Silkie thread!

[Fancychooklady]

her skin looked good  no blood i had gone out of town for the day and came back to her looking that way

There are dietary deficiencies that can result in poor feather growth and eventually feather eating. Methionine deficient diets will result in this behavior.
I would be adding a good poultry multi vitamin to the water once a week.

http://msucares.com/poultry/feeds/poultry_feathering.html

 

[Shadow920]

Hi! I just had some silkies hatch today would anyone like to help guess color?

blue or gray? they're cute.

 

[Shadow920]

This is the cutest silkie I've ever had..and then the dog got her

my dogs killed my mom's entire flock one year. and then they killed two of my hens last year.

 

[QueenMisha]

Finally got some time to update about my little crookneck girl. Unfortunately it is not terribly good news - she hasn't really been recovering and may even have deteriorated. She no longer eats so I'm feeding her by hand - as in literally opening her mouth and dropping food in crumble by crumble (along with some peas and popcorn). I'm also syringing her water/vitamins. I have a tube feeder, problem is it's way too big to use on a little girl like her - I orginally got it for a Sussex roo. I called my vet and she recommended trying to fashion one from some plastic flexible tubing/piping, but I haven't had time to make the long trip to Home Depot.

Here she is today. I'm going to be feeding her soon, although she still has a bit left in crop from last night's feeding.

At least my others are doing well. Of my Cuckoo babies, one is crowing already, although both are definitely roos. On the flip side, I'm pretty sure my little Black one is a pullet - the boys are already dancing and cackling for her, and her crest is very henny!

Also, does anybody have experience with eye infections in Silkies? My adult Cuckoo male got into a bit of a scuffle the day he was brought in, apparently my Red cockerel Midwest has quite the temper. The first day I noticed one eye was closed but as far as I could tell it was because his comb got bit and the blood had dripped down and clotted. I cleaned up his head and found that the eye itself had some scabbing, and so was staying closed. He's been inside recovering since then (about a week) but the last two days his eye has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. I've put him on Baytril as of this morning, but the eye is badly swollen. I opened the eye gently and it looks like maybe the haw has swollen over the eye itself. Beyond regular cleaning and hot compresses, and the antibiotics, is there anything I can do?

 

[Fancychooklady]

Finally got some time to update about my little crookneck girl. Unfortunately it is not terribly good news - she hasn't really been recovering and may even have deteriorated. She no longer eats so I'm feeding her by hand - as in literally opening her mouth and dropping food in crumble by crumble (along with some peas and popcorn). I'm also syringing her water/vitamins. I have a tube feeder, problem is it's way too big to use on a little girl like her - I orginally got it for a Sussex roo. I called my vet and she recommended trying to fashion one from some plastic flexible tubing/piping, but I haven't had time to make the long trip to Home Depot.

Here she is today. I'm going to be feeding her soon, although she still has a bit left in crop from last night's feeding.

At least my others are doing well. Of my Cuckoo babies, one is crowing already, although both are definitely roos. On the flip side, I'm pretty sure my little Black one is a pullet - the boys are already dancing and cackling for her, and her crest is very henny!

Also, does anybody have experience with eye infections in Silkies? My adult Cuckoo male got into a bit of a scuffle the day he was brought in, apparently my Red cockerel Midwest has quite the temper. The first day I noticed one eye was closed but as far as I could tell it was because his comb got bit and the blood had dripped down and clotted. I cleaned up his head and found that the eye itself had some scabbing, and so was staying closed. He's been inside recovering since then (about a week) but the last two days his eye has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. I've put him on Baytril as of this morning, but the eye is badly swollen. I opened the eye gently and it looks like maybe the haw has swollen over the eye itself. Beyond regular cleaning and hot compresses, and the antibiotics, is there anything I can do?

Wryneck can take months to correct. I wouldn't feed her popcorn, in fact I would eliminate corn from the diet all together. Hang in there .
On the eye infection , separate him from the flock, better to be safe than sorry .
Terramycin can be sprayed directly over the eye and it also comes in powder form. It is the first thing I reach for when treating wounds on birds, horses, goats etc....

