Paint on silkie

[Sydni Crawford]

I picked up 3 baby silkies yesterday morning at my local farm supply store. They hatched on 2/12. They each have a purple paint dot on the top of their Head, how do I safely get that off of them?

thanks!
Sydni

 

[nchls school]

The paint dot isn't likely to hurt the chicks and as the chicks grow feathers the paint will disappear. Even permanent marker fades in a fairly short time. Do you know why they have the paint on them?

 

[Sydni Crawford]

Okay thanks.

Im assuming it was for identification, but not really sure.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

I’ve also used purple spray for identification before so that I knew which ones to sell and which ones not too.

I usually spray it under the wing though so it’s not seen but the spray doesn’t harm them in anyway and it’s usually the purple wound spray that’s used.

Do they have feathers missing in the area where the spray is? If so maybe they've been sprayed because of an injury to the head. Sometimes they get picked on.

As for washing it off...I wouldn’t bother and you’ll probably do more harm than good by stressing the chicks washing them. It would take more than one wash and soap as well.

At that age, chicks have down feathers and all of those are moulted by 6 weeks of age so by then, they won’t have any purple on them. Usually by 4-5 weeks the crest starts to grow in anyways