Silkie thread!

[Fancychooklady]

Thank you, I'll try that. So you don't think its fowl pox?

It doesn't look like fowl pox at this stage , but if it becomes crusty then it's quite possible. Anti fungal creams will have no effect on pox as it is viral not fungal. I would dab the lesions with a bit of betadine and keep them quarantined for 3-4 weeks.
Do you know whether or not they have been vaccinated and if so , for what ?

 

[superquick101]

It doesn't look like fowl pox at this stage , but if it becomes crusty then it's quite possible. Anti fungal creams will have no effect on pox as it is viral not fungal. I would dab the lesions with a bit of betadine and keep them quarantined for 3-4 weeks.
Do you know whether or not they have been vaccinated and if so , for what ?

I'm pretty sure they haven't. It was a young girl who had them.

 

[Jmay402]

At what age do silkies start laying? Also, are the eggs white or brown? My big chickens have been laying for a month or so now. I keep expecting to find a small silkie egg laying in there.

 

[Fancychooklady]

At what age do silkies start laying?  Also, are the eggs white or brown?  My big chickens have been laying for a month or so now.  I keep expecting to find a small silkie egg laying in there.  

Anywhere from 5-12 months, the first ' pullet ' eggs will be quite small . Mine lay white to pinkish coloured eggs.

 

[stengelc]

Can anyone tell if they are girls or boys?

 

[sara1226]

Looking for help with a broody silkie...

I have a 11 month old broody silkie. I have tried kicking her out of the egg box over and over, and I've tried moving her into the garage. She is so broody she is hardly eating and is losing weight. She does eat a few times a day, but not very much. I added a vitamin supplement to her water, but she is acting strangely. When she is out of the egg box, she stands on one foot, with the other foot curled up, and sometimes she appears to be shaking. There is no injury to her feet and no leg mites. Is she shaking because she is so mad she is out of the egg box, or is there something else going on here.

Please help, I'm confused on what else to do for her. She is eating a little this morning, and nibbled on some squash I gave her too.

~Sara

 

[mom of silkies]

Looking for help with a broody silkie...

I have a 11 month old broody silkie. I have tried kicking her out of the egg box over and over, and I've tried moving her into the garage. She is so broody she is hardly eating and is losing weight. She does eat a few times a day, but not very much. I added a vitamin supplement to her water, but she is acting strangely. When she is out of the egg box, she stands on one foot, with the other foot curled up, and sometimes she appears to be shaking. There is no injury to her feet and no leg mites. Is she shaking because she is so mad she is out of the egg box, or is there something else going on here.

Please help, I'm confused on what else to do for her. She is eating a little this morning, and nibbled on some squash I gave her too.

~Sara

I would just let her brood.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Can anyone tell if they are girls or boys?

Silkies are sooo hard to tell the gender, but I'm gonna guess the one on the left is a cockerel and the one on the right is a pullet.

 

[Fancychooklady]

[quote I name="sara1226" url="/t/297632/silkie-thread/55470#post_15643402"]Looking for help with a broody silkie...

I have a 11 month old broody silkie. I have tried kicking her out of the egg box over and over, and I've tried moving her into the garage. She is so broody she is hardly eating and is losing weight. She does eat a few times a day, but not very much. I added a vitamin supplement to her water, but she is acting strangely. When she is out of the egg box, she stands on one foot, with the other foot curled up, and sometimes she appears to be shaking. There is no injury to her feet and no leg mites. Is she shaking because she is so mad she is out of the egg box, or is there something else going on here.

Please help, I'm confused on what else to do for her. She is eating a little this morning, and nibbled on some squash I gave her too.

~Sara[/quote]
Curling toes are usually sign of niacin deficiency, if she's not drinking much she won't benefit from the supplements . Put the water in with her, a hanging dish is best if you have somewhere to hang it from. Cook up some rice and add some sardines in oil, sprinkle with Brewers yeast, alternately sprinkle it over some soft scrambled egg.
Shaking is often due to magnesium shortfalls so check what's in your multi vitamin.
I've had hens brood for months on end without too many problems, but if they have deficiencies in the outset it wouldn't take long for trouble to show up.

I use poly aid plus for any sick birds. Just a teaspoon at a time with a little water to make a sticky slurry. Drawn up into a syringe
( no needle ) and fed a drop at a time so as not to aspirate the bird.

http://www.thebirdcottage.com/s-poly-aidplus.asp

 

[RubyNala97]

I've had my Silkies for 4 years only and at first was concerned about vision capability since there was so much discussion about vision impairment with crested breeds.  I have never trimmed my crested Silkies.  They free range our little cottage backyard and have no problems getting around or avoiding predators because we provide several scattered shelters for them.  As for eating I have some birds that prefer eating out of the hand and some that prefer it left on the ground and has nothing to do with their vision.  It is simply a matter of preference.  i.e. cucumbers are preferred eaten while we hold them tightly in our fingers, fresh corn kernels or raisins are preferred one piece offered at a time, mealworms are preferred scattered on the ground, etc.  Sometimes dangling a wiggling worm is studied before being taken out of our fingers, I have a Breda that sometimes submissively hesitates taking something out of my hand yet has no qualms snapping up a live cricket out of a small plastic cup - it's a chicken thing and has something to do with pecking order status and/or submission to their human's hand.  We have an Ameraucana that prefers a game of our tossing cuke slices for her to chase while the Silkies prefer us to hold the slices for them to peck at.  I have one dainty Partridge Silkie that will study a piece of food for a long time, take it daintily into her beak, put it on the ground, and savor little tiny bite sizes while another Silkie will gulp things down whole before realizing what they just grabbed from our hand.

Because our Silkies free range the backyard their crests/beards get worn, matted, sparser because of their foraging and it takes a damp cloth sometimes to get debris out of their feathers, but somehow they always manage to nibble each other's face feathers around just the eye area to enable vision.  I don't have to cut any feathers on any of our birds including wing feathers and never lost a chicken over the fence or had one that couldn't see what they were doing.  But again I'm one of those people that don't like to see puppy tails docked or ears docked on dogs. JMHO.

I greatly appreciate your input. I am a first time backyard flock owner. I just hatched my chickens this spring and they are the first chickens I've ever owned. So this is all a learning experience to me. I like reading facts, opinions and experiences of others and listening to my gut. I was a wildlife Rehaber for a few years and overall love animals. So I try to tune into them since they don't have a human voice. I was thinking that his behavior was changing because he's growing up. And he's the oldest male of the flock. But also his crest came in around the same time. So, I wasn't sure. Maybe a little of both personality and physical features. Don't even get me started about cutting dogs ears! IMO, that's disgusting! But I don't consider trimming his crest the same as a procedure that cuts the flesh and draws blood. I did trim up around his eyes, as an experiment to see if he acted different. Honestly he seemed a little more relaxed but otherwise he's been acting the same. Won't eat worms out of my hand. But if I hold the cup up to him he will! Just like you said. As for my pullet...I can't even see her eyes!....but she acts as happy as can be and has no problem going after worms, pecking at the younger girls and jumping in my lap. So I've left her be. Again, I am learning so much from BYC and all of the members. Even if one person has a different opinion, it might work for me or it might not. But it's all worth a try till I find my own way that works for me and my birds. So I appreciate all different experiences & opinions! So thank you!