Why is it important to know whether our chickens, whether silkie or any other species, are intelligent or not? This is because familiarity with the aspects of the bird you raise is considered the main key to raising it successfully.
It opens up areas where your chicken excels. Which, if exploited in an optimal way, will bring you great benefit. Whether by avoiding certain problems or achieving exceptional benefits. Let’s talk today about silkie and delve into its intelligence.
Are Silkies Dumb?
No, Silkies are not considered dumplings, but they are not the most intelligent breed of other chicken breeds. However, Silkie’s unique appearance and docile, friendly nature give it an extra touch of tenderness and sweetness. That makes them one of the most beloved chickens for children and they are great as pets.
Reasons Why People Believe Silkies Are Dumb
Some believe that silkie is stupid due to some of their naive behavior, which is sometimes provocative, and interpreted as stupidity. Indeed, they are not smart enough, but their naive behavior is not the result of stupidity in the first place, but rather is related a lot to Cowardice.
Unfortunately, the Silkie chicken is one of the cowardly breeds that quickly get confused in unusual situations. They either act stupidly or don’t take any react and let themselves down for luck and they often get hurt.
Examples Of Silkie’s Naive Behavior From Breeders’ Experiments
One of the breeders says that when it rained, Silkie did not seek shelter from it. Instead, they remained in their place and received all the rain on their fur, which exposed her to extreme wetness. The breeder had to dry her and warm theirs for fear that they would catch a cold.
Another breeder says that he raises Silkie with other chickens and often bullies and molests Silkie’s chickens. However, there was no reaction from Silkie, but they remained submissive.
Factors That Affect Silkies’ Intelligence
There are several factors that may directly affect how your silkies act which you should keep in mind when raising silkie chicken:
1. Genetics
Genetic factors have a major role in the extent of Silkie’s intelligence. Silkie birds are by nature very calm and not intrepid and do not show high levels of intelligence in their interactions naturally. but can acquire a great deal of intelligence by training them and providing encouraging conditions for that.
2. Environment
Silkie birds need environments with certain conditions to thrive in. For example, due to their peaceful, friendly nature. It is cruel to make them with decisive bird breeds, as they take them as prey and constantly bully and harm them.
In this environment, Silkie’s first goal will be to try to survive. and there will be no opportunity to learn skills or the development of any intelligence.
Some may think that their presence with decisive strains will make them devise ways to evade and escape. but this is not true and is not in the index of silkie characteristics that completely collapse when they are exposed to any pressures or negative challenges.
3. Physical Characteristics
It seems that the physical characteristics of silkies also have a role in their behavior, which may seem stupid to some.
Silkie has thick feathers around its eyes, which obscures its vision to a great extent and makes it unable to anticipate an attack or threat, which makes it stay in its place and then be surprised that another bird came to harass it.
Silkie’s inability to fly also has a role, as it is unable to escape and jump high in the presence of danger.
4. Training
The characteristics of silkie do not depend mainly on heredity only. but as we mentioned, they are docile birds, which gives them a greater opportunity to acquire more skills through learning and training, but this must be done in certain circumstances, and this is what we will address in the next paragraph.
Tips For Raising Intelligent Silkies
Here are our 3 top tips to help you raise your silkie chicken intelligence:
1. Provide Opportunities For Learning
The first thing is to make the silkie in a safe environment away from any threats, then you start training it in skills and you will find it submissive with you smoothly. Some breeders say that they have succeeded in training Silkie chickens to sit in the car and to deal properly outside.
2. Encourage Natural Behaviors
It is important to focus on the qualities in which Silkie excels. The skills that you want to teach her must be related to her natural characteristics and not far from them. Since Silkie is very friendly, you can work on this point to make her a wonderful pet for your children.
3. Create A Stimulating Environment
In addition to rewarding them with food and toys, the strongest stimuli for Silkie are playing with them, and holding and embracing them.
They are very emotional and social birds that appreciate the love and social friendships and do a lot to get it.
If you’re concerned about the social life of silkie chicken, you can read more in our a blog post about the ability of silkie chickens to live alone!
Are Silkies Smart?
To conclude, After we talked about some aspects of the capabilities of Silkie chickens, we can say yes they are smart, but they need certain conditions in order for these qualities to be developed. Silkies are not classified among the smartest chicken breeds, but with training and education, they will show satisfactory results.
If you’re interested in learning about silkies and their benefits, feel free to check our guide on what are silkies used for?
Related Article: Are Jersey Cows Smart? And How Smart Are They?
