Why a Silkie especially needs numbers, not just a look
Yes, keep the log. A Silkie's defining feature — that soft, fur-like plumage from crest to feathered feet — is also what makes a visual health check unreliable. A hen can lose condition steadily while still looking round and well covered, because you are mostly seeing feathers. Weight, recorded consistently, tells you what your eyes cannot. It also gives you a baseline for this individual bird, which matters because Silkies are small, light birds and a loss that would be trivial in a large laying hen can be a meaningful share of a Silkie's total body mass.
Pair each weight with a quick hands-on check. Lift her calmly, support her feet, and run a finger gently along the keel bone in the centre of her breast. You are learning what well covered feels like on your bird — muscle on either side of the keel rather than a sharp ridge with hollows beside it — so later checks mean something instead of being guesswork.
What to write down at each Silkie check
Keep entries short enough that you will actually keep doing them. Note the date, the weight, and the method, because a kitchen scale with a perch and the same scale on a different day only compare fairly if the routine stays similar. Weigh at a comparable time, ideally before she has filled up on treats.
Then add the Silkie-specific observations that explain a number: whether she is laying or has gone broody and is sitting tight in the nest box eating little, the state of her crest and whether it is limiting her vision, droppings that look different from her normal, appetite at the feeder, and how bright and active she seems. Broodiness alone explains many temporary dips in this breed — a devoted Silkie sitter will barely leave the nest — so a note beside the weight stops you worrying over a pattern you already understand, and helps you spot the dip that has no such explanation.
Also record anything given or advised for her health in general terms, mite or lice findings when you part the dense feathering and check the skin, and any foot trouble hidden under the feathered toes.
How often, and how to read the trend
For a healthy adult Silkie, a check every few weeks is usually enough to hold a useful trend, with extra entries when she is broody, moulting, recovering from illness, or newly arrived and settling in. Young growing birds change faster, so weigh them more often until their adult size levels out.
Read the log as a direction, not as single readings. One low weight after a day of sitting on a nest is information; three falling weights alongside reduced appetite, quieter behaviour, or changed droppings is a pattern worth acting on. Fluff can also fool you in the other direction — a bird who looks plump may feel thin at the keel — which is why the number and the hands-on check belong together in the same entry.
When a log entry should become a vet call
Contact an avian or poultry veterinarian promptly if weight keeps falling without a broody or moulting explanation, if she stops eating, becomes fluffed up and withdrawn away from the flock, breathes with effort, or produces persistently abnormal droppings. Chickens hide illness well, and small birds have less reserve to draw on, so a clear downward trend in your records is a good reason to call sooner rather than later. Bring the log itself: dates and weights give the veterinarian a timeline that memory alone cannot reconstruct.
A log only helps if you can find it at the moment a sitter, a new keeper, or a vet needs it, so store the Silkie's weights and observations with the rest of her history through KinsLe's Pet Passport, which gathers a pet's records into one portable packet ready for visits and handoffs.