Silkie thread!

[Fancychooklady]

I've bn dosing her with poly vi sol and spoon feeding her softened chick starter and water. I don't hav vitamin E available. Is this a fatal condition? How often should I give th vitamins?

The dosage for polyvisol without iron is 3-5 drops a day.

 

[silkieangel]

There are several conditions that could cause a chick to limp. Some are very serious like mareks and then it could just be an injury. I would take a pic of the chick and post it in emergencies and diseases.

Ok I sure will. It sits so far down on because its a fluff ball and doesnt stand up straight. I will try to get a picture of it on there tho. Thank u so much.

 

[bardies]

For you breeders out there! Had a lovely paint silkie hatch. Question though - it appears to have an 'extra' toe. So the required 5 on one foot and on the other foot - the required 5 plus the tiniest extra nubbin on the innermost toe. So, here is the question - are extra or missing toes a fluke and therefore it would be ok to use this as a breeder if everything else is good? Or is this a highly inheritable trait making this chick a poor candidate to be a breeder regardless of what it looks like.

 

[TiaRC]

For you breeders out there!   Had a lovely paint silkie hatch. Question though - it appears to have an 'extra' toe. So the required 5 on one foot and on the other foot - the required 5 plus the tiniest extra nubbin on the innermost toe.   So, here is the question - are extra or missing toes a fluke and therefore it would be ok to use this as a breeder if everything else is good? Or is this a highly inheritable trait making this chick a poor candidate to be a breeder regardless of what it looks like.

I breed paint silkies. Its just something that shows every now and then. It should be fine for breeding if everything else is to standard.

 

[John Simpson]

Hi do you have any problems when you introduce silkies with other breeds of chicken. I have some mixed japs and I am having trouble putting them in the same pen do you have any suggestions

 

[BuckNBark Farm]

I hav a BIG problem....HELP!!! Please!!!! What is wrong with this baby??? Is there ANYTHING I can do to help her???
This is a straight on shot. Her head is literally turned nearly upside down! She's stumbling everywhere!!! She's only 17 hrs old, I've bn giving her vitamins in her water and even let her hav some straight from th eye dropper. She can't eat unless she's held and the food is softened with th vitamin water. I had 8 Silkie eggs only 4 hatched, two hav already died she's #3... I don't want t lose another one... Please help.

Hi- you should add Selenium to the Vit. E. The Vit E. is needed to absorb the Selenium. Being a chick, I would add only a tiny amount. They usually come in a dry tablet. You can scrape off the amount. I have heard that Tractor Supply has some liquid (for goats) that is Vit E and Selnium both. Best to search for the correct dose. I've had 2 with this condition. One (older one) had it for 4 months, and I put him to sleep, because he couldn't be cured even for a week, even with Vet medicine. The chick I had was better in a week, but she recently relapsed when she was stressed getting ready for a show. She is better now, but when they are stressed, they can show it again as an adult. Wry neck is common with Silkies (and the say Polish). It comes from various causes. Some say hereditary, some say lacking certain vitamins (I don't think so, with tiny chicks. You'd think they would cover the vitamins in chick starter). Some say peck on the head. The first one that I had came from a pretty famous breeder that has many happy customers, so I don't think that it was hereditary. Good luck with your chick. I'm pulling for you! _Pam

 

[BuckNBark Farm]

Hi! I'm bidding on a silkie roo, and I'm going to ask a question to determine how high that I bid. Is this comb considered a "single comb"? I know it's not a show quality comb, just want to make sure it's not a single comb. Rest of him looks great! I've bought from her before, and the roo grew to be an awesome show quality ( a blue). She has nice birds.

Thanks!

 

[Sylvester017]

before i got silkeie, i did a lot of reasearch on them (as you do!) and lots of website said that when you go silkies they would 'take over' the rest of your flock. are they meaning that silkies are at the top of the pecking order (mine aren't) or what?? i've had silkies for about nearly 2 years now, and i dont get what they are talking about....

Quote:
Or maybe because Silkies are such prolific broodies that you will be overrun with Silkie chicks way more than other breeds? - Smiles

 

[Sylvester017]

I have different pen and hen house set up for silkies when I got to put them outside just wondering with temps in the 60s during the day if its okay to let them out this young I'm shooting for pure silkies and don't want to take a chance of my large fowl mounting them

The main thing about chickens is temperature change. If the house is a warm 75 and the outside is a cold windy 60 then maybe not such a good idea to put them outdoors. But if you have an indoor temp and outdoor temp within a few degrees of each other and the sun is out then they would love the outdoors. Momma hens will take chicks out into the snow but then they all live outdoors and she is there to gather them up if it gets really cold.

If you have a lot of Silkie youngsters they will pile with each other for warmth. My 2 Silkies and 2 LF girls are free range outdoors but at roost they all cuddle in round-holed, secluded, raised off the ground nestboxes for the night. Sounds very nice that you will have the Silkies separated from the other breeds.

 

[Sylvester017]

Since Silkies don't really fly. How high can their roosts be off the ground?

Our perches and nestbox ledge are 18 inches from the ground but since the chickens have thrown some of the dirt floor around they are probably closer to 21 inches high and both my Silkie hens can hop to those heights easily. In fact, they'd rather hop up than use the ramp. However, a clumsy LF pushed one Silkie off the nestbox ledge and she got hurt. So now we are widening the ramp to the nestboxes so that whichever clumsy LF gets active again, the Silkies can roll down the ramp rather than get knocked down directly to the dirt below. We spent nearly $100 on materials to make the wider ramp buy my DH says it will still be cheaper than another vet doctor visit for an injured Silkie! Silkies maneuver great jumping as high as 4 feet straight up into the air but if they aren't expecting getting knocked down they can't fly well at all to break a sudden or unexpected fall.

I'm like a broken record lamenting about my problems mixing Silkies with LF. I've re-homed all the huge or aggressive LF but now I have a clumsy Ameraucana who is sweet as pie but a real klutz. She sits on top of the other Silkies in the nestboxes to lay her eggs and I suspect she's the one that did the knocking down of one of the injured Silkies. The Ameraucana submits to the Silkies and is not interested in flock politics but she is still a klutzy girl. I applaud anyone that separates their Silkies from LF - I don't have a big enough yard to separate mine so have opted to have the LF not weigh over 5 lbs around the Silkies. I can't put each hen in a protective glass bubble so have to do the best I can integrating our 4 girls.