Silkie shaking?

[Tompike]

I have a silkie rooster, I believe he's about 8 months old. Last week, I noticed him shaking but it was pretty cold so I gave him some more straw and didn't think much of it. Today I went out and noticed he was still shaking and it isn't that cold anymore. It's not a constant shake, it's more of his whole body'll shake for a few seconds, stop for a few seconds, then start again. I took him inside the house to see if that'd help but he was still shaking so I put him back out. I also noticed this brown crust type thing around the edges of his waddles. Touching it doesn't seem to bother him. I'll try to get pictures of it tomorrow Does anyone know what could be wrong? Other than that he seems perfectly fine but I'm still a little worried about him.

 

[azygous]

Have you had below freezing weather? High humidity? Wind chill? Was the Silkie exposed to wind chill? Do his wattles drag in his water when he drinks? If they do and the temp was freezing, his wattles could have froze.

The significance of the shivering reflex in poultry is not entirely understood. Some chickens will shiver when they're chilled, while most do not. Others have a "vibration" thing going on when they otherwise appear to be perfectly fine. I've seen this latter in a couple of my chickens and it came and went without my being able to figure it out.

 

[Tompike]

The weather has only gotten below freezing once or twice and he was in a barn, protected on all sides. His water thing is like a big version of what is used for baby chicks so his wattles couldn't have been able to get in. He's pretty protected from the weather which is why I'm kind of concerned about it, he doesn't really have a reason to be shivering. How long were yours like that?

 

[azygous]

Mine were pullets around five months old, and the quivering passed after a couple months. It was summer, so they weren't cold.

As with everything odd about chickens, if everything else checks out normal, we just keep an eye on it, but we hope it goes away on its own.

 

[Tompike]

Okay, thanks!

 

[Jennifer Cappi Williams]

My Silkie roo decided he didn't like our near freezing day we had 2 weeks ago. I could not find him until I saw a few feathers sticking out of the hay and my Black Copper Maran hen frantically running circles around the 2 feathers sticking out. He was so cold. I took him home, gave him a nice hot bath, took an hour to blow dry him good and let him stay in the old bunny cage in the bathroom and he was SOOO HAPPY. I was keeping the hen and roo separate at night before that because she once roughed him up but after I brought him back to the barn she was all sweet on him and they now room in the same night coop.

 

[Tompike]

Aww they sound adorable! He wasn't shaking today so that's good. I'll be keeping a close eye on him to see if he starts back up again and take him inside for a day or two if he does. I just didn't want to stress him out since he's pretty skittish and doesn't like new places.