sebright thread

[prepperchickens]

Help!!!!! I just read through this thread and it made me even more paranoid about my two beyond adorable 10 day old silvers. My baby pullet seems sturdy (well, as sturdy as any microscopic sebright chick ever seems) and my baby roo has tons of spirit but I chose them not even knowing what a sebright was muh less their reputation for fragility. I am working round the clock coddling these babies and worrying over them perhaps unnecessarily. They had pasty butt at the feed store and both my beloved baby boys (a 3 wk old BR and a 2 mos old guinea) have their lives for my little girls during two consecutive cat attacks (the first time I thought it was a hawk so I took precautions against a hawk never imagining the lengths a wild cat would go to to get my babies) so I wanted to save them since I feel I failed my little heroes (both of whom loved me like crazy) and I have all these projected emotions and fears preventinge from getting perspective. I'm new to chickens, I've done tons of wild bird rescue all my life but wild birds I'm learning are infinitely more hardy (my guineas never concern me either)...I'm honestly very good at raising any kind of baby animal, I pay close attention and do research and obsess but whenever I read these posts about sebrights that make them sound like tragic beauties who die if you look at them cross eyed, I keep wondering what it takes to successfully raise them to adults. I fuss over their water. Bedding, check and recheck and triple check their temp all day long, hold them close plenty so they feel safe ( I find this helps birds thrive more than almost anything, birds are very emotional), give them natural remedies whose safety and efficacy are so are unanimously touted pretty much save a few skeptics (Braggs, garlic which they love although I did see one person saying it was poisonous to chickens but I had already given it to my older babies and they had no issues, nor do the sebrights thus far, clean distilled water, crushed up oatmeal and crushed up feed) and I believe I cured them of pasty butt this way ( no more pasting today or last night, it stopped as soon as I switched them from Heinz acv to Braggs) but my baby roo man had a very slight problem. It appears he has a very minor case of spraddle, so minor I didn't know til tonight that if could be spraddle/splay. He runs and hops and perches and eats etc but when he tries to groom his backside he rolls over lol, then immediately gets back up no problem. He does this only when trying to do something that requires a little more balance. He is very proud so it's funny because it's like he wants to say "I meant to do that !" or change the subject fast. He just looks like his belly is too low to the ground, his feet don't just out and aren't deformed. If it is indeed splay/spraddle, I don't know what's best. These chicks are definitely more easily stressed than my others were, my little guy is always trying to bury his head beneath his sister when anything "scary" happens (like anything moving, any noises lol) and tonight he managed to get most of his tiny self under her between her feet as she stood. He likes me, sometimes it freaks me out how still and limp they are when I have them snuggled up on me. It's like they'd live cuddled in a sard around my neck all day if I let them. So I'm worried if I correct his minor spraddle thing, the stress of being hobbled/wrapped will be worse than the effects of the spraddle since he's mobile and seemingly happy. I feel ****** if I do and ****** if I don't, these chicks are spazzoids and I'm afraid of freaking them out. I think they are too fragile for feed stores and the week there drained them but they honestly seem stronger and happier every day now, I'm surprised such delicate babies could last a week at Rural King but RK in my town rarely looses chicks except when idiot customers squash them etc. They don't have chicks dying of illness often at all, i wonder if they have a good source they buy from?
Anyway, I'm doing my best by these little works of art in the making, but I need advice badly. I am overthinking it hence the long winding diatribe you see here. I just really hate death, the past 2 yrs of my life cost me the 4 people I loved most in my family (mom, cousin more like brother, aunt, grandmother) one after the other unexpectedly and losing my two boys this week was way too much, I have PTSD about bereavement. There's gotta be some hints or tips about giving sebright chicks what they need, there's gotta be a reason some people lose them all and others never lose one!
Here's my little guy, I'm thinking of naming him Wadaad (means king/chief in Somali) because I have a feeling he will be a proud pea sized lion of a rooster, god willing. Look at his stance, see how his belly is resting on my hand? He was sleepy and seated, but his little feet seem too splayed. But again, he has no trouble doing what he needs to do so what do you guys think? Sorry for the novel I just wrote, I've gotten a little obsessed and OCD about this. Thanks!

