Today my Silkie bantam laid her first egg. It’s something that I have been anticipating for a long time. She was the last chicken I was waiting on to lay. I have four other chickens; a Silver Laced Wyandotte, Golden Comet, Lavender Orpington, and White Leghorn. I’ve had all but the Leghorn and bantam Silky for at least two years now.
After having my little Silky finally laid her first egg I was so excited and elated that it inspired me to share my experiences; both positive and fun along with the disappointments and many ordeals that come with being a chicken owner that loves to garden.
I’ve always wondered how long before a chicken a would lay its first egg. My research tells me it can vary from breed to breed. All my chickens seem to have been early layers and have not stuck to their breed’s timeline. I expected after talking to other experienced chicken keepers that my silky would not be the exception and not lay early but rather lay around a year — or even longer. Everything I’ve seen and heard says that silkies, because of the breed characteristics, typically lay their first egg when they are around 8 to 10 months old. This of course is an approximate number. I was not keeping my hopes high on an early egg because of this. My silky on the other hand had other ideas. Fluffy is about five months old and has been displaying maturity. It’s been about 3 weeks that my silky has been doing the “chicken squat” (I’ll talk more about this later in another post). This was a good sign that she was almost ready to start laying. This was, of course, just another symptom she was displaying. I had noticed earlier that her comb had become larger and noticeable. Later it became apparent that it had changed color. Her comb had gone from small, and almost unnoticeable, to a large and deep red bumpy shaped comb. She finally did it. She laid earlier than I ever would have expected. I knew what to expect for other breeds of chicken but not for a Silkie. Silkies look so very different than that of their other feathery friends. Silkies have five toes when my other chickens have only four. Silkie combs are nearly invisible when they are chicks and their feathers are more hair-like. Their personality seems to be very, very docile and mild. They make the sweetest little sounds that most times I don’t recognize as being chicken like. They have black skin; dark beaks and I’m told black bones as well. Their feet and toes are covered with feathers and just look so darn cute. It’s hard to walk by a Silkie and not just want to scoop one up and snuggle it.
My chickens in general seem to be so different from what I have read. It could be the way I raise and treat them that conditions and changes some of their behaviors from what is “normal” for that particular breed.
I’ll keep updating my silkie’s egg production to see if it matches what has been written about them. I’ve always heard that they aren’t the best chickens for egg production not just because of amount of eggs they produce but because of the size.
