Silkie Chickens in Ghana: Broody Queens & Pet Birds

A kilo of fluff with a broody streak

Hold a silkie hen for the first time and she feels like a warm bundle of fur with a head attached. The feathers have no hard edge. They part under your hand and close again, and the skin under them is a dark grey-black that surprises most people who have only seen a white bird in a picture. She weighs about a kilo, and most of that is fluff.

That softness is why people keep silkies, and it is also why the breed needs more care than its size suggests. A silkie is a pet, a mother and an ornament. She is rarely a serious source of eggs, and she is not built to be a meat bird. If you judge her by the standards of a layer, she will disappoint you. Judge her by what she does well, and she is one of the most rewarding small birds you can keep.

The rest of this guide covers where the breed came from, what the numbers look like, why the fluff is a problem in the rains, and how to use a silkie's broodiness without losing the hen or the clutch.

Where the silkie came from

The silkie is old, and the earliest written descriptions come from China. A widely repeated account credits Marco Polo with the first Western mention in the thirteenth century, describing birds with wool-like feathers. Historians treat that story with some caution, but the broad point stands: the breed was known in East Asia long before it reached Europe.

By the seventeenth century European naturalists were describing silkies, and they became popular as ornamental birds in gardens and show pens. The breed was valued for its looks, its gentle temper and its readiness to sit. Those three qualities have carried it through to the present day, and they are the reason you find silkies in so many Ghanaian yards.

The silkie's unusual features have a clear cause. The feathers lack the tiny hooks that normally lock one feather to the next, so the plumage looks like fur. The dark skin and bones come from a pigment that deposits through the tissues. Those are the traits that make the bird look different, and they are also the traits that make it vulnerable in the wet, as we will see later.

The numbers: small birds, small eggs

Silkies are bantams, so their figures are small across the board. The numbers below are the ones breeders most often quote for a healthy adult in good condition.

The egg count is low, and the eggs are small. A silkie hen that stops laying for a long broody spell will lose more of her output than a commercial bird ever would, which is one reason the breed is a poor choice for a family that depends on eggs for income.

Meat is not a useful consideration. A silkie carcass is small, dark and not what most Ghanaian households are looking for in a pot. Keep silkies for their temperament and their broodiness, and choose a larger dual-purpose breed if you need a bird for the table. Our bantam keeping guide covers the small breeds in more depth.

Why the fluff is a liability in the rains

A normal feather has a set of tiny hooks that zip it to its neighbours. That is what lets a chicken shed water and keep its body dry. The silkie does not have those hooks, so its feathers hang loose and fill with water. A silkie caught in a heavy shower will look like a wet sponge within minutes.

Wet feathers hold heat away from the skin, and a soaked silkie can chill quickly, even in warm weather. Once she is cold she tends to stop feeding, and a bird that is not eating is in trouble, whatever the cause. A silkie also cannot preen her coat dry in the way a feathered bird can, because the feathers do not lock together again after she tidies them.

The practical answer is to keep silkies under a solid roof in the rains. Give them a covered run, a dry roost and a dust bath under cover. If one gets soaked, dry her in a warm, still corner and keep her out of the draught until the feathers fluff back up. Do not leave a wet silkie on a cold, open perch overnight.

Broodiness: the silkie as a mother

This is the silkie's real gift. A silkie hen will sit on eggs with a steady, patient commitment that many other breeds lack. Once she has settled, she will stay on the nest for the full incubation period, turn the eggs with her body and defend them from other birds. For a small flock that wants to hatch its own chicks without an incubator, that is very useful.

A silkie can cover only a modest clutch. Her body is small, and the eggs must sit under her to stay warm. Most keepers give a silkie a clutch she can cover comfortably, rather than a large pile that she cannot keep warm. Use fresh, clean fertile eggs, and mark the date on each one. The usual incubation period for chicken eggs is 21 days, and the hen should be left in peace for that whole time.

Set up the nest on the ground in a dry, quiet corner, away from the feeding area and away from the path of the cockerel. A sitting hen gets off the eggs once or twice a day to feed and drink, and she will go back to the nest quickly if she is not disturbed. Put a dish of feed and a dish of clean water within two steps of the nest, so she does not have to leave the eggs for long.

1. Choose a dry, quiet corner with shade and a little privacy.
2. Slip the eggs under her in the evening, once she has settled on the nest and stopped shifting about.
3. Put feed and water within two steps of the nest.
4. Leave the hen alone for the full 21 days, except for a quick check of food and water.
5. Move her and the chicks into a brooder once they hatch, before the other birds bully them.

For the chicks, our brooder temperature chart sets out the warmth a young brood needs, and the same warmth applies to the chicks a silkie hatches.

Heat and shade for a bird with a coat

A silkie's coat traps heat, which is the opposite of the problem it has in the rain. On a hot day in Kasoa a silkie in full sun can overheat faster than a feathered bird, and the signs are easy to miss: she stands with her wings held out, pants with her beak open, and stops moving around. Once you see that, move her into shade at once and offer cool water. For a heat-tolerant bird with a very different coat, our naked neck guide makes a useful comparison.

