Silkie thread!

[Roxannemc]

Im a softy....All my chickens not just silkies ... feel so sorry when i have to pen them to have pure eggs for sale.
\ I have gotten now in late summer / fall where almost all my chickens just forage the yard and Sleep in their tractors

I get a kick out of watching them all...and i know they are happy and get a varied diet
.Downside unless you have a very small flock (i have 30 chickens give or take) is poo where you walk and the smell when its warm out. plus they do dig up your grass.My grass is just cut field grass so i dont care and im in the country so nobody looking at my lawn but i do get discouraged a little when the fragrance from honeysuckle on the fence is mixed with poo smell on a humid day Visitors aren't thrilled.
Then the flys.... and i always seem to step in a poo pile somehow and in it comes on my shoe..
Not to mention at 5 pm i have 4 or 5 chickens on the porch(more poo) looking in my door for food.
that said I do enjoy them much better than when they are penned up
Think I will put the tractors farther away from the house soon though and feed them farther away so the poo stays off my walk and porch
Right now they are fed right next to the walk under trees its nice and cool in summer...for them and me and they are safe from flying preditors so many trees.......and the tractors are along the walk
They are in my yard b/c my mastiff is out off and on all day and i feel like she discourages the predators but really need yyto fence a little farther away from the porch and walk

If you have 4 or 5 chickens id not hesitiate to put them in the yard.part time anyway and keep an eye on them from hawks and yes give places to go hide.

 

[Roxannemc]

What a fantastic chicken.!!

 

[Roxannemc]

I agree... if you give it a few hours as sometime they just need to get it together Ive had them roll around on their body not able to hold their head up and later they are fine and walking .. but if it isn't getting better I would put it in something where it stands up.Sometimes just to show them how they should do will get them to do it
Ive cut bottoms out of yogurt cups put cotton material around them where they cant sit down .and stood them in there.

 

[TeddyBearSilkie]

Hi jajeanpierre! I too am new to chickens this year. This Summer I let my silkies free range most of the day with some supervision. They generally stuck close to the their coop and eventually the house. During the day they took shelter under the porch or a favorite bush or two. As they got older they ventured out further and into places that they thought were safe but were further away, and unbeknownst to them, closer to danger. Despite my vigilance and my trimming of their ever growing head poofs, I almost lost one to a coyote. I very recently expanded their chicken run to include two large chain link dog kennels and a dog house, but I have yet to add netting to the top and patio blocks to deter predators from burrowing under. Tomorrow I hope to work on this as well as add an additional shelter (raised wood pallet) in the large attached run. I know eventually that the bit of grass in the kennel will eventually be worn down to a dirt patch just as it is in their small attached run. Once my silkies get accustomed to being in their larger kennel and they are no longer squawking at me every morning to get out, I plan on letting them free range again when I can be around to watch them with full supervision only.

In order to maintain a grassy area for the chickens you could build a few of those raised platforms with some wood and hardware cloth that allow the chickens to walk on the wire and peck at the tips of the grass but not to trample and eat all of the grass (this didn't seem practical enough for me and I worry about them catching their toes). You could also continue to free range them and put various structures or bushes around your property for the chickens to seek shelter, however, there is no guarantee that they will be safe. Even though my chickens' feathers were cut back so they could see, they just sort of stood there when the coyote came out and went after them. It wasn't until the coyote was on top of them did they scatter. If your run is large enough, you could also section off areas and rotate them so they don't wear the grass down. I plan on adding some bushes and edible plants to mine in the Spring and continue to let them free range when I can watch them. I would also like to wrap hardware cloth at least 3 feet around the bottom of my run to prevent any chickens from poking their heads out or a predator from grabbing them (it's a bit pricey so I may wait). I have chicken wire on the small attached run and patio blocks surrounding it, but I know a determined predator could get through the wire (hardware cloth would be a better solution). I don't have any buried wire in the run, so I hope my patio blocks are enough of a deterrent. For enrichment, any time I have yard debris I plan on adding it to their run so they can have something to rustle around in. They seem to enjoy it already and they have already taken to making themselves a dust bath bowl in the loose soil. I also toss in food scraps which they love hunting for. When it's cold and snowy and they don't want to come out I plan to hang lettuce and other snacks in their coop so they'll have an activity to keep them busy and warm.

Through my limited experience so far, I don't believe that there is a one size fits all answer. In a perfect world I would love to let my silkies free range all the time, but I know that they are susceptible to predators of all types, both wild and domestic. When I got them I knew it would be a game of risk letting them free range. And as my Mom always says, never gamble what you can't afford to lose.

 

[kabhyper1]

Update on Chance the chick... He isn't any better this morning. I picked him up and checked him over. He sticks his legs straight out front, so hobbles are useless. He flails with his wings. I folded his legs gently under him, so I know they work, and he calmed down. So maybe I do need to put him into a little cup. One released his legs went right back out in front of him. If I place him in a little cup under a lamp, how do I make sure I am not getting him too hot?

