fish, it is bluish-black.  But the two we have now are just pets.  I originally got them for the hens to be brooders but they are so small they can't turn or even adequately cover large eggs so are somewhat useless for the purpose of brooding anything other than their own or other small eggs. 

I have Silkies in with my larger breeds and they definitely hold their own. They were introduced last summer, after a quarantine time and have done just fine. As a matter of a fact, from what I can see, they are right about in the middle of the pecking order. We kept them in cages so the other birds could see them for about 3 days (After a 2 week quarantine) and never had a problem. They are tough little birds, and very vocal when something doesn't go their way, LOLOL.....
Good Luck!