How to Raise Silkie Chickens: A Detailed Guide to Their Habits and Care Essentials
The silkie chicken, also known as the black-boned chicken, five-clawed chicken, silky-feathered chicken, and bamboo-silk chicken, is also called the Taihe chicken because it originated in Taihe County, Jiangxi, China. The silkie chicken is a traditional and precious Chinese medicinal material, famous at home and abroad, and internationally praised as the "pearl of poultry".
1 Characteristics of the Silkie Chicken
The silkie chicken belongs to the class Aves, order Galliformes, family Phasianidae. It is a small chicken with a small head and short neck, with wattles under the jaw. Its whole body is covered in white feathers; except for the arrow-shaped feathers of the two main wing feathers and tail feathers, the whole body is covered in downy fine feathers. The male has a mulberry-shaped, purple-black round comb, with a tuft of fine feathered crest behind the comb; the female has a white downy ball crest on top of the head. Both cheeks have many fine short feathers. The feet have five toes, and the shanks are densely covered with feathers. Because the eyes, beak, tongue, skin, flesh, bones, shanks and toes, internal organs, and fat are all black, it is named the silkie chicken.
2 Value of the Silkie Chicken
The silkie chicken is a precious Chinese medicinal material. It was recorded long ago in the Compendium of Materia Medica: the black-boned chicken is sweet and neutral in nature, non-toxic, and mainly treats consumptive weakness and benefits women in childbirth. In clinical practice, it is generally recognized that the silkie chicken has the functions of tonifying the liver and kidneys, benefiting qi and blood, and reducing deficiency heat, and is a good medicine for treating weakness and gynecological diseases. In addition, modern medical practice has proven that the silkie chicken has good therapeutic effects on pulmonary tuberculosis, heart disease, gastric ulcers, chronic hepatitis, neurasthenia, and rickets in children. Silkie chicken eggs can treat headaches, dizziness, asthma, nephritis, and other diseases. Soaking silkie chicken bones in wine can invigorate the blood and dispel wind. Boiling silkie chicken feathers in water and washing the body with it can relieve itching and treat urticaria and other conditions.
3 Living Habits of the Silkie Chicken
The silkie chicken is small in size. Adult roosters weigh 1.0-1.5 kg, and hens weigh 0.75-1.00 kg. It is docile in temperament and highly adaptable, and can be raised in houses, pens, cages, or free-range. Silkie chicken eggs weigh 35-45 g, and annual egg production is about 100 eggs, with high yields reaching 130 eggs. The silkie chicken has a very strong brooding tendency; after laying about 20 eggs, it stops laying and "sits on the nest," so its natural incubation ability is stronger than that of ordinary chickens. Chicks weigh 27-30 g, and their resistance to cold and dampness is poor, so careful management is needed during brooding. The chicken house should be dry, ventilated, warm, quiet, and hygienic. Silkie chickens have the habit of dust bathing, so a dust bath trough must be provided in the chicken house to help clean the feathers and support growth and development.
4"Raising Essentials for Silkie Chickens
4.1"Raising Essentials During the Brooding Period
When chicks have just hatched, warm brooding must be adopted. The optimal temperature at 1 week of age is 35°C-36°C, at 2 weeks of age is 32°C-34°C, and thereafter it should be lowered by 2°C each week; at 5-7 weeks of age, they can be taken off heat. After chicks are 2 days old, if one-third of the chicks are seen pecking the ground with their beaks, they can be started on feed. For the first few days of feeding, feed half-cooked millet mixed with cooked egg yolk; the amount of egg yolk can be 1 per day for every 18 chicks. After 7 days, switch to mixed feed, mainly half-cooked grains supplemented with green vegetables, fish meal, and vitamins. The brooding density is about 17 chicks per sq m. Drinking water must be sufficient and clean; in the early stage, feed warm water, and add potassium permanganate at a ratio of one ten-thousandth to the water.
4.2"Raising Essentials During the Laying Period
Keep the air in the chicken house fresh, the humidity suitable, and provide sufficient and clean drinking water. During the laying period, maintain 16-17 hours of light per day; when light is insufficient, supplement it artificially. The daily ration should use compound feed, including 10% fish meal, 10% soybean cake, 20% grain powder, 30% corn meal, 5% sorghum, 7% rice bran, 2% shell powder, 1% growth hormone, and 15% green feed, using a combination of dry and wet feeding methods. Before 4 months of age, feed 4-5 times a day. During the laying period, appropriately feed more green and succulent feed to prevent laying hens from becoming too fat. Appropriately adding manganese salt can increase egg production and egg quality.
4.3"Reproduction and Seed Selection
Roosters can be bred at 6-7 months of age, while hens are best at 10 months of age and can be used for 3-4 years. Excellent individuals possessing all five major characteristics - heavy comb, green ears, white down, five claws, and black color - must be selected for breeding. Incubation can be done in spring and autumn, but spring incubation is better. Roosters are required to be robust with obvious sexual characteristics, and hens are required to lay many eggs and have weak brooding tendency. With a breeding ratio of 1:6 roosters to hens, a relatively high fertilization rate can be obtained, and the hatched chicks will also be robust.
4.4"Prevention and Treatment of Diseases
Although silkie chickens have strong disease resistance, the principle of preventing disease early when there is no disease and treating early when there is disease should still be upheld. Clean the chicken house and remove manure every day, and pay attention to moisture prevention; disinfect once a week, scrub and disinfect the feed troughs every 3-5 days, and do not feed moldy or spoiled feed.