Silkie thread!

[Zgm12]

There is no real science behind the use of acv in sour crop . Once the food has sat and fermented bacteria builds. The use of tablets and cream designed to treat thrush are said to help, but the only way to remove the blockage , more often than not, is surgery. Once it becomes a physical blockage only small amounts of food make it down into the stomach and starvation is the outcome. Some people try to Vomit the bird in an attempt to clear the blockage , but this often results in the bird choking. You can watch crop surgery on YouTube. This is one ailment that I think requires a visit to the vet.

Thank you for the advice! I still have a lot to learn about chicken disorders and diseases. For now, my hen is fine. Her sour crop is gone. I will take your advice and take her to the vet if she gets sick again. As far as the ACV, I appreciate the information and next time I won't buy it considering there is little evidence in its favor.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Thank you for the advice! I still have a lot to learn about chicken disorders and diseases. For now, my hen is fine. Her sour crop is gone. I will take your advice and take her to the vet if she gets sick again. As far as the ACV, I appreciate the information and next time I won't buy it considering there is little evidence in its favor.

Acv has its merits , just not in sour crop. We are all here to learn.

 

[Sylvester017]

I have a black rock recuse hen with the same problem, and also been giving ACV and today plain yogurt, her crop will get so full over night that it hangs to the ground and her skin gets very red, it takes up to 2 days to drain it out , then she will be fine for quit a while, I think her problem is that she was starved and ate mud, if I let her out she will eat so much of it still , thing is how can I not let her out when all the others are out!

I love people that have the heart to rescue hens. I myself don't do it because of the problems associated with these poor dears and I don't have the health, energy, or resources to care for the health issues that arise in rescued or battery hens. Special needs chickens require extra attention from their owners and bless those who have the heart to do so.

 

[Duck Drover]

Acv has its merits , just not in sour crop. We are all here to learn.

I read somewhere that it can worsen sour crop so people who use it as a wormer or whatever do not use it for sour crop. It seems to make the crop more sour.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I read somewhere that it can worsen sour crop so people who use it as a wormer or whatever do not use it for sour crop. It seems to make the crop more sour.

The trick is to eliminate the cause of sour crop. Worm your flock at least twice a year, but especially in spring when the new grass shoots are particularly inviting because that's when the worm count is high. Don't handpick grass and throw it into the chooks, because handpicked grass is the perfect length to form a woven mat like structure in the crop. Once you add grain and food you have an impenetrable wall. It really is a process of elimination, if you have hay or straw nesting material and you are having crop issues, change the bedding out for something that they are less inclined to have a peck at.
We all make mistakes and loosing birds is never easy, but it's made harder when deep down you know that poor management is probably the underlying problem.

 

[Zgm12]

The trick is to eliminate the cause of sour crop. Worm your flock at least twice a year, but especially in spring when the new grass shoots are particularly inviting because that's when the worm count is high. Don't handpick grass and throw it into the chooks, because handpicked grass is the perfect length to form a woven mat like structure in the crop. Once you add grain and food you have an impenetrable wall. It really is a process of elimination, if you have hay or straw nesting material and you are having crop issues, change the bedding out for something that they are less inclined to have a peck at.
We all make mistakes and loosing birds is never easy, but it's made harder when deep down you know that poor management is probably the underlying problem.

Ok, thank you and sorry I'm being a "thread hog". I use Eprinex (ivermectin) at least twice a year to take care of parasites. I only use shavings for my coops and the runs have a dirt sand mixture. I let my chickens free range all day so maybe that's the issue. She's not from my lines (I bought her from breeder), but the breeder said she'd never had sour crop in her flock before. This is also my first time dealing with it and I've had chickens for 7+ years.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Rhoda, what are you breeding for? Pets? To the SOP? If your goal is pet quality birds, then just breed whichever you like the best. If your goal is to breed as close to the standard of perfection (SOP) as possible, then I'd suggest you buy or borrow a copy so you can read/see what is acceptable as far as type goes for Silkies. Both of your boys are cute, but they have some faults that would get them DQ'd at a show (like the red combs and light eyes), and those are faults that they'll likely pass on to their offspring, which will cause a lot of frustration and culling for you later on...

Ok well I can easliy find a different roo that's if I can find them the same color because the color as of what they are I was told by a show quality breeder that they are possibly mixed with white and black or blue. But I might get a blue roo if I can't find one the same color or close I would like to breed as close as possible to be breed standards.

 

[annarborchicks]

Hello all! New to chickens and even newer to Silkies.
Purchased this little chick from local farmer...said it was 7 weeks-old at the time (9 weeks-old now). It still peeps and doesn't have a very big crest...just wondering if 9 weeks looks about right???
(Probably pet quality which is fine with us).
A couple more questions:
Any gender guesses?
At what age does a Silkie roo begin to crow? (no other roosters in small flock)
At what age can a Silkie chick move to outside coop?

Thanks so much for any input!

 

[nuklee0]

Hello all! New to chickens and even newer to Silkies.
Purchased this little chick from local farmer...said it was 7 weeks-old at the time (9 weeks-old now). It still peeps and doesn't have a very big crest...just wondering if 9 weeks looks about right???
(Probably pet quality which is fine with us).
A couple more questions:
Any gender guesses?
At what age does a Silkie roo begin to crow? (no other roosters in small flock)
At what age can a Silkie chick move to outside coop?

Thanks so much for any input!

Congrats! It's a cutie! Too hard for me to guess on gender with that picture alone. Can you get a pic of its comb too? I put my Silkie chicks outside at about 2 1/2 weeks with no additional heat source and they were fine even when we had nights in the 40s. As far as crowing goes, I think it just depends on the chick. I had 2 crow at about 2 1/2 months old while all the other boys the same age still have not crowed. Some boys from another hatch didn't crow till about 4-5 months old.

 

[Ezs Choukies]

Hello all! New to chickens and even newer to Silkies.
Purchased this little chick from local farmer...said it was 7 weeks-old at the time (9 weeks-old now). It still peeps and doesn't have a very big crest...just wondering if 9 weeks looks about right???
(Probably pet quality which is fine with us).
A couple more questions:
Any gender guesses?
At what age does a Silkie roo begin to crow? (no other roosters in small flock)
At what age can a Silkie chick move to outside coop?

Thanks so much for any input!

Hello Annarborchicks! Welcome to the coop. What an adorable lil fluffy pants! Looks about right to me for age from what I can see. You can't really tell about silkie sex until they lay an egg or crow, I've had some that I thought I knew but didn't and one didn't do the big reveal until seven months old. I'm going to guess female from the picture since it isn't completely upright and inquisitive looking and no pronounced boyness in comb and wattles yet but purely a guess, just want my two cents in lol. Cockerels begin a gravely, sweet, awkward teenage lil noise any time from about 12 weeks on but I think 16 is more of an average. It can be moved outside now if it's fully feathered but silkies like to sleep on or close to ground level so if you don't have pals for a silkie pile I'd make sure there is a cozy ground level bed with litter to help keep cozy. I wouldn't worry about the crest feathering too much yet, especially since you are good with pet quality, it should fill in and get fluffier with maturity. Do you have other silkies or just this one and what are your other birds? Go Blue ...speaking of which there is a cool Michigan group on here if your name implies location.