Questions about newly aquired Silkies

[4hchknmama]

Hello everyone- I just aquired 3 new silkies about three days ago (Two roosters and a hen). I picked them up at night and I didnt really give them a good examination (Shame on me). The hen is fantastic, but, my new roos are having some issues. I have the three of them seperated in a run away from all my other chickens, and I have given them some time to settle and adjust. Well, I went out to socialize with them a bit and hold them, etc. and I noticed that one of my roos seems to have an eye infection, he is very watery and there is a white area in the corner of each eye (It almost looked like he had a piece of corn or something in it) He has no other symptoms, and is eating/drinking and acting just fine. He also has a lot of feces in his feather, etc. Some if it is caked on so bad that it is making it hard for his feather sheaths to come off. I was wondering if trimming him down would be the best thing for him.

My other roo looks wonderful and is a big strapping guy, but, his spurs are so overgrown, they are cutting back into his legs. What is the best thing for me to do for this?

Anyway, any advice, comments, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

 

[tiki244]

You could give them a bath, but I dont know if you want to do that. You can use dish soap or baby shampoo. Be careful of the head though so it doesnt dunk in the water. Also the nostrils so you dont get any water in there. And the top of the head I would just skip.

I suppose it wouldnt hurt to trim the feathers back, but they wont grow out until he molts. He must be sick with that eye though. I dont know what to tell you about that. Other than you could try rinsing his eyes with a saline solution. Sounds like who ever you got them from didnt take very good care of them.

The guy with the long spurs-you can either try using a plyers and twist them off to a shorter length, should be about 2 inches I think. Otherwise you could use a dog nail clipper andclip them off, 2-2 1/2 inches. If they are trimmed too short they will bleed, just like a dogs toenail. In that case you would need to put quik stop on them or flour or cornstartch to stop the bleeding.