How do you trim your Silkie feet feathers and crest?

[Lady of McCamley]

I have a lovely little Silkie that I use strictly as a brooding hen so I am not grooming for show.

As with the breed, she gets pretty fluffy...as with Oregon, she gets pretty muddy.

I've googled some on BYC so I know not to cut too deep on the feet feathers...dumb question time...how do you know what's not too deep? (Er...knowing where to cut before you hit blood).

Her head crest is also getting to the point it covers her eyes...can I assume I simply carefully trim that up from the eyes?

Gotta do something before the rains set in or she will stick to the mire.

Thanks
Lady of McCamley

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I pour sand in front of the coop to cut down on mud every winter (a couple of bags). This works well.

My silkies don't get trimmed. I give them pallets to stand on too, to stay out of the mud. These things help a lot.

I enlarged my pen too so hopefully we won't see a huge mud problem this year.

Just wanted to weigh in...another rainy Pac NW'er with silkies.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

@amorse87

No, I never did get a trimming answer...I just bumbled my way through cutting close enough to remove gook and mucky feathers, but not close enough to hit quick (at least not yet).

I did put bark chips down, which really, really helped.

I have heavy clay soil, so I can't put straight sand or I get cement, but the bark chips have worked really nice, with some judicious trimming here and there.

I now also have bantam Cochin, who have serious feet feathering, but I had enough success with the Silkie, especially after the bark chips that I gained courage for the Cochin.

Do you have good trimming techniques?

LofMc