[darrena]

I currently have 2 welsh harlequin ducks that are having to go due to being so noisey and extremely hard to keep happy.
I have found a new home for them on a small farm however the lady has offered me 2 8 month old white silkie chickens as a swop, now I certainly am tempted as I spent alot of money on making a duck house and enclosure etc. Are these girls quite quiet as chickens go, I have heard they are quite small so assume they wont need too much room and make as much mess (poo) as the ducks.

Just after a bit of advice on whether to go for it or not and what changes I would need to make to the the enclosure, obviously the ponds can go, currently have no nesting but and the duck house room is covered in felt so not sure if this an issue!

Any advice is welcomed

many Thanks
Darren

[joyfull]

Caralou had a couple of silkies but found at her house they were too noisy - so they came to me and no noise. They now live with Grannie Annie (she had lost her silkie girls so need some more) and again they are quiet  . Silkies like a lot of fancy small bantams do require dry areas in winter - my sablepoots lived in a shed for most of the time when we had snow as the snow was almost up to their heads. They will need perches to roost on and a box for laying eggs in (I used a large  plastic linbin). Treat your coup with poultry shield regularly to prevent red mite - the felt on the roof can harbour red mites during the day and then they come out at night to feed. Just one word of warning - silkies can go broody quite often and so egg production may suffer.

[poppies]

Hi we have silkies and they are not  noisy, apart from one who we call moanalot shes not noisy but wanders around moaning to herself, we also kept ours under cover over winter.

[iowrooster]

Hi
We have 2 Silkies and a Poland. Since we got the Poland all 3 have become quite loud when one of them lays an egg, however the neighbours have said they don`t mind. When we had just 3 Silkies , last year, they were very quite.  As others have said, we keep them dry in the winter. 

[darrena]

Thanks all, do you keep them completely under cover during the winter or provide cover as the area I have has a raised house which provides cover and also part of the alley is under cover.

Do they need a lot of room our alley is about 7-8 sqr meters, its concrete cover but has either side which I was thinking of replacing with wood chippings, do they have to have a grass area as this wont be possible?

The lady who has offered them to me said she would take them back off me if they didnt settle or were too noisey so not major risk but regardless I dont wont to take them if I cant offer what they need.
Are their eggs just like normal free range chicken eggs?

[joyfull]

silkies eggs are small whitish eggs (if they are in an enclosed run then officially they cannot be called free range - free range should have 4 square meters of run per bird and this must be mainly vegetation). At 7 - 8 square meters of run space you have plenty of room and they will enjoy rumaging in the bark chippings - you will have to replace these periodically so that the area doesn't become smelly. Will you be able to put in branches for them to sit on and a deep tray for them to have a dust bath?
Owing to their feathering (it looks more like fur rather than feathers I would make sure they have somewhere dry available at all times. 

[darrena]

Thanks, there is most certainly always shelter available

With them being pretty small is there a risk from preditors during the day like cats of crows?

[joyfull]

There is always a chance of preditors and hens no matter what size of birds - some cats, some dogs, foxes, mink, stoats, weasels etc. Crows will take young chicks as will sparrow hawks etc. Crows and magpies will also steal eggs as well  . If you have a roof over your run (either solid wood, onduline or weld mesh) then you should be ok (I say should but nothing is 100% certain).

[darrena]

Thanks,

I have no wire mess over the enclosure that they would go in, one side is the house and the other a 7-8 foot fence. Its not really feasible to cover the area, with the duck they just trunndle round as they please, never really had any issues with cats or birds but I suppose they were a bit bigger!