Can I trim my silkie's crest?

[animal nut]

I think the head dress is interfearing with her eyesight. I do not plan on showing her, I just want to provide her with good sight. She sometimes runs into the fence. If I throw food out it is like she does not see it. If I can trim the crest around her eyes how do I do it?

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Here is our Silkie Roo, Mr. Peeps. I have the exact same question! He is an awesome leader and dad, very loving, doting, affectionate. I bought eye ointment to use like hair gel, but haven't used it on him yet. He runs into things and pecks the air when we give out treats. Its sad.

Don't want to irritate his eyes, and afraid clipping the feathers would be dangerous to his magnificient brains (I mean comb) and ends of head feathers could poke at his eyes. Eye lubricant ingredients are sterile petroleum and sterile lanolin. shouldn't hurt human eyes, but are chicken eyes different?

 

[Judy]

I've never had a silkie but have read many posts on here of people doing this so they can see. I would do it if I had one who was having trouble seeing, for sure.

Here's one good thread that came up when I did a search here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=199969

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yep! I do it everytime I see that my male is having issues seeing.

 

[Windchyme]

6chickens in St. Charles :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/25976_moms_phone_6-21-09_129.jpg
Here is our Silkie Roo, Mr. Peeps. I have the exact same question! He is an awesome leader and dad, very loving, doting, affectionate. I bought eye ointment to use like hair gel, but haven't used it on him yet. He runs into things and pecks the air when we give out treats. Its sad.

Don't want to irritate his eyes, and afraid clipping the feathers would be dangerous to his magnificient brains (I mean comb) and ends of head feathers could poke at his eyes. Eye lubricant ingredients are sterile petroleum and sterile lanolin. shouldn't hurt human eyes, but are chicken eyes different?

I do this on mine without an issue. Smaller scissors make it easier to maneuver. You have to get their head and hold it still with one hand and then just be careful when cutting with the other that you don't get any important parts and don't face the scissors in towards the face in case they jerk- sometimes a helper to help hold them in your lap is nice. I trim minimally so as to not ruin the crest but trim close around the top of the eye area, right in front of the eye looking foward and some of the cheek puffs to flatten those out some. You can trim more if you like. If you want to keep them like that you have to do it several times a year. My kids bring me the birds as they see they are having issues seeing for a quick clip. A more drastic cut might last longer..not sure. Like I said I do mine very minimally, just enough to give them decent vision and still keep their crest looking beautiful. Once done several times my birds seem to calm down about it and put up with me.​

 

[NYREDS]

It always puzzles me when people ask about trimming the crest on any of the crested breeds. The crest is one of the features that defines a breed. If you don't want crested birds why not just buy something w/o a crest?

 

[UrbanPolish]

Quote:
That makes sense, but sometimes the crests do get in the way of the bird, making everything ten times harder for it. I mean, if anyone plans on just cutting off the whole crest, then yes just get a chicken that doesn't have one, but just trimming back enough so it can see doesn't ruin the bird's beauty or the crest.

That's my opinion anyways.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Please dont go all preachy on us. Its something like adopting a puppy then discovering its a nonsense with special grooming needs. Or those poor people with pugs (ever heard what THEIR special needs are? Uggh!) Well, we love our chicken, weird crest or not. We do our best to take care of him. Everybody's different, nobody's perfect.

 

[Kev]

Sometimes it's more the beard/muffs being the problem. High, fluffy "muffs" on sides of the head can really obscure vision bad especially if they rise to meet the bottom part of the crest. Some silkies have those puffs in front of crest that hang down.. those can obscure vision especially if combined with beard.

Mr Peeps might be good example of this- his crest isn't big at all so if he has a hard time seeing, it's the muffs part of the beard plus his comb seems to be pushing sideways and down some of the frontal part of crest.

With those cases all that's really necessary is to trim the muffs(beard trimming not necessary at all) down to the skin and trim off the "frontal puffs" and they can see much better.

Use as small scissors as you can find.. sewing scissors or personal toiletry scissors for fingernails/trimming eyebrows etc.

One solution to this would be breeding for bearded/crested birds with good separation of beard from the crest.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
That makes sense, but sometimes the crests do get in the way of the bird, making everything ten times harder for it. I mean, if anyone plans on just cutting off the whole crest, then yes just get a chicken that doesn't have one, but just trimming back enough so it can see doesn't ruin the bird's beauty or the crest.

That's my opinion anyways.

I agree. I like the crests but poor babies specially the hens get where they can't see hardly anything and that is just not cool and I can't imagine anyone saying to leave them that way for everyday life is the right and correct thing to do. I bet that individual gets a haircut when the hair gets in their eyes, maybe they should stop getting haircuts, after all they were made to have long hair grow on their head. If one breeds exhibition birds with exhibition crests I think it is very appropriate to trim down the crests when the bird isn't going to be in the show ring. Kind of like keeping a poodle in a puppy clip if it isn't going to be in the ring..it's efficient and it lends itself to utility and daily life where the full show clip is a pain in the fanny for everyone concerned. Happy is the big crested silkie whose owner cares enough to make sure they have a decent amount of eyesight and can do regular chicken things.

I love the big full crests but I also like my birds to be able to see their friends, nest area, food, water. So I clip.