Silkie thread!

[BuckNBark Farm]

Wow for sunny. So many beautiful birds on here. Love the lavenders also.

 

[GoldBarRanch]

How would a silkie end up with light skin?

I have a Cuckoo Roo that has red wattle and comb and is a DQ, I dont use him any more because a few of his chicks had them also with light skin. But All his chicks turned out beautiful in crest, feet, wing type. I was told this red gene and light skin is common because of the Cuckoo gene and once its in the flock its harder to get out . So my Roo is up for sale because I prefer the mulberry-black wattles and combs to pass on.

 

[JoshU]

You could cal her "three-toes"

I have one that only has 6 toes total. I call him Gimp. LOL

 

[shelbear81]

AH!!! Thank you so much, Peepblessed!! He has taken a shining to one of my dark blue chicks, hopefully a girl, so that just might be his future mate!

Also...does anyone know of any partridge pullets for sale in the Ohio area?? I've posted on the Ohio thread so I thought that I would run it past you'all as well. I'm willing to drive to surrounding states if necessary...heck, I've driven all over to pick up chickens, why stop now

The things we do for this passion....

I have 8 partridge mix eggs in the bator now... but they all have detached air cells so i don't know if i will have a good enough hatch to part with any... I got mine from a lady in VA (I think)...

 

[shelbear81]

My last shipped eggs, I only ordered 12 and when they got here, several had the air cells completely gone, and the others were all detached. I let them sit upright for a day and all the air came back up to the top. The important thing is to let them sit for that day. Then they can be turned. So go ahead and turn them if you are past the 2nd day. I got 7 out of 12 to hatch on those awful air cells!! So don't worry!! It's been done over and over again on pretty bad air cells, you'll still get you chicks. Unless the P.O. actually managed to rupture the yolk or left them out in the heat and cooked them, and then you're done. All kinds of factors. You can candle at Day 5 and you should see some veins at that point. But even if not, (i'm pretty good at candling) don't do anything until Day 10-- where you should be able to see an embryo. I wouldn't let mine sit for 7 days without being turned though-- even if they had bad air cells.

Thank you... I am on day five... maybe I will turn the turner on tonight... I did alot of research on hatching with detached air cells and the general opinion was 7 days with no turner... I let them sit for 12 hours but they were in our mailbox

for another 12 before that... then they were only handled to unwrap and candle... I am not getting my hopes up too high

 

[tilosi]

http://browneggblueegg.com/Article.html
click on left column "silkie skull" and it has pics of the hole in the skull

I enjoyed that hattricksilkies page thanks!

Thanks! That's a nice site....OH, sooo much to learn about Silkies!! If I can just remember what I'm learning and not get things backwards!!

Thank you Hawkeye,
I did blow dry her then she stayed inside in a kennel until 6 hours later then outside, it is very very warm today so feel she should be ok, right??
So I can use the wire brush to get the mats out?? I will check her in the morning and maybe post a pic if it's still matted.
Again thank you
Ayda

When she is dry, if you still have bad matting, maybe put a good deal of detangler on just those areas and let her sit in a warm place--you could even use mayo (this is a charm!). After at least 10-15 minutes, work from the very ends to skin, a little at a time until the mat is worked out. Then do a light wash to remove mayo and blow the area out.
(I'm no expert on chickens, but I am a Master Stylist...and this will works great!) Also, a mayo treatment will kill live lice, mites, etc. And, Apple Cider Vinegar will loosen the glue that lice use to place nits in hair. Just spray it on -(diluting it some may be a good idea for the Silkies, as it is strong). You can also spread mayo over top around the face, to keep it from flopping down into eys and ears. Then, maybe put near a brooder lamp to keep warm, leave vinegar on for a bit, checking the stuck nits every few minutes for loosening, and then rinse. The nits should comb out with little work. Please make sure no vinegar gets into eyes or ears. I believe to mayo would be great for mites that invade the combs...
Someone may know of a reason not to try these on Silkies....I just know they work on people and other animals.

