Silkie babies and drip waterer....

[jjaazzy]

Hi guys my Silkies are now 6 days old. How soon do you think I could put in a drip waterer? I am worried they are so small they would drown when they hit it. thoughts!

 

[jjaazzy]

Bump....

 

[cailynne]

Hi,
What kind of drip waterer are you wanting to put in with you chicks.
I use a 2 gallon bucket with 3 chicken nipples for my 3 twelve week old silkies.
I used a regular waterer for about eight weeks while they were in the brooder box. I thought about either drilling a hole for a nipple waterer into a pop bottle through the cap and hanging it upside down or getting a small animal water bottle..one for a bird probably.
I had this other bucket waterer previously and coulda used it earlier than I did...also i find that there is a little tiny bit of water that gets flung about when they drink so your bedding under the waterer can get a little damp...or my birds are just slobs.
lisa

 

[jjaazzy]

Yes, just the ones that you screw into the top of like a Gatorade bottle. They love to drink Gatorade from the end of a syringe and I have dipped their beaks several times in the water bowl but I think they are waiting for me and not drinking on their own. You are right they do make a mess with the dripper but I am still using mostly paper towels and only have the wood chips on one end. The last bag I got of large pine chips is terrible it is a mix of large and crappy little bits. I tried sift out the tiny bits but it scares me and I will just pick up another bag of large from a different vendor. Think I will hook up a dripper, I will watch them and make sure they don't drown..........

 

[cailynne]

i brooded my chicks in the house in a large cardboard box. I used playsand from lowes as the bedding.
It worked well for me. I taped the seams and got a sand sifter for reptiles to clean it out daily.
There wasnt too much of a smell and poops got covered pretty quickly.
I also figured that if they needed some grit they could use the sand for that.
I moved them to a bigger cage and still use sand

It might be something for you to look into
Lisa

 

[jjaazzy]

I do too. I have a powder room that I incubated in and brood in, it helps to keep temps in control with a small closed off room. I was using the sand for my group of regular chicks last year then someone scared me with saying that that sand had something extra in it that would be bad for the chickens. So I stopped, they loved it and I used an old big frying pan for them to play in. I will tell you that none of them ever got sick or had any ill effects from the sand. I still have a bag... maybe I will put some down........ Silkies are so fragile I went in this am everyone was fine gave them there Gatorade and then not more then 4 min later I hear one of the screaming I go in my one chick with splade leg that is in a brace is upside down freaking out. I picked him up and now he looks like he has a crick in his neck.... so now more research I am investigating that. I tried giving him a little poultry drench but they don't like it compared to the Gatorade.... urrrr!

 

[ten chicks]

I have silkies and have never found them to be fragile.

For water bowls place rocks in water dish,this way chicks can drink around water,but will not drown.

 

[cailynne]

If you can go to wal- mart and get some poly-visol WITHOUT iron that can be a good thing to get any vitamins that your chickies may lack into them..i used it on a previous batch of silkies who had some wry neck and suspected maerrik's disease( bad spelling) with a few of them...i lost 2 of the 5 i had gotten. But the others, i kept giving them doses once a week or so. Sadly they were killed by a fox..most likely. With the new batch of silkies I haven't given them any....so far so good.
I dont think silkie chicks are anymore fragile than other young birds...maybe adjust certain things for bantam sized babies.

 

[ten chicks]

Give them water,they do not need gatorade,way too much sugar. The chick with the neck issue may have injured herself when she flipped upside down,keep an eye on her.

 

[pawtraitart]

I recommend horizontal nipple drinkers. I make kits or you can buy the nipples online and make something yourself. There are a few folks selling them in small quantities. If 10 day old quail can use them with no problem, I don't see why silkies won't. NO DRIPS like vertical nipples....no wet bedding....totally clean water 24/7.