New Chicken Mama!

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MistressLupine said:
Thank you so much! I’m so happy I was able to meet someone experienced with silkies here!

I definitely look up to u, and I’ll stay in touch! Any big advice u can give me for silkies?
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Awe, thank you! I love to help!

I can give you advice on keeping them happy and healthy, as silkies are more prone to vitamin deficiencies and diseases like Marek's Disease and SLM (scaley leg mites), etc. than other breeds. I'll list everything we do in a message to you, but for anyone else with young chicks in general, I'll just cover here how we do treats:

Chicks think it's a treat to get their crumbles made into mash by adding water to it. I don't give them any other treats until they are about a month old, and then only a little bit of scrambled eggs every few days. Be sure to get some grit before you give them anything other than their crumbles. We use a small box/bowl of garden dirt but you can also buy poultry grit.

Using scrambled eggs as a treat in your hand is a great way to warm them up to you if they are acting afraid of you. That's all I'll give them for treats until they are about 3 months old.

After that, don't give too much for treats or table scraps, as all aged silkies need to eat their crumbles for the nutrition they need. I like to give treats, so I found a healthy way to do it. Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve is pricey layer feed chickens love, but they waste it by picking through it if you use it for feed. Thus, get a bag and just use that as their scratch. It kills two birds with one stone and goes a long way that way, too. When you see them leaving some of it on the ground, skip a day before giving them more. They'll clean it up.

We still splurge with the older ones and give them scrambled eggs about once a week, pasta, cooked rice, corn on the cob when in season, kale, other garden stuff, and a few mealworms every couple of weeks. We have dogs that get the table scraps. Basically, treats are fine, but keep them minimal so they eat more of their own food. Ours are free-range, so that's even more important, as they already get grass and bugs.
 
Debbie292d said:
Awe, thank you! I love to help!

I can give you advice on keeping them happy and healthy, as silkies are more prone to vitamin deficiencies and diseases like Marek's Disease and SLM (scaley leg mites), etc. than other breeds. I'll list everything we do in a message to you, but for anyone else with young chicks in general, I'll just cover here how we do treats:

Chicks think it's a treat to get their crumbles made into mash by adding water to it. I don't give them any other treats until they are about a month old, and then only a little bit of scrambled eggs every few days. Be sure to get some grit before you give them anything other than their crumbles. We use a small box/bowl of garden dirt but you can also buy poultry grit.

Using scrambled eggs as a treat in your hand is a great way to warm them up to you if they are acting afraid of you. That's all I'll give them for treats until they are about 3 months old.

After that, don't give too much for treats or table scraps, as all aged silkies need to eat their crumbles for the nutrition they need. I like to give treats, so I found a healthy way to do it. Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve is pricey layer feed chickens love, but they waste it by picking through it if you use it for feed. Thus, get a bag and just use that as their scratch. It kills two birds with one stone and goes a long way that way, too. When you see them leaving some of it on the ground, skip a day before giving them more. They'll clean it up.

We still splurge with the older ones and give them scrambled eggs about once a week, pasta, cooked rice, corn on the cob when in season, kale, other garden stuff, and a few mealworms every couple of weeks. We have dogs that get the table scraps. Basically, treats are fine, but keep them minimal so they eat more of their own food. Ours are free-range, so that's even more important, as they already get grass and bugs.
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Tysm for the treat advice!

So far I’ve been giving them watermelon, zucchini, blueberries, mango, and I also gave them pulled pork and scrambled eggs as treats recently. They absolutely LOVED the mango

I bought them a treat bag that’s like chicken trail mix also, it has pumkin seeds, mealworms, sunflower seeds, and a couple more things.

I’ll make a grocery list and pick up some of the things u mentioned! They had really bad vitamin deficiency about 2 weeks after I got them, I was used to raising cats so I didn’t know how much of a diverse diet they needed.

I’ve learned my lesson, I also got them electrolytes! :thumbsup

They got marek vaccines after they hatched, I paid them extra for it.

Should I still be worried about it even if they have the vaccine?
 
MistressLupine said:
They got marek vaccines after they hatched, I paid them extra for it.

Should I still be worried about it even if they have the vaccine?
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A lot less than those whose aren't. Only about 5% of chicks vaccinated against Marek's Disease have still gotten Marek's.

Marek's is spread by dander from infected chickens and can travel as far as 5 miles, which is why it is so hard to control.

Common-sense practices help keep us from bringing many chicken diseases home. Keep any new chickens quarantined at least a month (realistically two weeks) away from your healthy chickens and observe them carefully for any issues.

If you go to poultry swaps or to someone's place who has chickens, even if you bought nothing, change your clothing and shoes and wash up before tending to your chicks/chickens.
 

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