Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

One of my silkies isnt gettinh blue ear lobes. all the white ones are but the black one isnt

My 3 year old Partridge has very visibly blue ears. My "melanistic" as I call her, Black Silkie has very grayish blue and she's 2 years old. I thought she was going to be completely black but then eventually the bit of bluish black lobes eventually showed up. The blue just seems more prominent against lighter colored feathers. It's hard to see on the Blacks who are my absolute favorite Silkie next to the Partridge. I love those colors so much that when I see other colors they don't even look like Silkies to me LOL

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

I would give the wry neck chick selenium. Can you post some pics of the one that can't walk? Could be splayed leg. What do his toes look like?

Here are pics of my blue baby who wont walk. I just took them. I slightly lifted her up at the chest so that you could see her feet. They do look a little curled now that I notice them better but I dont know if thats just the way she was sitting or something. Also, whats odd is that she was walking perfectly with the others up till about 3 days ago... ? Then all a sudden this is all she does. She huddles in one spot on the floor and using her wings as a balance even laying on her sides sometimes. I only see her walk long enough to hobble over to the food/water then she lays back down even while eating. Its depressing and frustraiting because I dont know why. She used to walk just fine.

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[Sylvester017]

I'm glad she's at least not suffering anymore. I pray I dont loose anymore

Sorry about losing the chick. Poor li'l baby.

Momma hens don't coddle the infirm chicks as Mother Nature's way is for only the strong to survive. It can be brutal sometimes as we want everything hatched to survive.

 

[Sylvester017]

Here are pics of my blue baby who wont walk. I just took them. I slightly lifted her up at the chest so that you could see her feet. They do look a little curled now that I notice them better but I dont know if thats just the way she was sitting or something. Also, whats odd is that she was walking perfectly with the others up till about 3 days ago... ? Then all a sudden this is all she does. She huddles in one spot on the floor and using her wings as a balance even laying on her sides sometimes. I only see her walk long enough to hobble over to the food/water then she lays back down even while eating. Its depressing and frustraiting because I dont know why. She used to walk just fine.

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If the chick was walking fine at hatch and then stopped after that maybe something like Marek's to consider? If it was splayed leg I would think that would have appeared at hatch and not able to walk at all. I'm not a chick ailment expert is why I go to the vet so much. If it's ruled out not Marek's then there are some cute shoes that can be made to straighten the toes. First gotta ID the cause first and fast as the shoes won't help after the bones are grown.

 

[Fancychooklady]

My chicks are 3 months old

What do their droppings look like ? I'm assuming that they have not had any medicated chick starter. General ill thrift, wings down low, runny poop, sometimes traces of blood in the poop are symptoms of cocci.
Definately stop feeding onions, they are high in sulphur and too much is toxic.
Have you ruled out injury?

 

[Sylvester017]

I keep golf balls on hand for that reason. I had one hen eating hers and anyone else's eggs that she could find. Threw a golf ball in , made sure there were no eggs lying around and it take long for her to get a sore beak. She's 4 now and well and truly cured of her addiction.

I used plastic eggs and it worked well too. But couldn't keep the faux eggs in the nest for too long (about a week) otherwise a Silkie broody tried to hatch them.

 

[subhanalah]

I used plastic eggs and it worked well too. But couldn't keep the faux eggs in the nest for too long (about a week) otherwise a Silkie broody tried to hatch them.

hahahahahaha!
How I wish I had emoticons available on the mobile version of the site!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Here are pics of my blue baby who wont walk. I just took them. I slightly lifted her up at the chest so that you could see her feet. They do look a little curled now that I notice them better but I dont know if thats just the way she was sitting or something. Also, whats odd is that she was walking perfectly with the others up till about 3 days ago... ? Then all a sudden this is all she does. She huddles in one spot on the floor and using her wings as a balance even laying on her sides sometimes. I only see her walk long enough to hobble over to the food/water then she lays back down even while eating. Its depressing and frustraiting because I dont know why. She used to walk just fine. .

The toes on the left do look a bit curled. Was this one injured by your daughter? If it is in pain it will be chirping constantly . Are giving all of them the polyvisol ?

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you very much for the compliment, I'll do that for sure and thanks for the heads up.
In regards to the predator concerns, the coop and run are in a fairly large fenced in back yard (really more like the woods than a yard).
The fence is about 5' high and although there are coyotes in the area, they can't get past the fence.
About the only predators I am concerned about are opossums, a feral cat or two in the neighborhood and a veritable squadron of hawks.
Neither a cat or an opossum will make it through the wire when the chickens are in the run and at night nothing it getting into the coop because I took measures to reinforce everything.
We wanted badly to let the kids have free range access to the whole back yard, but if we did that the hawks would get them all in less than a week.
My Mother lives next door so we're going to build a tractor to take them over there and give them access to an actual lawn.
I'm guessing the aversion to 1" chicken wire relates to small chicks?
In the event that we do some brooding in the coop, I had planned to go all the way around with hardware cloth to prevent that.

The aversion to 1" poultry chicken wire with most folks that have large predator problems is because it can easily be torn away by strong manipulating claws like Raccoons and large Opossums. We had a stray Germain Shepherd break our gate to get at our cooped chickens. Although the chicken wire kept him out he so badly damaged the wire that it couldn't be straightened out or mended. The smaller holed heavier hardwire is the best to use for protection - very expensive but better than a bunch of dead chickens all over the yard. Thank goodness my neighbor was home to chase the dog off. We have since made a second gate so that anything that gets in through the 1st gate has to go through a 2nd gate. I hate irresponsible dog owners - sorry for the rant! If a chicken gets loose it won't attack and kill like predator-prone canines or wildlife. It can be annoying to have a stray chicken in your yard but it won't KILL your pets.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

The toes on the left do look a bit curled. Was this one injured by your daughter? If it is in pain it will be chirping constantly . Are giving all of them the polyvisol ?

It does chirp but not anymore then the rest. It doesent seem in pain like the wry neck chick obviously was This one is fairly quiet and just lays and stares at everyone. It wont even move if its in the way. It just lets everyone run over it. It lays its wings out to like its trying to keep its balance. I dont think it was injured by my daughter. I watched her closely and didnt see anything happen that couldve injured it. It was getting lethergic even before I let her hold it. She really didint even hold them. She corraled them in her lap while they were all on the carpet. And she only picked one up to put it back in her lap if it got out. I watched her and she looked very careful. This chick was walking perfectly the day it hatched. It just started this maybe 3 days ago Ive been giving polyvisol to just this one, and also to the one that is walking but limping at the same time. Then I put Vit-al in the water for everyone.