SILKIE HELP AGAIN PLS 4 NEWBY - PICS THIS TIME!

[Aussiechooks]

Hi all, once again....

Ok, so after our chat yesterday and your great suggestions I went back and had a gooood look at my new ladies. FYI they are meant to be 12 weeks old (from breeder last week).

Here they are:

What I'm going to describe is weird, I know, but I'll use as descriptive terms as possible!

The white one - Queen Amidala seems pretty good - she is really pretty and has blue skin, beak and ears (is this usual for a white girl?) She is soooo pretty - her feet look all good and her feathers seem to be uniform and nice.

But, on to Princess Leia, the black girl. As I mentioned yesterday, her feet seem somewhat scalier and drier than Queenie...... I hopped on line last night and ordered mite and lice treatment and will give them both a good going over this week.

Here's the weird thing - I talked about her having like "dandruff"..... A friend and I gave her a good inspection, vent (very bloody interesting to find on these fluffy girls!), under wings around eyes etc and we couldn't see anything that even resembled what we though would be mites or lice. In saying that, along the shaft of her feathers (particularly on head) there are cylindrical sections of white, pearlescent matter that litterally look like she's had a bad hair extension job! If you pinch the feather at the base you can slide them off like hair scrunchies and they are uniformly placed along the shaft!

Is this normal - is she just losing baby fluff? You can see the clumps of it across the top of her head.

She also looks like she's rolled in paint - the edges of her fluff around her body are tipped in white - is this her variation of black or is she still to lose this fluff?

They both have some diarhea (sp?) some firm matter with water surrounding it. They don't seem really active in comparison with our other girls, but I'm guessing that's part of the breed?

Here are our other girls (not sure of breed/any suggestions?)

These girls have runny movements that are caramel in colour. They seem to smell worse than normal. Sometimes there are partly formed elements to their movements.

I've had a great day looking at vents (atleast I found them) and inspecting chook poop..... wouldn't have it any other way.

So, advise away, I'd love to know what you all think.

TIA

Sim

 

[danischi24]

The scales on the black one's feet may be scaly leg mite which burrows under the scales of their feet so you just see crusts. Search the forum with the search option at the top of the page for reliable treatments for this. The pearlescent matter on the feathers is the covering that the feathers grow inside until they are formed, kinda like a moose's "velvet". When the feathers are formed, it comes off in bands. The white things are baby fluff. Chicken poop varies & yours sounds OK. Your other hens are golden comets-very good layers.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

When you find the casings around the shaft of the feathers on any bird you really should not pick it off. This casing is formed first and blood flows through it and the feather in turn develops inside this case like material. You can pick a casing off and actually make the bird bleed. Sometimes this can be a life threatening situation.

On a black silkie you many not see the blood inside the casing. The feather may stick out, but the rest of it is still in the casing and blood is still present inside the base.

I have two large parrots and one is a U2. She has these "pinn" feathers all the time, especially in her cone feathers. I have seen here pick herself and make herself bleed pretty profusely.

As for your concern on the white feathers, alot of chickens have white feathers even if they are suppose to be a pure breed color.

Your comets are simply Gorgeous

BTW... Now that you have those evil silkie things, I pray you keep adding pictures as you add more and more and more of these in different colors, sexes and maybe even types.

 

[Aussiechooks]

Thanks for your helpful replies - so glad to be a part of this forum.

Thanks

 

[bantymum]

Hey Aussie!!!
I agree with the advice given and will also add that i give my girls (silkies) a haircut around the eyes so they can see around them.
They always become more active then and wont walk into the
" hills hoist"
Then throw another prawn on the barby and chickenwatch!
Cheers
Helen