 

[jtn42248]

Calm down! I have 5 Sebrights. One Silver male and two Silver females as well as two Golden females. I raised them from chicks that I ordered and that were shipped by mail. I brooded them the same as any other chicks that I have raised. All five survived to adulthood and are thriving outside in their own covered run and coop. The produce 4 eggs a day and seem as healthy as can be. The rooster attacks me daily. Full grown they are about the size of a small to medium pigeon. While they are fragile they are not so fragile that they need any really special or unique treatment.

 

[delder2009]

Help!!!!! I just read through this thread and it made me even more paranoid about my two beyond adorable 10 day old silvers. My baby pullet seems sturdy (well, as sturdy as any microscopic sebright chick ever seems) and my baby roo has tons of spirit but I chose them not even knowing what a sebright was muh less their reputation for fragility. I am working round the clock coddling these babies and worrying over them perhaps unnecessarily. They had pasty butt at the feed store and both my beloved baby boys (a 3 wk old BR and a 2 mos old guinea) have their lives for my little girls during two consecutive cat attacks (the first time I thought it was a hawk so I took precautions against a hawk never imagining the lengths a wild cat would go to to get my babies) so I wanted to save them since I feel I failed my little heroes (both of whom loved me like crazy) and I have all these projected emotions and fears preventinge from getting perspective. I'm new to chickens, I've done tons of wild bird rescue all my life but wild birds I'm learning are infinitely more hardy (my guineas never concern me either)...I'm honestly very good at raising any kind of baby animal, I pay close attention and do research and obsess but whenever I read these posts about sebrights that make them sound like tragic beauties who die if you look at them cross eyed, I keep wondering what it takes to successfully raise them to adults. I fuss over their water. Bedding, check and recheck and triple check their temp all day long, hold them close plenty so they feel safe ( I find this helps birds thrive more than almost anything, birds are very emotional), give them natural remedies whose safety and efficacy are so are unanimously touted pretty much save a few skeptics (Braggs, garlic which they love although I did see one person saying it was poisonous to chickens but I had already given it to my older babies and they had no issues, nor do the sebrights thus far, clean distilled water, crushed up oatmeal and crushed up feed) and I believe I cured them of pasty butt this way ( no more pasting today or last night, it stopped as soon as I switched them from Heinz acv to Braggs) but my baby roo man had a very slight problem. It appears he has a very minor case of spraddle, so minor I didn't know til tonight that if could be spraddle/splay. He runs and hops and perches and eats etc but when he tries to groom his backside he rolls over lol, then immediately gets back up no problem. He does this only when trying to do something that requires a little more balance. He is very proud so it's funny because it's like he wants to say "I meant to do that !" or change the subject fast. He just looks like his belly is too low to the ground, his feet don't just out and aren't deformed. If it is indeed splay/spraddle, I don't know what's best. These chicks are definitely more easily stressed than my others were, my little guy is always trying to bury his head beneath his sister when anything "scary" happens (like anything moving, any noises lol) and tonight he managed to get most of his tiny self under her between her feet as she stood. He likes me, sometimes it freaks me out how still and limp they are when I have them snuggled up on me. It's like they'd live cuddled in a sard around my neck all day if I let them. So I'm worried if I correct his minor spraddle thing, the stress of being hobbled/wrapped will be worse than the effects of the spraddle since he's mobile and seemingly happy. I feel ****** if I do and ****** if I don't, these chicks are spazzoids and I'm afraid of freaking them out. I think they are too fragile for feed stores and the week there drained them but they honestly seem stronger and happier every day now, I'm surprised such delicate babies could last a week at Rural King but RK in my town rarely looses chicks except when idiot customers squash them etc. They don't have chicks dying of illness often at all, i wonder if they have a good source they buy from?
Anyway, I'm doing my best by these little works of art in the making, but I need advice badly. I am overthinking it hence the long winding diatribe you see here. I just really hate death, the past 2 yrs of my life cost me the 4 people I loved most in my family (mom, cousin more like brother, aunt, grandmother) one after the other unexpectedly and losing my two boys this week was way too much, I have PTSD about bereavement. There's gotta be some hints or tips about giving sebright chicks what they need, there's gotta be a reason some people lose them all and others never lose one!
Here's my little guy, I'm thinking of naming him Wadaad (means king/chief in Somali) because I have a feeling he will be a proud pea sized lion of a rooster, god willing. Look at his stance, see how his belly is resting on my hand? He was sleepy and seated, but his little feet seem too splayed. But again, he has no trouble doing what he needs to do so what do you guys think? Sorry for the novel I just wrote, I've gotten a little obsessed and OCD about this. Thanks!

