Silkie thread!

Pics
Date sort Score sort
KristyAnn said:
Th
I definantly need to get more wire. Thanks for reminding me. Your chicken chases cats and birds away. How neat. I've been building little fences all around the yard using old pallets, scrap wire cuttings, old boards if wood and corn stocks from last year. I think it's time for a roll of wire. That wire is not cheap here I tell ya.
Click to expand...

I wish we could find pallets but even if we did we have no vehicle to transport them. They make excellent low shelters for the chickens to snooze or hide under if raised above ground just 1-1/2 to 2 feet on cinder blocks. Chickens feel secure hiding during the day under rose bushes or small plants or under patio chairs so we put up a couple low to ground planks for them. The chicken rabbit fence isn't cheap but it's pretty convenient - a couple 50' rolls surround two patios and two of our 4x9' raised veggie beds. They have about a 2-3 year life span if treated roughly like we do rolling and unrolling them but if mounted permanently they will stay looking nicer longer.
 
emvickrey said:
The only way to test him for Mareks is for him to be dead. It's not that I"m sure. I did post a problem with one of his siblings back a couple months ago but I had her tested and it turned out to be phnemonia. Strange symptoms for that I thought but thats what it turned out to be. There was him and another boy in the pen and one of the pullets was laying so I suspect maybe a head injury. We all know how the boys get when the girls are old enough to breed. He is alert, eyes bright and the right color, no tremors and no tumors that I can feel on the outside. He has no problem with eating or doing any of the things they do the most it's just his balance. He has made it over to me and is cooing at me right now. He's been out of his cage for a few hours now and he has eaten quite a bit along with some meal worms and drank water and pooped a few times.

I just wonder if mites in the ears or if they even get ear infections. It's usually something to do with the ears or brain when balance is the issue from my experiences so far anyway. If he was too weak to walk that would make him have bad balance but that does'nt seem to be the case. What vitamin would a chicken be deficiant of to make them this way. maybe it's that. It just seems like it's something I can fix.
Click to expand...

Take him to the vet. By the time you hit-and-miss treat him for this and that you can save the hassle and just have the vet confirm. I've heard chickens can get inner ear infections - God only knows how or why - so best go to the vet to see what it really is. I know it cost $$ but that's the joy(?) of chicken ownership! It's hardly ever less than $100 whenever a chicken gets sick. A well visit can be as little as $40 but after adding shots and getting take-home medicine it adds up. No different than taking a dog or cat to the vet or hospital and it's just all part of pet ownership. It cost us over $100 our last visit - after a spooky wheezing from the Silkie we sat up all night with her and thought she had to be put down at the vet next morning. One shot cured her with a 10-day Tylan treatment. If we had just tried to treat her ourselves over a few days we could have lost her.

Meanwhile, we give all our hens children's Poly-Vi-Sol no iron one drop a couple times a week. For broodies we give 3x a week. Vets will tell you its not "approved" for chickens but then yoghurt, cabbage, rolled oats, Ivermectin wormer, etc, don't have "approved for chickens" stamped on them either - LOL. I like using the children's liquid vitamin drops because I know they get the proper dosage because vitamins in the water some hens don't drink enough and others too much. We have one Silkie that jumps for her vitamin drop and will drink a whole dropperful if we let her but she gets only one drop. The other Silkie isn't as excited for her drop so we let it drip on the side of her beak (away from nostrils) and eventually the annoying drop gets her to open her mouth & it drops on her tongue. Sometimes you gotta do it a couple times before a drop gets into their mouth. I don't like to force open chicken beaks for medicine so the annoying drop on the side of the beak has been the best method without stressing the birds. I saw this demonstrated on youtube and it works for me.
 
emvickrey said:
The only way to test him for Mareks is for him to be dead. It's not that I"m sure. I did post a problem with one of his siblings back a couple months ago but I had her tested and it turned out to be phnemonia. Strange symptoms for that I thought but thats what it turned out to be. There was him and another boy in the pen and one of the pullets was laying so I suspect maybe a head injury. We all know how the boys get when the girls are old enough to breed. He is alert, eyes bright and the right color, no tremors and no tumors that I can feel on the outside. He has no problem with eating or doing any of the things they do the most it's just his balance. He has made it over to me and is cooing at me right now. He's been out of his cage for a few hours now and he has eaten quite a bit along with some meal worms and drank water and pooped a few times.

I just wonder if mites in the ears or if they even get ear infections. It's usually something to do with the ears or brain when balance is the issue from my experiences so far anyway. If he was too weak to walk that would make him have bad balance but that does'nt seem to be the case. What vitamin would a chicken be deficiant of to make them this way. maybe it's that. It just seems like it's something I can fix.
Click to expand...

Do you have a vet around that would see him?
 
Mine hatch tomorrow
1f60a.png
 

Similar threads

SunnySid3Up
Is she show quality?
Replies
2
Views
244
SunnySid3Up
SunnySid3Up
Skyeknight
    • Love
Is this Silkie partridge coloured?
Replies
6
Views
731
NatJ
NatJ
FarmerJen1
    • Love
Silkie Color question
Replies
3
Views
439
FarmerJen1
FarmerJen1
Slothinc
    • Love
    • Like
Help me to pair birds for breeding!
2 3 4
Replies
39
Views
7K
Slothinc
Slothinc
RaisingTinyDinosaurs
Silkie x Naked Neck Result
Replies
3
Views
946
RaisingTinyDinosaurs
RaisingTinyDinosaurs

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom