Silkie thread!

[gonzochick]

So my Buddha and Mo are in a giant cage. Since I brought them home I have had a small 40 watt bulb in their cage. In the smaller cage it gave adequate heat but they no longer need additional heat as they are house chickens. Mo is about 8 weeks and Buddha about 12. So here is my question....I have tried a few different times to remove the light but everytime I turn it off they screech and sqwak and raise a momentous fuss until I turn it back on. It is quite a spectacle. Is this normal? I thought chickens liked to sleep in the dark. Mine seem to HATE the dark! The only reason I ask is because I am going on vacation and didnt want to drag a light to my chicken sitters but I also don't want to cause them any more distress than necessary. It isn't a huge deal I guess, I am just curious! Thanks!

 

[Sylvester017]

This kind of deformity starts way back in the gene pool sometimes and in other cases it is put down to insufficient turning of the eggs in the incubation process. Then there are the ' easy ' fix cases when it is a simple vitamin deficiency. I have a little Columbian Wyandotte roo with toes every bit as bad as the ones pictured. When I got him it was too late to try to manipulate them with booties. He is my special needs boy, but he manages his ' handicap ' quite well, even manages to mount the hens.
My advice would be to routinely add a vitamin boost the entire flocks water once a fortnight in the hope that you can prevent this from becoming an issue with any other members in your flock.
And be prepared to remove this little one from the coop if it the others start picking on him.

http://www.jefferspet.com/avian-super-pack/camid/LIV/cp/AB-P1/cn/36030/

Hi Fancy - Birds hide pain, illness, and deformity and behave as normally as they're permitted. However how can such deformed feet function for scratching the soil or grooming their feathers, etc.? Birds depend on their beak and two feet for everything they do and clearly 2/3's of their assets are malformed. It must really scrape up their feet a lot to try to use them. I just can't keep from being in pain seeing the photo. I wondered about corrective booties also but the bird would probably have more pain wearning them since the deformity obviously is already set. I don't hatch or raise chicks but have bookmarked your reference above should I need it for helping others.
Syl

 

[Sylvester017]

Only thing is all the vets around do t deal with livestock. I've called within miles radius.

That seems to be a big problem in rural-type states - not having a qualified vet for chickens. I am so sorry about the whole situation as a good vet will probably be needed again in the future. I've had to take one Silkie 4 times in just one year and the little pistol wouldn't be around today without those vet visits since I would've been treating her for the wrong thing without his expert diagnosis and correct medication.

Just me but I think any qualified vet within a day's ride would be worth the petrol to get there and back. With all the rural communities in your State there's got to be a qualified vet. Have you checked with the government poultry offices for references? Or poultry or grange meet-ups to get more info? Just trying to help here.

 

[lightchick]

So my Buddha and Mo are in a giant cage. Since I brought them home I have had a small 40 watt bulb in their cage. In the smaller cage it gave adequate heat but they no longer need additional heat as they are house chickens. Mo is about 8 weeks and Buddha about 12. So here is my question....I have tried a few different times to remove the light but everytime I turn it off they screech and sqwak and raise a momentous fuss until I turn it back on. It is quite a spectacle. Is this normal? I thought chickens liked to sleep in the dark. Mine seem to HATE the dark! The only reason I ask is because I am going on vacation and didnt want to drag a light to my chicken sitters but I also don't want to cause them any more distress than necessary. It isn't a huge deal I guess, I am just curious! Thanks!

I'd just turn it off and they'll get used to it being off.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

I think my favorite lil splash is looking like a roo! Ever sense its crest started coming in, its been looking funky on top..not round like my others. It just sticks straight up like a mohawk, and its tail doesent look as round either, it just kinda sticks out to, and I swear its comb is looking wide.. Such a sweetheart, and I love how fluffy its getting but I cant help but feel its turning roo-ish which would mean goodbye What do you guys think?

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hi Fancy - Birds hide pain, illness, and deformity and behave as normally as they're permitted.  However how can such deformed feet function for scratching the soil or grooming their feathers, etc.?  Birds depend on their beak and two feet for everything they do and clearly 2/3's of their assets are malformed.  It must really scrape up their feet a lot to try to use them.  I just can't keep from being in pain seeing the photo.  I wondered about corrective booties also but the bird would probably have more pain wearning them since the deformity obviously is already set.  I don't hatch or raise chicks but have bookmarked your reference above should I need it for helping others.
Syl

Syl, yes you are absolutely correct in saying that chickens are very ' stoic ' . That being said my little guy is much loved and as clean and maintained as his brother. While he sometimes looks like he is going to topple over he manages quite well. When I bought him home my daughter was the first to notice his ' disability ' she said ' take him back and ask for a refund ' . I sat her down and explained to her that this was a better place for him. I know that if I had taken him back to ' the breeder ' that he would have wrung his neck. The truth is that this was one of ' the breeders ' mishaps , poor husbandry, quality control , whatever.
He's 12 months old now and happy in with my layers that are all LF and he is bantam , but he doesn't let that stand in his way .

