Silkie thread!

[fishermans wife]

There's nothing really to figure out. Start with a small bucket. Add some all purpose crumble. Add a glug of Unpasturized Apple cider vinegar with the mother (found in the health food isle of grocery store). Stir in enough water to make it soupy. Leave it to sit for a couple days. Scoop, drain, feed. Chickens thrive on it. Sometimes I stir in plain yogurt. Some times I crush a fresh clove or two of garlic and add it. I keep my bucket in a corner in the kitchen with a cotton tea towel over the top of it. I scoop out my flocks needs into a strainer and take it out to the barn once a day. My chickens are healthy, worm free, in good weight, laying, breeding, and fertile. What more could we want?

Perfect directions Mumsy! I discovered FF a couple of weeks ago, and was convinced it was the way to go! My hens love it, and they look great! I introduced it to my 2 day old chicks today . It is so easy to do, and so worth it on so many levels! My only regret is that I did not know about it sooner!

 

[Feathersprings]

Ah, Komondors. Very unique dogs. I would go crazy with one though, I would always want to brush out their cords. I bet they're fun to bathe

An Anatolian is my little tibit of recommendation, though, even with the barking and shedding, if you are willing to take a leadership role. Ours has no mercy to predators on our property, but is calm and almost lazy seeming while on watch. His coat is very easy to keep up, although it's not 'hair'. A good day to brush out with an undercoat rake during shedding season usually eliminates most of the fur. Our Kota is very loyal and protective of us, and you could not ask for a dog with a sweeter, gentler personality (he's not very gentle to predators, however

) I love large dogs. My dream guard dog is a Tibetan Mastiff. I would also love an Afghan hound (speaking of hair that continuously grows....haha. But they are hunting dogs, not guard dogs)

A handsome boy he is!!! Our Afghan hound thinks those Silkies look just a wee bit like slow bunnies...

 

[countrygirl74]

I have a 9wk old chick that has had eye issues for over a week. Both it's eyes are swollen and sometimes sealed shut. It has been getting water and durmycin10 in its water for 8 days, and i have started flushing with saline solution 3 times a day. When it's eyes are open, it sees fine, no blindness. This chick is also half the size of its siblings that were all hatched the same time. Any other advice or recommendations? Or info on what might be going on?
Its eating/drinking/pooping normally, and also has normal posture..

I have no idea what might be the problem but thought I would share my experience with a situation like this last year. We raised some chicks for a family member and the SLW chick had this exact issue. NO other health issues at all that we could see. We had to clean her little eyes daily, sometimes more - we also treated with antibiotics and nothing seemed to cure it. We even gave her antibiotic eye drops in addition to the ones in her water. We eventually stopped the meds as nothing seemed to be improving with them, and just resorted to cleaning her eyes for her. After a while, we found that we had to clean less often and pretty soon, hardly at all. She is now 9 months old and when I went to take care of them while the family was out of town, I noticed that she still has watery eyes and sometimes accumulates a little bit of gunk under them but they have never sealed up again and she just seems to live with it and deal with it fine. They have never had to clean them or "un-seal" her eyes. Other than that, she is healthy and a good layer. Oh, and none of the other birds have ever "caught" it from her so it wasn't anything contagious. Weird...

 

[candicemarie]

I have no idea what might be the problem but thought I would share my experience with a situation like this last year. We raised some chicks for a family member and the SLW chick had this exact issue. NO other health issues at all that we could see. We had to clean her little eyes daily, sometimes more - we also treated with antibiotics and nothing seemed to cure it. We even gave her antibiotic eye drops in addition to the ones in her water. We eventually stopped the meds as nothing seemed to be improving with them, and just resorted to cleaning her eyes for her. After a while, we found that we had to clean less often and pretty soon, hardly at all. She is now 9 months old and when I went to take care of them while the family was out of town, I noticed that she still has watery eyes and sometimes accumulates a little bit of gunk under them but they have never sealed up again and she just seems to live with it and deal with it fine. They have never had to clean them or "un-seal" her eyes. Other than that, she is healthy and a good layer. Oh, and none of the other birds have ever "caught" it from her so it wasn't anything contagious. Weird...

Thanks for sharing your experience! At the start, I had one chick with bad wry neck, decided to bring the small chick in with the other so it wouldn't be lonely. That's when I noticed its eye. The once with wry neck got better within Afew days with vitamins in their water but had one eye that way goopy.. That's when I started antibiotics. The wry neck chicks eye cleared up in 2 days and the others hasn't.. Which is strange.. I'm hoping it gets better soon so I can move them back into the group before we move them outside to their new run wouldn't want the rest to get sick :/ I'm going to be adding vitamins to their water from here in out because it really brightened up their sports having them lol
mo had one chick die last month (scared it was Mareks) so I'm overly cautious now about their health! But with them growing bigger I'm starting to relax a bit more

 

[Darth Bantam]

Here are our 2 Silkies we are raising at the moment. I love these guys. They are so friendly.






Need to get updated photos. These are about a week ago.

 

[Lolipop]

These are my new silkies!






Here they are with their 2 little buddies, a porcelain d'Uccle and a buff orpington bantam!

 

[Tikkijane]

I was searching and came across an old thread on the difference between self-blue and gray. Sonoran had posted pictures, but alas, they weren't there anymore. Is anyone up to explaining the difference; preferably so non-geneticist I can understand ?. I've got these silvers, but have no idea which category they'd fall into. I'm pretty sure they don't meet breed standards for either, but it would be neat to know which they'd come closest to......

Thanks!

 

[chicknlove]

The new Silkies are doing good in the brooder with the meat chicks. Found the FF and water ok. Thanks again Chicknlove for the Catdance Silkies.

Your welcome..

Have fun with them!

I got 3 Silkie chicks for my very, very broody hen a couple of days ago. She's THRILLED with her new stepchildren!

The kids have only been here for 3 days now and I put them right to work. And their mom! We had an Easter Egg Hunt today at the farm with 6000 eggs that we filled by hand. Every single one of them! Mom and babies were in a box at the registration table where people picked up their tickets. I missed it all but apparently the chickens were a big hit! And our visitors learned a little something about Silkies also.

Here they are, back in their temporary apartment.

This little one is my favorite

This is what I adore about silkies! Their need to nurture. I can't wait until I have this on my silkie farm.. Too stinkin' cute!

My favorite hen out of all of my girls. She is very sweet tempered and doesn't mind handling, Has nice type and good feet. Don't mind her dirty crest, it's been nasty and rainy all day. I would so like to show her one day but her comb isn't smooth and wrinkly like a walnut comb should be. It's very small and bumpy, but not a single comb. It sort of almost reminds me of a ridiculously small rose comb crossed with a walnut comb. Would that be a DQ?

She's lovely!

Here are our 2 Silkies we are raising at the moment. I love these guys. They are so friendly.






Need to get updated photos. These are about a week ago.

Cute cute cute!

 

[Mumsy]

Perfect directions Mumsy! I discovered FF a couple of weeks ago, and was convinced it was the way to go! My hens love it, and they look great! I introduced it to my 2 day old chicks today . It is so easy to do, and so worth it on so many levels! My only regret is that I did not know about it sooner!

Thank you and I agree with you. There is no voo doo about it. I also noticed my feed lasts much longer. I also wish I had known about it years ago. Awww...well....Got to love internet access!

 

[Tongiechick]

i am a silkie fan we have Angel a bluish black, Ricky a white rooster, and little lucy who is also white

in the brooder we have two splash silkies Velma and Daphnie and a buff silkie Cleo

Lucy on the nest


Ricky practicing for show