Silkie thread!

[kabhyper1]

Okay so I picked one. Out of the 3 boys I have, this little guy stays. There is just something about him I like. He is very girls aside of the streamer feathers coming off his crest. He is also very mellow.

 

[chickenboy190]

My 2nd Silkie died so one left.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

My 2nd Silkie died so one left.

I am sorry for your loss.

 

[bantambury]

Okay so I picked one. Out of the 3 boys I have, this little guy stays. There is just something about him I like. He is very girls aside of the streamer feathers coming off his crest. He is also very mellow.

where did you get him? he is beautiful! looks show quality!

 

[chickenboy190]

I am sorry for your loss.

Thanks. Now I'm sad for the lone Silkie.

 

[MrOrpington16]

Okay so I picked one. Out of the 3 boys I have, this little guy stays. There is just something about him I like. He is very girls aside of the streamer feathers coming off his crest. He is also very mellow.

How do you keep him so clean?? My paint silkie is turning brown and yellow lol

 

[Fancychooklady]

First time we took our Silkie in she had ripped toe skin and 3 missing toenails and caught her picking at her own blood. I disinfected and bandaged her and put on infant socks the first day and kept her inhouse - we had no idea if she was in a fight, got stuck in something, or what? Next day I took her to the vet and he said I had done a good job to clean her and not to worry about the nails that they would grow back. He said the outside toenails were not as critical on a chicken as the other toes. She had no swelling or infection and was walking normal so no medication needed to be prescribed. We kept her in the house for a week to make sure the toes completely healed and eventually 2 of her 3 torn nails re-grew. One never grew back and the vet said the root of the nail had been pulled out.

About 3 months later she developed a horrific wheeze and my DH and I took turns holding her through the early morning hours because we thought we were losing her. This time the vet assessed her trachea and ruled out worms as I told him the frequency we worm our hens. I guess there's some devastating worm that strangles a chicken's trachea but the Ivermectin I use covers treatment against that worm so he was relieved and glad I was using Ivermectin. His diagnosis was bacterial and he gave her a shot and Tylan for continued home treatment. She was instantly better by the end of that day and the wheezing stopped miraculously. We continued the Tylan treatment and kept her indoors until she was off the Tylan.

3 months later we caught her being OCD in the nestbox to lay her egg and scratching the bottom of the nestbox so hard she had ripped toenails again and bleeding. That's when we cleaned her and wrapped the bleeding toe so she wouldn't chew at it. We lined all the nestboxes with plexiglass to keep her and the other hens from splintering their toes when scratching in the boxes. She is such an OCD Silkie that she scratches hard when dust-bathing, looking for seeds, scratching the straw in the nestboxes, etc. so that's how we figured she hurt and ripped her nails the first time we had to take her to the vet.

About a month ago our sweet but klutzy Ameraucana knocked the Silkie off the nestbox ledge and the Silkie tried to take a couple steps then sat down. We couldn't get her to behave normally and were afraid something got fractured. It was a Sunday and we had to wait overnight for the vet office to open and we took her in immediately. The vet checked her thoroughly for more than broken limbs, he checked her eyes/etc, checked for Mareck's paralysis, etc. His ultimate diagnosis was some tenderness from bruising but nothing requiring more than Metacam to reduce swelling. The medications cost more than the initial vet visit but it was reassuring having a professional render the diagnosis instead of us worrying and wondering and watching a distressed little bird. It is so rewarding to watch an animal's pain or suffering alleviated.

Your little guy sounds like a sweetie. It's heartbreaking not being able to show him til he's well as you don't want that eye problem going on during a show. There's something ongoing to keep it crusting up all the time. It's a shame not to find out what is causing it since antibiotics are only treating the symptom and not the eliminating the cause, darn it. We had to give our sweet Silkie roo back to the breeder who said he was a "pullet" - I had my doubts when she first gave him to us. The Silkie boys are just the cutest little buggers.

That devastating worm in the trachea is gape worm.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/602699/worming-chickens/10#post_7931055

 

[Fancychooklady]

Okay so I picked one. Out of the 3 boys I have, this little guy stays. There is just something about him I like. He is very girls aside of the streamer feathers coming off his crest. He is also very mellow.

That is the one I would keep, correct beak colour. Very nice !

 

[kabhyper1]

where did you get him? he is beautiful! looks show quality!

Thank you! He is from my flock breeding. His parents are from breeder and show lines.

How do you keep him so clean?? My paint silkie is turning brown and yellow lol

I don't really clean them. I use coarse sand mixed with wood ash in their run, and wood chips in the coop. I clean the coop completely out once a week.

That is the one I would keep, correct beak colour.

Very nice !

Thank you! I wish I could get a pic of him in relaxed stance. He looks just like a pullet. Meaning head set back and girly lol

 

[Fancychooklady]

Thank you! He is from my flock breeding. His parents are from breeder and show lines. 


I don't really clean them. I use coarse sand mixed with wood ash in their run, and wood chips in the coop. I clean the coop completely out once a week. 
Thank you! I wish I could get a pic of him in relaxed stance. He looks just like a pullet. Meaning head set back and girly lol

Does have a very pulletish tail.