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html

 

[QueenMisha]

Wryneck can take months to correct. I wouldn't feed her popcorn, in fact I would eliminate corn from the diet all together. Hang in there .
On the eye infection , separate him from the flock, better to be safe than sorry .
Terramycin can be sprayed directly over the eye and it also comes in powder form. It is the first thing I reach for when treating wounds on birds, horses, goats etc....

I heard that figure before. This will be a long treatment but she is so pretty it is worth it.

Why remove corn? Not questioning just curious. I ran out of turkey grow yesterday so she has been on a corn-based flock raiser. I need food tomorrow anyways, goddanged forgot to get it when I left work yesterday. I'll pick up more wheat-based grower then.

He is separate, mostly for his own sake. I know respiratory disease, got an unfortunately quite close relationship with the Mycos, both S and G. It's not that, definitely an infection.

Any ideas as to where I can get spray Terramycin? I can get the powder form of it anytime, my boss accidentally ordered a massive box of it a while back and it didn't sell so he just gives it out if I ever need it.

I usually wouldn't jump straight to Baytril but it's looking real bad this morning.

 

[jmdarrow]

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I need your opinion on my silkies.
I haven't been on this site in awhile and am contemplating breeding my silkies.
I have 10 silkies and, of course, 6 are cockerel. They will soon be 8 months old.
4 of the boys are in the batchelor pad and 2 are in with the pullets in the palace.
Question...should I put ALL the cockerel in the batchelor pad,and take one out to cover my pullets when the time comes to breed? OR, should I keep pairs together so they are exclusive? It would take some rearranging once again in order for this to take place but I could make it happen.
I don't want an all out war with the boys but I am interested in breeding them.
One more question....how do you keep their feet so clean? Mine are a muddy mess all the time.
Thanks-jackie

 

[Shadow920]

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I need your opinion on my silkies.
I haven't been on this site in awhile and am contemplating breeding my silkies.
I have 10 silkies and, of course, 6 are cockerel. They will soon be 8 months old.
4 of the boys are in the batchelor pad and 2 are in with the pullets in the palace.
Question...should I put ALL the cockerel in the batchelor pad,and take one out to cover my pullets when the time comes to breed? OR, should I keep pairs together so they are exclusive? It would take some rearranging once again in order for this to take place but I could make it happen.
I don't want an all out war with the boys but I am interested in breeding them.
One more question....how do you keep their feet so clean? Mine are a muddy mess all the time.
Thanks-jackie

my cochin gets muddy feet when it rains but afterwards he cleans his own feet.

 

[QueenMisha]

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I need your opinion on my silkies.
I haven't been on this site in awhile and am contemplating breeding my silkies.
I have 10 silkies and, of course, 6 are cockerel. They will soon be 8 months old.
4 of the boys are in the batchelor pad and 2 are in with the pullets in the palace.
Question...should I put ALL the cockerel in the batchelor pad,and take one out to cover my pullets when the time comes to breed? OR, should I keep pairs together so they are exclusive? It would take some rearranging once again in order for this to take place but I could make it happen.
I don't want an all out war with the boys but I am interested in breeding them.
One more question....how do you keep their feet so clean? Mine are a muddy mess all the time.
Thanks-jackie

Depends... are you looking to breed specific birds or just produce chicks? Remove any boys you don't want breeding to the bachelor pad. If you just want chicks leave whatever roo you like best in with the girls. After a few weeks with only him all the eggs produced should result in his offspring. If you want to breed specific males with specific females you will need to breed separately in pairs or pens.

 

[tjo804]

Muddy feet seem to be a loosing battle here this winter. Lots of rain it would be ok If it would dry long enough for me to cut some grass for the run put down some wood chips hay and grass clippings it tends to keep the mud down.

People who show their chickens sometimes keep them in an indoor closure so they are not exposed to the mud as it will break feathers and cost the show.