What to do with this boy??? He's actually 6 months old now (old pic) and his color hasn't changed at all. Gray?? I'm such a newbie! I'm putting together my BBS pen, working on a partridge pen and a small white pen so I'm not sure where he fits in. He's the sweetest thing ever...follows me around and loves to be held, so I hate to get rid of him. If I have to start another pen just for him....

What a cute guy!! Love his color. Beautiful!!

Awwwwwe...they are so cute!
How old are they?
We had 23 solid white Silkies to hatch out on July 4th and 5th; they still look pretty yellow right now but you can see where they are starting to turn white a little...there are are quite a few of them in the picture above.

I just love the whites!! And, blacks...and blues....and splash.....and....well, they are all so adorable!! Love your white babies!!

 

[Lisa Pedro]

Vaulted skulls are most common in Polish. In fact, I read a while back that a ways back in the history of the silkie, that Polish were bred to silkies to breed the vaulted skull into Silkies. Now a lot of silkies do have vaulted skulls, but not all of them. It's a genetic trait that is not always passed on. And either way, if you have bought into a good line of silkies, a vault won't make a difference (usually) on the size of the crest. Breeders have done such a great job of selection for big crests that a non vaulted bird can have just as large (or larger) a crest as a vaulted bird. The vaults were originally bred into Silkies to get larger crests. Most breeds are not crested, and there for do not have vaults. A lot of crested breeds do have vaults. And breeds like Polish, are pretty much ALWAYS vaulted... unlike silkies, which are not always vaulted. Anyway, hope that helps straighten out your confusion.

BTW, a vault, is a protrusion of the brain through the skull, as shown in my just hatched chick here below:

figured I'd add another picture of a chick that has mostly dryed and fluffed out with a vault--- this is even a larger vault than the chick I pictured before it.

Those are some cute chicks, so tiny. Thanks for the information. It sounds like both the vaulted and non-vaulted skull is acceptable in a well breed chick, and both are acceptable for the standard. Is that right? Are there any health issues with the vaulted skull? I have 3 white Silkies now from a hatchery and now that I learned alot about them, would like to get some that can improve our flock. One of ours is very small (and cute) and the other 2 are tall. They are all filling out nice. But we have 2 different combs, one narrow and 2 wide. Plus one has 4 toes on one foot. So when I look to get more, I will know what is acceptable and what is not for breeding. Hope that makes sense. Thanks again.

 

[peepblessed]

Those are some cute chicks, so tiny. Thanks for the information. It sounds like both the vaulted and non-vaulted skull is acceptable in a well breed chick, and both are acceptable for the standard. Is that right? Are there any health issues with the vaulted skull? I have 3 white Silkies now from a hatchery and now that I learned alot about them, would like to get some that can improve our flock. One of ours is very small (and cute) and the other 2 are tall. They are all filling out nice. But we have 2 different combs, one narrow and 2 wide. Plus one has 4 toes on one foot. So when I look to get more, I will know what is acceptable and what is not for breeding. Hope that makes sense. Thanks again.

High quality silkies have both vaulted and non-vaulted. The larger the vault the more susceptible they are to head injury. A strong peck on the head by a larger chicken can and often does cause brain damage.

 

[Lisa Pedro]

Here is a good article on vaulted skulls in silkies ---> http://www.hattricksilkies.net/articles_vaulted_skull.html

Thank you, I will check it out.

 

[Lisa Pedro]

High quality silkies have both vaulted and non-vaulted. The larger the vault the more susceptible they are to head injury. A strong peck on the head by a larger chicken can and often does cause brain damage.

I was thinking that was a possibility. I have no idea if ours are vaulted or not. They were 3 days old when they got here. Plus I did not know to look for it. They are 5 1/2 weeks now. One of my smaller OE bantams went crazy on the Silkies last week. Started grabbing feathers and pulling them out of all 3 Silkies. I think it was a disturbance in the pecking order, lol. At least it is back to normal now. But this little hen was really mean all of the sudden and grabbing any white fluffy bird. And she was pulling out their crest feathers. So that why I was asking about health issues. Not to mention when you are petting their head, you are actually petting their brains. Hope the crests give them some protection.