Can I please have advice on the breed of my babies

[Rhodebar Lover]

Ahh well I must have known Midas was a boy when I named her after a king!

Awesome, silkies are hilarious! Thanks for your input!

You're welcome.

I haven't had any experience with Cochins, but Silkies definitely do have their quirks!

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah I am very attached to Midas! Its been a hectic few weeks dealing with conjunctivitis and sinusitis and Midas is finally on the mend.. I can't give up my baby! Brainstorming solutions atm!

I cringe when I read things like this. I don't want to be a bucket of cold water, but I'm going to say this anyway. How do you know what he had? You got them from a farmer, right? Sadly, many folks don't realize that chickens do not get colds; symptoms like that are usually mycoplasmosis, or perhaps infectious Coryza. Are you sure it wasn't mycoplasmosis? Was it all of them or just him?

Since you have chickens now, you should read up on MG (mycoplasma galliseptum), which is one of the diseases of CRD (Chronic Respiratory Disease). If they had that (hopefully not, but it's possible), they would now be carriers, able to infect others for the rest of their lives. MG/MS cannot be cured. Neither can most of the chicken diseases since many are like herpes viruses. Symptoms may be managed but they are not cured. This is one reason I never purchase started birds, not even chicks, from anyone. There are too many unscrupulous or just plain ignorant sellers who have no idea about respiratory disease. Anyway, please take some time to read about that, just to inform yourself.

 

[Unlyshed]

Speckledhen you are right I am no expert, but I have been taking her to a vet who specialises in birds and they are the ones who diagnosed her. There is always a chance they got it wrong, but the care she has received from them has been amazing and she has definitely improved.

And I got all the other chicks fully checked out at the vet and there was no issues with them.

 

[speckledhen]

Speckledhen you are right I am no expert, but I have been taking her to a vet who specialises in birds and they are the ones who diagnosed her. There is always a chance they got it wrong, but the care she has received from them has been amazing and she has definitely improved.

And I got all the other chicks fully checked out at the vet and there was no issues with them.

I do hope Midas was not contagious and maybe not. I just want to be sure you understand that if he had MG (and there would have to have been a test for it, can't diagnose by sight, too many similar symptoms for other illnesses), he would be a carrier, even if he seemed to recover. If no others ever showed symptoms, then maybe that was the case. I have noticed that vets, even avian ones, tend to not tell their customers about the Typhoid Mary status of their birds. Maybe it's because they generally see parrots and other single type birds and there is little change of passing on the disease to others. With chickens, it's completely different since most folks have a flock of some size.

So, I just wanted to interject a little information after you said the chick had a respiratory condition. Me, I don't much trust vets, even avian ones, when it comes to chickens. I'm surprised you got any vet to see a chicken, especially an avian one! They generally refuse.