Incubator has 4 eggs that look to have 4 baby Silkies..

[ChattyChickens4Life]

For the new hatchlings....

Ok! Since silkies are bantams, it's very hard to vaccinate them as chicks. The vaccinations are given in the neck, and the veins are so small it's virtually impossible to administer a vaccination to a bantam. As for worming, I wouldn't suggest worming your chickens until there is a problem!

If you want to take preventative measures for diseases such as Coccidiosis, you can give your chicks Medicated Chick Starter feed. If you decided to vaccinate, some vaccinations (such as Newcastle) can be given when chickens are older.

Let me know if you have any questions! Best wishes!

-Chatty

 

[DWilkins]

Thank you for the information! These Silkies are my pets.I recently lost my rooster "Oly" that I had for 9 years.His mate died two months before that. I am still heartbroken.The Roo and hen we have now are both just over a year old.I only wish we would have decided to incubate some eggs earlier. I absolutely love the personalities of these little birds so we decided to add to our little flock. I will be sure to look to you with any other questions! Appreciate your help

 

[ChattyChickens4Life]

Thank you for the information! These Silkies are my pets.I recently lost my rooster "Oly" that I had for 9 years.His mate died two months before that. I am still heartbroken.The Roo and hen we have now are both just over a year old.I only wish we would have decided to incubate some eggs earlier. I absolutely love the personalities of these little birds so we decided to add to our little flock. I will be sure to look to you with any other questions! Appreciate your help

You are welcome! I have one silkie myself (getting another one Sunday to keep her company) and she is currently in that ornery phase I have heard is common in Silkies.
Best wishes!.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've never vaccinated a chick i've hatched, nor have I ever received a vaccinated chick from direct or feed store shipment. I also have never used medicated feed, nor have I had issues with coccidiosis.

My chicks are raised in outdoor MHP brooder, get a plug of sod within the first few days of hatch, receive fermented feed, and are put on soil as soon as weather permits. Often I'll take a group of hatchlings into the green house on a cold and blustery day for their first "outing". All of these early exposures go a long way towards ensuring a healthy immune system, and even expose them to local pathogens, which is also needed to develop immunity.

The biggest concern I see is that your adult birds seem to have a respiratory illness. This could be a disease that is very difficult to eradicate from your property once it has invaded. Without an accurate diagnosis, you won't know if it is a vertically or horizontally transmitted disease (transmitted from hen to chick through the egg/vs. transmitted directly from one flock bird to an other), or how long it may persist in the environment.

 

[DWilkins]

Actually we think the rooster may have had it when we got him as the hen is fine. I have been treating him as I caught it early and he is looking much better. Since we live in Iowa we will soon have snow Ugh! Not the best time to be having hatchlings in Iowa..lol

 

[JudysMuscovy]

Actually we think the rooster may have had it when we got him as the hen is fine. I have been treating him as I caught it early and he is looking much better. Since we live in Iowa we will soon have snow Ugh! Not the best time to be having hatchlings in Iowa..lol

Are you going to let the hen raise them? Or brooder? I am only asking because I have a silkie hen sitting on two eggs and I have some in my incubator to hatch a couple days after hers. I don't know if I should let her raise them or not. Are they usually good Mama's? Sorry for all the questions. Just curious

 

[keesmom]

Also...it seems we are always battling an Upper Respiratory infection at one time or another.The rooster is getting treated for that now. We are wanting to keep the new ones free from this.

For what illness specifically are you treating your adults? There are many poultry respiratory diseases that leave birds carriers for life.

 

[DWilkins]

Hi... We have two new hatchlings this morning! They hatched very quickly... one minute we were checking on the other, and by the time we went back to bed for a little while,number two made it's appearance! To your answer Judy, we are raising them in a brooder.Mama isn't broody right now and we don't think she would sit on them.She was broody about a month ago, sat on two eggs, but they were from our older rooster ( who passed away a couple of weeks ago and the eggs were not fertilized. We have been told that Silkie's are excellent mama's. These are our first hatchlings( there are two eggs yet to hatch) So we are nervous , but excited about everything we are doing to insure the life of this little fluff balls.

Hi Keesmom...Have been treating my rooster with antibiotics and VetRX...also putting Di-Methox in the water. He is much better! Since we have no Vets in our area that know a thing about Silkies, I am getting all my help from sites like this.So appreciate all the advice !!

 

[DWilkins]

Oh! I wanted to ask...I have read many opinions about when to take them out of the incubator.Since there are two eggs yet to hatch...should we leave the two that have hatched in the incubator and do we need to give them any food or water while they are in there,or should we move them to the brooder and introduce them to food and water there ? First time chicken mom and dad... so we are sooooo nervous! haha!

 

[DWilkins]

We now have three! Two have been moved to the brooder,where is is nice and toasty warm.The other little baby will have a few hours left in the incubator yet. They are all Splash in color. Got to watch the third one hatch. It only took about 25 minutes for the little one to hatch. So awesome to watch..♥♥♥♥