Three silk hens in their new forever home
Three silkies were urgently looking for a new home. All attempts shouldbe unsuccessful,and Henriette, Jörg and Roadrunner were threatened with slaughter. The three silkies are just one year old and found themselves in a tricky situation. Time was of the essence, and Dieter Ehrengruber agreed to take Roadrunner, Jörg and Henriette just as hastily.
Silkies are special, but not mimosas
More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle wrote about these special chickens with their silky plumage. In the Middle Ages, silk chickens were thought to be a cross between rabbits and chickens.
A distinction is made between the Japanese silk fowl with black skin and the Siamese silk fowl with white skin. The bones, skin and even the organs of the silkie can be deep black. Whether they have light or dark bones and light or dark organs, they are all calm and friendly chickens. Silkies lay light brown eggs and feed on grass, worms and grains. Their life expectancy is around 5 years.
A special feature is also the very pronounced social behaviour. Regular, loving and patient human attention makes them trusting, they can be picked up and even stroked.
All the special features of silkies mean that they are not mimosas. Silkie chickens are robust and undemanding to keep. Compared to other chicken breeds, silkies require less space in the henhouse.
Silk hens cannot fly and therefore spend the night on the ground rather than on the roost. Even though they have short legs and appear rather clumsy due to their fluffy feathers, they are capable of easily overtakingany other chickenwhen it comes to a worm in the grassand feeling like a winner.
How are Henriette, Jörg and Roadrunner doing in their new home?
When you come up the avenue at Gut Aiderbichl Henndorf, you will notice Henriette, Jörg and Roadrunner on the right-hand side. There they search the lush green meadow for worms and other ediblesm.
The visitors like to linger at the fence and watch Roadrunner and his chickenfriends. Henriette likes to make herself comfortable next to the redchicken house and Jörg loves to flirt with the visitors.
The Aiderbichlersilk chickens also get along with the chickens of other breeds and cackle their hymn of peace all day long in all harmony. The fenced meadow offers enough space to live together peacefully. FIf one of the chickens decides to have a cosy, secluded day, there are places to retreat to: under the henhouse in the shade, in the henhouse or somewhere along the fence in a dug Sandhole.
