Silkie thread!

[Jharper]

HHHH! Came home the other day to my paint pullet having like a chicken sinus infection!!! I have been treating her with VetRx. I reckon I need to put it in her water now instead of around her nose!!! Her eyes are like swollen/puffy, and her nose seems clogged up and her eyes are watery. 2 more weeks before her show!!!! I won't have any birds to show since my show hen died, my silkie pullet is sick and finally my non bearded rooster is finally just about over what he had, then it flooded today. So I don't think he will get better over the next few days from his sickness. I have a tarp covering 90% of a 18'/24' pen. Water still finds a way to soak everything!!!!!!!! It's a good thing my paint rooster and Cochin bantam hen are in top shape. I hope I didn't jinks myself though. :/

 

[PaintedFeathers]

AHHHH! Came home the other day to my paint pullet having like a chicken sinus infection!!! I have been treating her with VetRx. I reckon I need to put it in her water now instead of around her nose!!! Her eyes are like swollen/puffy, and her nose seems clogged up and her eyes are watery. 2 more weeks before her show!!!! I won't have any birds to show since my show hen died, my silkie pullet is sick and finally my non bearded rooster is finally just about over what he had, then it flooded today. So I don't think he will get better over the next few days from his sickness. I have a tarp covering 90% of a 18'/24' pen. Water still finds a way to soak everything!!!!!!!! It's a good thing my paint rooster and Cochin bantam hen are in top shape. I hope I didn't jinks myself though.

That sounds like CRD =( Don't put the Vetrx in the water, and start treating her with Tylan 50 right away, the injectable kind .25 cc twice a day by mouth.You will need a needle to get the tylan out of the bottle but you don't need to inject the bird. I would NOT bring your birds to the show since they have been sick. Wait a while until they have gone a long time without any symptoms. CRD is HIGHLY contagious and they could potentially affect every other bird there depending on what they have.

Have you had your birds npip tested? You can also get a test for MG with the npip test, it's a simple blood test. If our birds have MG you will not want to expose them to any other birds and your flock will have to be on "lockdown".

One more thing, VetRX works best if you can put it on a qtip and hold it to the roof of her mouth where the nasal slit is for a few seconds.

 

[I<3MyChickens-Jewel&Flash]

What should I do?

I have two beautiful silkies Ichabod and Ludia. Ichabod is splash rooster with a bit of brown in him. LYDIA is blue with tent of brown. Someone was wanting to give me heir two hens bearded a black and splash. Which would be fine, but I was wanting to hatch some eggs from mu two hens. But if I get the two hens I can't keep the chicks.

do I pass or do I just hatch my own?

I love my two they are sweet as can be. But it would be nice to add color.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well the two peeps are eight weeks old now, I would really like to leave them outside at night. I have been bringing them in at night. It's going to drop mid forties for about a week then into the thirties at night. They have a little dog house that I drilled some small round holes in the upper sides for venalation.(about quarter size holes) I have sand on the bottom and stuck some hay inside for them. Do you think they will be ok? They have about a week to adjust from forty to thirties. If not any ideas on what I can put in the dog house to keep them warm enough other then a light. A light would make it to warm, its a small area and I want them to adjust to the cold. Plus I would have to run a long extension cord and I worry about fire. Seems like their getting big enough now. Any thoughts?

Light bulbs come in all sorts of wattages, lower wattage or a dimmer switch will adjust the amount of heat put out.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Are you sure there was a chick, and not just an exploded bad egg?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I've only tried the dry incubator one other time. I had 40 egg's and all but ten hatched and the air cells where just like the diagrams show. what are you keeping the humidity at ? before when I would hatch I keep my humidity at 55 / 60 % for the first 18 day's and then up to 65 / 75 % and a lot of the chicks would die before hatch and the ones that would hatch where really wet and slimy. now I keep the humidity at 30 / 40 % for the first 18 day's and then up to 50 / 55 % .and the chicks look so much better there not as wet or slimy and they dry off much faster.

Dry incubation works or not based upon the climate. If you live in a climate that tends to be humid, it will work better than if you live in a dry climate. That said, I had a lot of successful hatching last year using dry incubation, even though I live in the desert.

 

[NiftyChickie]

Sorry.. Hello and Welcome to the Silkie Thread and Welcome to BYC!

The reason I am laughing is that they ARE reliable layers.. until they decide to go broody then they take a break for about 3 months.. or longer.. then they lay again then another break. So no - I wouldn't really call them reliable layers unless you do not include their broody spells. They are reliable broodies though.

Thank you! I love the idea of owning silkies! I do want some reliable egg layers and am planning on a mixed flock of perhaps 12 chickens. I want at least four of those to be silkies though! (1) Do silkies get along well with other breeds of chickens? I would like to try some Auststralops, Brahma;s etc...the breeds that people describe as mild and easy going. (2) Also, do silkies only come in the Bantam variety? (I'm new to owning chickens and am trying to plan my first flock!)? Or can they be standard size birds? (3) Do you think silkies (or even chickens in general) feel sad when you take up their eggs? I know they get broody and I don't want to cause the chickens any stress.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Every white can give different results

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

What should I do?

I have two beautiful silkies Ichabod and Ludia. Ichabod is splash rooster with a bit of brown in him. LYDIA is blue with tent of brown. Someone was wanting to give me heir two hens bearded a black and splash. Which would be fine, but I was wanting to hatch some eggs from mu two hens. But if I get the two hens I can't keep the chicks.

do I pass or do I just hatch my own?

I love my two they are sweet as can be. But it would be nice to add color.

You could get the hens, hatch chicks and then decide which ones to keep.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Unless they are brooding on a nest, taking their eggs will not distress them. Silkies do fine with other breeds, They tend to be at the top of the pecking order in my experience.