How to Raise Silkie Chicks

A trio of silkie chickens — Silkies searching out bugs

I love silkies and luckily, raising silkie chicks is really easy. There’s a few important things to consider when you have looking after these silkie chickens but as long as you follow a few simple steps, you’ll lots of fluffy chicks in no time at all.

HEN OR INCUBATOR

Silkies are excellent mums, and many people use them as broodies; that is, when a silkie is ready to incubate eggs, they’ll pop eggs under her, often from another chicken breed entirely. When it comes to hatching your silkie chicks, you can either use a broody hen or an incubator. If you want to do the latter, then make sure to check out my hatching and incubator recommendations.

When it comes to hatching chicks, the phrase ‘nature knows best’ isn’t always that precise. I always use incubators unless I have excess eggs and a good broody. Hens can be fickle things; sometimes they’ll go off eggs halfway through the incubation cycle. Sometimes you’ll carefully slip eggs under a hen during the night and she’ll work out which ones they were, break them and eat them. NEVER allow several broodies to hatch in the same place as they’ll fight over hatching chicks, often killing them in the process.

So my advice is to have an incubator, even if it’s just on hand to put abandoned eggs into.

If you’re buying hatching eggs, also check out my advice on getting the best hatch rates.

FRESHLY HATCHED SILKIE CHICKS

When chicks first hatch they have absorbed any remaining yolk from the egg which means they don’t actually need to eat for 48 hours. So do not worry if your brand new chicks aren’t eating immediately. They’ll start to peck at chick crumb fairly quickly - often within hours of hatching and will also search out a drink. Most chicks are pretty good at finding all they need but if you have difficulties, just use your finger to ‘peck’ at the crumb to teach the chicks to eat. You can also dip the beaks of newly hatched chicks in their water to show them where it is.

WARMTH

At this early stage, it’s crucial for silkie chicks to have heat. If you’ve hatched with a hen, she will obviously provide this by allowing her babies to snuggle under her. For me, as I use an incubator, it’s time to pop the chicks into a brooder.

Brooders can be as simple as a cardboard box or plastic tub with shavings in the bottom, food and water, and some form of heat. I use both lightbulbs and electric hen plates, depending on the circumstances. If the ambient temperature is really cold, I use a plastic storage box with a light bulb fitting fixed into the lid. Of course, it’s super important to also pop some form of grill into the box for airflow otherwise your chicks will suffocate! I’ve tried to use electric hens in cardboard boxes or indoor cages but they’re not strong enough to keep chicks warm if temperatures are dropping down below 10°C/50°F. If it’s spring or summer, however, an electric hen is perfect.

When they’re warm enough, chicks should be comfortable to lay down and sleep wherever they want. If they’re too cold they’ll huddle together under the warmth. And if they’re too warm, you’ll find them trying to get away from the heat source.

IF YOU FIND A DEAD CHICK - remember, nothing is dead until it’s warm and dead! I’ve managed to bring around many chicks that were lifeless but actually just too cold. If you have an incubator running, pop them straight in to warm them up quickly. If not, the best place is skin to skin - pop them in your bra or pants; it might seem super weird, but it works.

REMOVING FROM HEAT

There’s no hard and fast rule as to how old silkie chicks should be before you remove them from heat. It depends on your individual circumstances. However, there are a few things to consider.

Silkie chicks are a little more vulnerable to getting cold than other varieties before of their lovely fluffy feathers. Adult silkies are really hardy, and mine often trot around happily in the snow. But when they’re little, their fluffy feathers aren’t able to regulate temperature very well.

In general, chicks are able to come off heat once they have lost all their down and their feathers have appeared. Sometimes this is earlier if it’s summer, for example. I tend to gradually acclimatise silkie chicks and pop them outside on a warm day without heat, and put them back under a lamp overnight. You can quickly tell a cold chick; it will get huddled, shiver and try to warm up by getting under it’s brothers and sisters. Act quick if you see this, and get it back in the warmth. The first night I move my chicks outside and off heat totally, I also go and check them once it’s dark just to check they’re huddled together and no one is cold. If they are, I realise I’ve moved them too soon and bring them back in.

A WORD ON COCCIDIOSIS

Coccidiosis is a protozoa that is present in the environment and comes into contact with your chickens all the time. Adult hens and cockerels have built an immunity to the problem, and it rarely makes them ill. In chicks, however, it can be fatal. There is nothing more heart-breaking that watching half your chicks die of cocci. It can kill within 24 hours and there are few signs other than bloody stools and lethargic chicks. But often you’ll just find dead babies.

Don’t be scared though! There are ways to deal with this.

If you’re hatching under hens, you will rarely have a problem. This is because, from birth, the chicks are coming into contact with small number of cocci, allowing their immunity to build. The problem is when you hatch with an incubator and keep your chicks in a sterile environment.

The solution?

Despite not wanting to use chemicals, I do always feed my chicks a crumb that’s medicated against cocci as this allows them to build immunity without being overcome. I also, from day one, pop a tiny bit of poop into the brooder from my hen coops. If you don’t want to add poop, you could add a little dirt from the coop. This again, will have a tiny amount of cocci within it, allowing chicks to come into contact with the protozoa without it taking hold.

Providing lots of space, keeping the brooder clean but not sterile and raising healthy chicks will also help.

RAISING YOUNG SILKIES

Within four or five weeks, you should have some wonderful silkie chicks which are growing into fluffy, funny characters. It takes until about 12 weeks until you can start to distinguish males and females (as I discuss here). There’s nothing cuter than watching a little group of silkies scratching around in the earth or chasing after a fly, so have fun!