seriously injured silkie chick.. does it have a chance?

[LittleRedCoop53]

Good...looks like she's going to make it
She does look rough, but you're doing a great job...it will be interesting to see if her feathers grow back. Thanks for the up date and good luck~

 

[Shabana]

Great news !!! Best wishes to you both !
What a little fighter she is

 

[Sofi]

UPDATE!

My little silkie keeps taking steps in the right direction and making more progress towards recovering

Part of the scab fell off, and now we have brand new skin AND feathers! !!
Wahooooo!! I'm so happy. He/she also has new feathers upfront

Speaking of he/she.. you guys have any ideas? I know it's only a two month old, but any educated guesses?

Also I still have no name for it, reason being not knowing the gender.

Thus baby is spending the day out in its own pen and sleeps inside in my basement. I know it's lonely so sometimes my sweetest hen (a buff orpington) spends some time in the pen too with him/her.

His/her skin was getting greasy from the daily neosporin, so it had to have a bath



Thanks for the support, you guys are the best!

 

[Sofi]

Here are the pics, sorry! I thought I uploaded them, but my phone didn't cooperate.. So I uploaded them again from my computer... Thanks again.

 

[LittleRedCoop53]

Right on...glad to hear the good news. I pretty much just figured out my two young(4 months) silkie and sizzle are both boys...at about 3months i started thinking they were boys. I call the pure silkie 'Sting' because of the rock star hair do, and he's cute. The sizzle is bigger and acts 'bad' but he's a real scary cat...i call him 'Leroy' after the Jim Crocey song 'Bad Leroy Brown'. hahaha
Glad to hear the feathers are growing in.... would love to see a picture update at some point...take care

 

[LittleRedCoop53]

Oh i see the pictures....

 

[Stiggy]

Looks like it is healing well. Its amazing what they can pull though and recover from. I agree that Silkies just cant be mixed in with other breeds, especially flighty and aggressive ones. Silkies are also much more prone to head injuries and brain damage deaths due to the way that their skull is shaped. However good luck with your baby, I'm sure s/he will appreciate it

 

[Sofi]

Looks like it is healing well. Its amazing what they can pull though and recover from. I agree that Silkies just cant be mixed in with other breeds, especially flighty and aggressive ones. Silkies are also much more prone to head injuries and brain damage deaths due to the way that their skull is shaped. However good luck with your baby, I'm sure s/he will appreciate it

He was with two sebrights and one cochin bantam (hatched on the same day, came from the assorted bantam bin at TSC). I rehomed the other 3 chicks (the aggressors) BUT... What can I do when the silkie heals and grows up? I have 13 other chickens (huge coop and free range area, lots of room and greenery). They are all really tame and let my 2 year old pet them.

3 easter eggers
1 splash polish
2 brabanters
1 buff orpington
1 dark brahma (my only rooster, but he is a gentle giant, loves to be petted and NEVER pecked at me or my daughter)
1 speckled sussex
1 barred rock
1 silver laced wyandotte
1 australorp
1 french black copper marans

Can I throw my silkie in the mix? Of course I'll do an adaptation period placing the silkie pen inside the big chooks area...

 

[Shabana]

I have a few silkies and kept two Roos as they were so loving and gentle with the ladies. One resides with my baby flock and the other with my "big girls" after initial introductions and a few arguments they are very settled and happy.
It would be a shame to have gone through so much with your little one to not keep it, I would imagine you will feel quite bonded to it by now aswell

To me she looks like a hen, although it's difficult until they get their "streamers" which are their long feathers at the back.
A hen ends up with a round top hairdo whereas a roo is more slicked back.
Either way I hope baby continues to get better, and brings you much happiness

Best wishes x

 

[Stiggy]

Yes I've had gentle male Silkies that loved to be petted and were gentle with the girls, then I had ones ( hatched eggs from a friend) that were terrified of us but nasty to the girls and those ones were re homed to a friend who loves Silkie soup. However I think if he is a boy then it is unlikely that he will be aggressive, however he may be terrified of being alone with other chickens due to the attack. You may also have problems with your rooster if the Silkie is a boy. When you intergrate them do it slowly so they can see each other, but not touch. then supervise play time/ free range time with them and see how it goes. If you do decide to put him in wait till he is fully healed so that they don't aggravate the wound, also feed him up with high protein, calcium and carbs in the mean time to get his growth back on track