Do Silkies need extra care in winter?have you had success with corid?

[Silkie-Feet]

im not a newbee on chickens but some stranger gave me a trio of white silkies free.
its summer now, but do i need to do any thing when winter comes?
but also, i noticed the toes were longer than usual, and now they are shorter and the roosters toes are bleeding.
i suspect its sence they are grinding away on concrete, but is this to worry?

please help!





if you have info of cordon pls post on last page.

 

[Silkie-Feet]

pls help

 

[silkiesforme]

I would spray the wounds with iodine/betadine if you have some. As for silkies, they won't survive very well out in the cold without an enclosed area up off of the ground where they are not walking in snow and water. I have mine in my chicken house and they are on bricks on the floor but i put wood chips down in all of their pens. I keep some of mine in outside pens during the fall because it has enclosed nesting boxes with wood chips but when it gets below freezing or close to it, they go in the house. A little cool weather is ok for them but cold weather is not and definitely not cold mixed with wet! They are not very happy birds when they are cold and wet. Most of my other chickens don't mind it so much but the silkies...well...they are special little birds, at least they think they deserve a little better treatment or they do not fair too well. Hope this helps, maybe some of the silkie breeders can offer some other advice as well. Good luck with your trio!

 

[Silkie-Feet]

thanks for the help, i just checked and his toes arent bleeding any more. is it good for thier toes to be grinded on concrete?( i know its good for goats). PS: my floors are concrete, the previous floors where i got them from were dirt with is better?

 

[Silkie-Feet]

Quote:
would a heat lamp work to keep the silkies warm? ( i have a HUDGE COOP and plan on keeping them inside only from the end of fall to spring)

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I'm not much further south than you and mine do fine all winter. They were even okay last winter when it stayed below freezing for weeks on end. They didn't want to go out in the snow, but none of my chickens wanted to go out in the snow.

Mine just get fluffier in the winter and tend to huddle up with each other when the temps drop really low. But even on the coldest of the cold days all of mine were out in the runs doing chickeny things. In KY, yours should be fine too.

Congrats on your new babies!

 

[Silkie-Feet]

Quote:
thanks

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

A heat lamp down here sometimes makes it worse. The only thing I did last year was take out gallon jugs of hot water at bedtime and I only did that on the coldest of the cold nights (single digits). If they get acclimated to a heat lamp it makes it harder for them to deal with the cold. It is not going to get so cold at your house that they cannot acclimate. It would be different if you were in Alaska or one of the northern states where it drop well below zero. Even with single digits, as long as they have access to shelter and non-frozen water, yours should be fine.

(I did haul out hot water in the mornings when it was below freezing. I use the black rubber bowls, especially in winter. It's easy to knock the ice out and the black rubber helps hold heat during the day.)

 

[Silkie-Feet]

could i use a heat lamp to keep my automatic waterers unfrozen?

 

[silkydragon]

im above you in ohio and my young silkies got along good in a coop where the window fell out and busted therefore it was not well heated and they where only 2 1/2 months old (1 of my hens did adopt them though must have thought they where babys since they where all fluffy) but they where fine i had a heatlamp but my coop is so big it didnt do much they sat under it then wondered around a little