It will be ok! I have 6 golden sebright 2 roos and 4 hen's. The only thing different that I do for them as chicks is crush their food for a couple of weeks. Sebright's are the only bird that I've seen brake a large dog from chasing chicken's. They realy can hold their own. I've noticed that they are not the most snuggly of bird's but really like to be around you. Sexing then can be very hard till they are older. You've got this!! Just breath and enjoy you little one's.

 

[prepperchickens]

Lol, thanks for the perspective. I work myself I to a real nervous breakdown about baby animals. I lost a baby bunny when I was in high school to coccidiosis and it was horrible and ever since then I'm a spaz but haven't lost any of the babies I've raised to illness at least, the cat attack on my birds was a first for me. I did wildlife rehab for so long but had to quit because it was too much for me, I care way too much to the point where I lose my mind with panic.
To me no animal is "just an animal"...sometimes I wish I was more like that.
My rooster is just so little, and because they look so pitifully delicate I want them to be perfect like the other chicks I've raised, no pasty butt or clumsiness...but I will say in the brooder I'm always pleased to see how they run around and cheep and pig out, which I'm guessing indicates they're healthy overall. If they were bigger I would put them with my older chicks (all mixed age who have always been very gentle with new additions) but I worry about bacteria/trampling etc.
I was wondering, would liquid baby vitamin help them to get stronger? I have some and it doesn't say it contains iron but it does say it has a preservative called ferrous sulfate. It appears to be a knock off of the enfamil formula. I'm giving them crushed up oatmeal daily also. From now on I'm going to get guineas as a rule, lol, I Loooove my chickens but guineas are much less fragile and disease prone and mine have both been incredibly friendly and tame, especially my beloved Little Foot who left to soon, my baby boy hero

 

[delder2009]

Lol, thanks for the perspective. I work myself I to a real nervous breakdown about baby animals. I lost a baby bunny when I was in high school to coccidiosis and it was horrible and ever since then I'm a spaz but haven't lost any of the babies I've raised to illness at least, the cat attack on my birds was a first for me. I did wildlife rehab for so long but had to quit because it was too much for me, I care way too much to the point where I lose my mind with panic.
To me no animal is "just an animal"...sometimes I wish I was more like that.
My rooster is just so little, and because they look so pitifully delicate I want them to be perfect like the other chicks I've raised, no pasty butt or clumsiness...but I will say in the brooder I'm always pleased to see how they run around and cheep and pig out, which I'm guessing indicates they're healthy overall. If they were bigger I would put them with my older chicks (all mixed age who have always been very gentle with new additions) but I worry about bacteria/trampling etc.
I was wondering, would liquid baby vitamin help them to get stronger? I have some and it doesn't say it contains iron but it does say it has a preservative called ferrous sulfate. It appears to be a knock off of the enfamil formula. I'm giving them crushed up oatmeal daily also. From now on I'm going to get guineas as a rule, lol, I Loooove my chickens but guineas are much less fragile and disease prone and mine have both been incredibly friendly and tame, especially my beloved Little Foot who left to soon, my baby boy hero

I know what you mean. All of my feathered, fawed, and scaled friends are family not just animals. I too had belove bunnies as a child that I lost not to illness but my father. I still have flash backs of it almost 30 years later. I get all worked up when/if one is ill/hurt. But I have to stay com because of my health. When I get to upset I will go into a seizure. Then I'm of no use to anyone. Stress is a nasty thing. Out of my breeds the sebright's are on the top of the list when it comes to holding their own as chicks. Now my sultan's and call's they need so much more.

