Silkie thread!

[TherryChicken]

My babies are stuck in a carrier, I guess the good of that is they get to be inside out of the heat.

 

[and-roo]

My babies are stuck in a carrier, I guess the good of that is they get to be inside out of the heat.

How are they stuck??

 

[TherryChicken]

How are they stuck??

Stuck may not be the right word. We have a pen that they've been using, but it rained today so I put them in a large carrier and brought them in. I didn't want it to rain during the night as there is no cover to the pen. I was supposed to get their new coop in on tuesday, but he hasn't been able to finish it, so hopefully tomorrow we will get it

 

[and-roo]

Stuck may not be the right word. We have a pen that they've been using, but it rained today so I put them in a large carrier and brought them in. I didn't want it to rain during the night as there is no cover to the pen. I was supposed to get their new coop in on tuesday, but he hasn't been able to finish it, so hopefully tomorrow we will get it

haha, well that makes sense...

 

[and-roo]

Stuck may not be the right word. We have a pen that they've been using, but it rained today so I put them in a large carrier and brought them in. I didn't want it to rain during the night as there is no cover to the pen. I was supposed to get their new coop in on tuesday, but he hasn't been able to finish it, so hopefully tomorrow we will get it

Haha, okay. That would mak e more sense

 

[TherryChicken]

haha, well that makes sense...

 

[emvickrey]

Well Sparrow is back in the house. I'm pretty sure the roo in the special needs pen wasn't letting her eat. I opened the door to check feed and water and she came running to me but was wobbling a bit. When I picked her up she was very thin so in she came. I gave her a dose of vitamins, a bath and I fed her by tube. She loves attention so it was no problem to feed her plus she was very hungry. I reckon she was so relieved I got her out she relaxed completely after her bath and food and was laying on her side asleep on my couch. She is eating on her own as of last night but she is still weak. She'll get TLC till she gains weight again. She's just gonna have to stay in a cage by herself. BeBe can be a real butt head when it comes to food. He will lay between the feeder and water and peck at anybody that tries to get in his way. Although the 2 hens can eat from the other sides of the water and food.

I have a question about BeBe. He is going on 3 years old and he has never crowed. I don't know how I missed it but he has no spurs. Not even a bump. He has never showed any interest in breeding either. My question is does his inability to crow and the lack of spurs have anything to do with not being interested in females?

When I got him he was shipped to me with 5 other chicks. I lost the others before they turned a year old and I managed to keep him alive by tube feeding for many months. I don't know what was wrong with him but he grew to be a fat roo. His balance has never been very good and I thought that was the reason he never wanted to breed a hen. I don't want him to breed either of the hens he's with now but I"m just curious why he don't. He loves chicks though. He perks up when he gets to have the company of chicks. He was in heaven last summer when he was in a pen with a bunch of chicks. George my special needs hen isn't fond of chicks at all. She will tolerate them if she has to but prefers they don't come within pecking reach of her. She has stopped laying eggs as of last year and she's only been broody once and I let her brood and raise a couple at that time and after about a month she wanted the chicks out of her cage. Not the loving mother Silkies are nown to be. She came down with Ulcerative Enteritis year before last and I got her over that and she started laying eggs again but not regularly. Then last year she came down with it again. She laid a couple eggs then stopped all together. I don't need her to lay eggs anyway. The black young hen I have in the house now was laying eggs then stopped. I had to give her a round of vitamins and she started laying again then stopped and hasn't laid any in about a month now. I thought maybe BeBe would be interested in breeding if I put a laying hen with him but no. She also stopped laying soon after I put her in the special needs pen. Again, I don't need her to lay anyway. I can't sell the eggs from any special needs hen anyway so no loss there.

Oh well, just wondering if the lack of spurs has anything to do with a roo not wanting to breed or crow. Or if any of it is related.

 

[RubyNala97]

hey there i live in Canada, very far up too hahha. i have silkies and im just going put a heat lamp in my coop, my coop is insulated so the heat should stay in i'm also do this thing i found on the internet to put plastic around the coop so the snow doesn't get in the coop, ill put up a photo of my idea. my coop is a lot bigger but you get the idea. i'm putting shavings in my coop. silkies should love it DO NOT FORGET THAT THERE NEEDS TO BE VENTILATION IN WINTER, or the humidity in the coop gets on there beak and freezes!

I have a similar setup to this picture. Can you please tell me what kind of plastic you used and where you bought it? Was it attached with staples? Thank you!

 

[phoenix-silkie]

I have a similar setup to this picture. Can you please tell me what kind of plastic you used and where you bought it? Was it attached with staples? Thank you!

vapor barrier 6 mm, or just a tarp and some staples. ya i just talked with my dad and he said we are going use a tarp just because that stuff is very weak, but i think i can convince him.
( this isn't my coop i was just looking for plans)

 

[phoenix-silkie]

look on the "plastic wrapped runs???" thread