Give silkies a shaded run where they can stand all day without crowding. A tree, a shade cloth over part of the run or a roof of thatch all work. Keep the drinking water in the shade, because water left in the sun warms up quickly and becomes unpleasant to drink. A small bird that is thirsty will not eat well, and she will not come back to the feeder for long.

Harmattan days are gentler on silkies than the hot rains are on other breeds, but the dust is a problem. A silkie's loose feathers catch fine dust, and that dust can clog around the eyes. Wipe the face gently if you see dust building up, and keep the dust bath clean.

Crests, bullies and a small bird's place in the flock

Many silkies have a crest of feathers on the head, and it can cover the eyes. A crest that blocks vision makes it hard for a silkie to see a rival coming or to find a feeder point in a crowd. That is why silkies are often bullied at feeding time, and why they can end up hungry while the larger birds eat.

Keep silkies with birds of similar size, or give them a separate feeder point that the larger birds cannot easily reach. Two feeders are better than one, and a low, open feeder is easier for a silkie to use than a deep trough. If a silkie is being pecked or chased away from food for more than a day, separate her until she is eating well and rejoin her slowly.

Cocks can be rough with silkie hens. A silkie hen that is being mounted roughly, or that has bare patches on the back of the neck, needs a break from the cock. Our advice is to keep one cock per small group of hens, and to pull the cock off a bird that is being damaged.

Feeding a small bird on a small budget

A silkie eats less than a standard bird, but she still needs a complete ration. A bantam fed a cheap, low-protein mix will look small and dull, and she will lay less than she should. Give silkies a layer ration or a balanced grower feed, with oyster shell in a separate dish for the hens that are laying. Our feed formulation basics guide explains how to check that a ration is balanced.

Here is a worked example for three silkie hens. At about 65 grams each a day, the flock eats 195 grams a day, or roughly 6 kg a month. A 25 kg bag therefore lasts about four months if the birds have little to scavenge. That is a small bill compared with a standard flock, but it is easy to overfeed a bantam with scraps and treats, so keep treats to a small handful a day.

Watch the weight, not just the bag. A silkie that is losing weight is either not eating enough or being pushed off the feeder, and both need fixing before she falls behind. Weigh a sample hen every fortnight and write the figure down.

Raising silkie chicks in a Ghanaian brooder

Silkie chicks are small, fluffy and slow to feather, and they can be harder to raise than a standard chick. They are easily chilled, and a wet chick dies faster than a dry one. Keep the brooder warm and dry, with a draught-free corner for the chicks to go to when they are cold.

The first weeks need careful feeding. Use a starter feed with the protein the chicks need, and keep the water shallow enough that they cannot fall in and drown. A silkie chick that stops eating or stands with its feathers puffed up is cold or unwell, and you should check the heat and the water before anything else.

Once the chicks are feathering, move them to a larger space with a roost and a covered run. Silkie chicks often feather slowly, and they should not be rushed into a cold, open house. Keep them under cover until the feathers are fully in and the weather is steady.

Mistakes that finish silkies early

Most silkie losses come from a short list of avoidable problems. Here they are, roughly in order of how often we hear about them.

• Leaving a silkie in the open during a downpour and expecting her to dry out alone.
• Putting the nest in a busy spot where the cock and other hens keep disturbing the sitter.
• Keeping silkies with large, bold birds at a single feeder point.
• Letting a broody hen leave her eggs for too long because the food and water are too far away.
• Overfeeding scraps and treats to a bird that needs only a small ration.
• Ignoring a silkie that is sitting still in the sun with her wings held out.

Each of these is easy to fix once you know it is happening. The hard part is noticing the bird before she is in trouble, so walk the flock every morning and every evening.

Where a silkie fits on a working farm

A silkie is not a farm bird in the sense that a layer or a broiler is. She takes up floor space, eats a steady ration and gives you a small egg count. In return she gives you a dependable mother, a gentle pet and an ornamental bird that children enjoy. Whether that trade is worth it depends on what you want from the yard.

If you need eggs or meat, a standard dual-purpose chick is the better buy. Our Plymouth Rock chicks, for example, start at GH₵7 each, so a box of 50 is GH₵350 before delivery, and you can see the full price range on our chick prices page. A silkie is a better fit for a family that wants a broody hen, a few pets or a flock for children. Our breeds overview sets out the other lines we work with.

If you want to hatch eggs from another breed under a silkie, ask us about chicken hatching eggs first. We price them on request, so message us on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503 and we will tell you what we can supply. You can also read about our fertile eggs page to see what is listed.

Before you buy silkies: a checklist

Work through this list before you commit, and keep the answers in writing.

1. Decide whether you want a pet, a mother hen or a small egg producer, and write it down.
2. Check that the birds are bantams and note the expected adult weight.
3. Build a covered run and a dry roost before the birds arrive.
4. Set up a quiet, shaded nest site, away from the main feeding area.
5. Keep silkies apart from large, aggressive birds at the feeder.
6. Agree the vaccination and worming plan with your vet.
7. Keep a notebook for broody dates, hatch results and any bird that is losing weight.

Our FAQ page covers the questions we hear most often about small flocks and day-old chicks, and our where to buy guide explains how to find a reliable source.

Questions farmers ask