 

[magdelaine]

I got 4 Sebrights from Ideal, 3 silvers and a golden. Everyone is growing nicely, but the golden appears to have a single comb? Is that something you see in Sebrights from time to time?

 

[jtn42248]

I got 4 Sebrights from Ideal, 3 silvers and a golden. Everyone is growing nicely, but the golden appears to have a single comb? Is that something you see in Sebrights from time to time?

You may have a male which would not be surprising since Ideal only sells bantams straight run. Can you post pictures of them with emphasis on their heads. Females will develop a very small comb but the male will develop comb and wattles.

 

[magdelaine]

You may have a male which would not be surprising since Ideal only sells bantams straight run. Can you post pictures of them with emphasis on their heads. Females will develop a very small comb but the male will develop comb and wattles.

I was hoping to get at least one male. ;-) It seems one of the silvers is definitely male; he has a bright red rose comb. The other silvers have rose combs too, just colorless and flat. The golden...I'm thinking is a pullet. No color to her comb, but definitely a single comb, not a rose comb. I read somewhere else on the forum that hatcheries will cross single combs into Sebrights because of the link between rose combs and low fertility? I'm hoping the silver cockerel is homogenous for rose comb or I won't have much luck getting proper rose comb chicks from him and the golden.

 

[prepperchickens]

I know what you mean. All of my feathered, fawed, and scaled friends are family not just animals. I too had belove bunnies as a child that I lost not to illness but my father. I still have flash backs of it almost 30 years later. I get all worked up when/if one is ill/hurt. But I have to stay com because of my health. When I get to upset I will go into a seizure. Then I'm of no use to anyone. Stress is a nasty thing. Out of my breeds the sebright's are on the top of the list when it comes to holding their own as chicks. Now my sultan's and call's they need so much more.

Have your sebrights been very resistant to change and stuff? Mine are almost 4 weeks and they still want to be coddled like 10 day old chicks. I have a pen for them in with the older birds that I try putting them in during the day so they have more stimulation and space and see the birds and they love it until I leave the room and then they cry like little babies nonstop until I come back. They get scared so easily and still love it when I pick them up and hold them close,
My other chicks by this age have clearly wanted their independence and loved adventure and new things. My poor keet wants to go out of the brooder and play and explore but the sebrights cry so much when he is away that he doesn't get to as much as I'd like. They're happiest when everyone including me is in the tiny bathroom (where the brooder is) together. They're such crybabies.

 

[delder2009]

Have your sebrights been very resistant to change and stuff? Mine are almost 4 weeks and they still want to be coddled like 10 day old chicks. I have a pen for them in with the older birds that I try putting them in during the day so they have more stimulation and space and see the birds and they love it until I leave the room and then they cry like little babies nonstop until I come back. They get scared so easily and still love it when I pick them up and hold them close,
My other chicks by this age have clearly wanted their independence and loved adventure and new things. My poor keet wants to go out of the brooder and play and explore but the sebrights cry so much when he is away that he doesn't get to as much as I'd like. They're happiest when everyone including me is in the tiny bathroom (where the brooder is) together. They're such crybabies.

I haven't experienced that with mine. Very independent but when they know I'm outside they all come running and hollering, but once they think I'm gone they are fine and go about their business. I do have two that like to be in your lap just don't touch them. All of my and my husband's experience with sebrights have been this way. More of a look not touch kinda bird. They do like to know what you are doing. But there is always the exception. Sounds like yours loves you and just wants to be with you.