 

[Sylvester017]

So my Buddha and Mo are in a giant cage. Since I brought them home I have had a small 40 watt bulb in their cage. In the smaller cage it gave adequate heat but they no longer need additional heat as they are house chickens. Mo is about 8 weeks and Buddha about 12. So here is my question....I have tried a few different times to remove the light but everytime I turn it off they screech and sqwak and raise a momentous fuss until I turn it back on. It is quite a spectacle. Is this normal? I thought chickens liked to sleep in the dark. Mine seem to HATE the dark! The only reason I ask is because I am going on vacation and didnt want to drag a light to my chicken sitters but I also don't want to cause them any more distress than necessary. It isn't a huge deal I guess, I am just curious! Thanks!

We tarp our open coop every night but keep a patio light on all night - it helps deter night critters so our birds are used to dim light. When a chicken needs to be kept in our in-house hospital pen they are accustomed to our plug-in nightlight in the hallway socket which gives a dim but lighted glow into the living room where our in-house pen is located. It couldn't hurt to try a plug-in nightlight to see if it'll work to calm them down.

 

[Sylvester017]

Syl, yes you are absolutely correct in saying that chickens are very ' stoic ' . That being said my little guy is much loved and as clean and maintained as his brother. While he sometimes looks like he is going to topple over he manages quite well. When I bought him home my daughter was the first to notice his ' disability ' she said ' take him back and ask for a refund ' . I sat her down and explained to her that this was a better place for him. I know that if I had taken him back to ' the breeder ' that he would have wrung his neck. The truth is that this was one of ' the breeders ' mishaps , poor husbandry, quality control , whatever.
He's 12 months old now and happy in with my layers that are all LF and he is bantam , but he doesn't let that stand in his way .

It's hard to believe your guy has any problem with his feet. I just had visions of a bird falling down all the time. There was a news reel about Pig the dog who was born missing 7 vertebrae in her back. She can't turn her head because the neck muscles are fused and she has respiratory problems so gets exhausted easily when at play in a dog park. She does stumble a lot but gets right back up. It's really a certain kind of owner who can appreciate the value of a disabled pet.

We became the 3rd owners of a rescue cockatiel. His 2nd owners were elderly heavy smokers and died from heart and cancer ailments. We adopted him because no one wanted him. He was small, moulting, and sickly - he had 15 years of living in a smoke environment and came to us wheezing and coughing, poor thing. We didn't expect him to live long. But he lived with us for another 8 1/2 years before passing while sitting on his cage floor with his head resting on the bottom perch. His prior owners went camping a lot and let him sit on the back of their seats while driving. We'd take him for short car rides with us to make him feel at home. He had the habit of wolf-whistling at pedestrians in the crosswalks - it always made them turn and look around!

 

[Fancychooklady]

It's hard to believe your guy has any problem with his feet.  I just had visions of a bird falling down all the time.  There was a news reel about Pig the dog who was born missing 7 vertebrae in her back.  She can't turn her head because the neck muscles are fused and she has respiratory problems so gets exhausted easily when at play in a dog park.  She does stumble a lot but gets right back up.  It's really a certain kind of owner who can appreciate the value of a disabled pet. 

We became the 3rd owners of a rescue cockatiel.  His 2nd owners were elderly heavy smokers and died from heart and cancer ailments.  We adopted him because no one wanted him.  He was small, moulting, and sickly - he had 15 years of living in a smoke environment and came to us wheezing and coughing, poor thing.  We didn't expect him to live long.  But he lived with us for another 8 1/2 years before passing while sitting on his cage floor with his head resting on the bottom perch.  His prior owners went camping a lot and let him sit on the back of their seats while driving.  We'd take him for short car rides with us to make him feel at home.  He had the habit of wolf-whistling at pedestrians in the crosswalks - it always made them turn and look around! 

Some people are just not cut out to care for ' special needs ' chooks, or animals for that matter, but we love them ' warts and all '. You'll be happy to know that this week we saved yet another ex racehorse. He is all of 5 and was off to the knackery. He now has another chance at life. Hopefully a great show jumper.

 

[Sylvester017]

Some people are just not cut out to care for ' special needs ' chooks, or animals for that matter, but we love them ' warts and all '. You'll be happy to know that this week we saved yet another ex racehorse. He is all of 5 and was off to the knackery. He now has another chance at life. Hopefully a great show jumper.

Yep, it's all about the money and not the animal's welfare - horse racing, greyhound racing, pig farming, battery poultry, dairy industry, etc. 5 is young to turn out a horse to glue - still in the prime of life!

I like what M. Ghandi was quoted: "A nation can be judged by the way it treats its animals."