 

[Suzierd]

[/quote][/quote]

Update on Chance the chick... He isn't any better this morning. I picked him up and checked him over. He sticks his legs straight out front, so hobbles are useless. He flails with his wings. I folded his legs gently under him, so I know they work, and he calmed down. So maybe I do need to put him into a little cup. One released his legs went right back out in front of him. If I place him in a little cup under a lamp, how do I make sure I am not getting him too hot?

This link may help
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

If you scroll down it talks about cick cup or basket. Best of luck to the little guy.

 

[kabhyper1]

[/quote]
This link may help
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

If you scroll down it talks about cick cup or basket. Best of luck to the little guy.[/QUOTE]
Thank you, I have looked at it. We are going to be gone all day tomorrow, so I hope I can figure something out. The breeder for his line told me last night that she has seen it before and they come out of it on their own. But if he is on the floor at all out from under momma he if flailing around. He wont sit still. I will do what I can. Thank you.

 

[TeddyBearSilkie]

As a chicken newbie this year, I was wondering if someone could give me a bit of advice on my 5 month old silkie roosters. I have 6 silkies in total and 2 for certain which are roosters. Since I've had them in their brooder box my roosters have been squaring off and competing to see who is top chicken (flaring neck feathers, boxing shuffle, chasing, and pecking), but have otherwise got along and slept together. Over the last month or so I've noticed that this behavior has increased, which I assume is natural, and has grown to include grabbing and pulling out tail feathers. The roosters have also been showing dominance over the females for some time and this too has also increased (sideways shuffle, pushing them, no that's my food, pecking hard on their backs). The pecking is what concerns me the most. It happens more when I first let them out in the morning, but it also happens at other times during the day. I haven't seen any attempted mating, just dominance so far. No blood had been drawn that I see and nobody is bald, but should I correct the behavior or let them work it out amongst themselves? Should I re-home one of the roosters, and if so will the other rooster settle down? I may or may not have another rooster as well in my flock. At this point I'm still not sure, but I haven't detected any overly dominant behavior from that particular chicken. I would like to get a larger coop and add a few more chickens to the flock in the Spring, but I worry if I give one or both roosters away now that the rest wouldn't be as warm during the winter (right now they all sleep in a pile in a corner of the coop). My coop is roughly 4'x6' with no insulation. Also, with winter coming and the anticipated closer quarters due to snow I'm not sure if the boys will be too much for the girls. What signs do I look for? Any advice from someone who has been in a similar situation would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Roxannemc]

Older eggs. I guess most eggs dont do a thing when the others hatch as a few days later she takes them out of the coop so no Mom heat for the leftover eggs......but ...I just had a broody hatch 5 chicks 2 weeks ago and 3 days ago another chick hatched! How it made it to finish incubating and hatch in the cool days with no MOm on it i dont know but it did.It did hatch at night when she was on it though
A late bloomer!!
She is taking it under her wings like the rest.On cool mornings i leave them all in there til it warms up out as it cant regulate its temp like the others can no feathers at all yet.....so then10am or so i let them all out and hes doing fine.
I just have to get him out of the coop as he cant or wont walk down the ramp like the others..... well.... hes tiny.. .

 

[ChickNmamma]

My hen was sitting on too many eggs and one cracked open I took it out and there was a feathered chicken inside of it but still lots of yolk.
It was dead but it smelt really bad.
So are fertile eggs meant to smell that bad or was it rotten can someone answer

No, fertile eggs are not supposed to smell bad. I suspect bacteria got into the yolk sack and killed the chick. Check the other eggs for any smell and remove any that stink.

As a chicken newbie this year, I was wondering if someone could give me a bit of advice on my 5 month old silkie roosters. I have 6 silkies in total and 2 for certain which are roosters. Since I've had them in their brooder box my roosters have been squaring off and competing to see who is top chicken (flaring neck feathers, boxing shuffle, chasing, and pecking), but have otherwise got along and slept together. Over the last month or so I've noticed that this behavior has increased, which I assume is natural, and has grown to include grabbing and pulling out tail feathers. The roosters have also been showing dominance over the females for some time and this too has also increased (sideways shuffle, pushing them, no that's my food, pecking hard on their backs). The pecking is what concerns me the most. It happens more when I first let them out in the morning, but it also happens at other times during the day. I haven't seen any attempted mating, just dominance so far. No blood had been drawn that I see and nobody is bald, but should I correct the behavior or let them work it out amongst themselves? Should I re-home one of the roosters, and if so will the other rooster settle down? I may or may not have another rooster as well in my flock. At this point I'm still not sure, but I haven't detected any overly dominant behavior from that particular chicken. I would like to get a larger coop and add a few more chickens to the flock in the Spring, but I worry if I give one or both roosters away now that the rest wouldn't be as warm during the winter (right now they all sleep in a pile in a corner of the coop). My coop is roughly 4'x6' with no insulation. Also, with winter coming and the anticipated closer quarters due to snow I'm not sure if the boys will be too much for the girls. What signs do I look for? Any advice from someone who has been in a similar situation would be greatly appreciated.

Roosters have to create a pecking order, and its best to leave them alone to work it out. They will also seem to be attacking the girls at first - they are teenagers and haven't figured out how to mate without creating a ruckus. They won't hurt anybody but they sure will make a lot of noise. When they all learn the ropes the hens will squat down so the rooster can mount her instead of running away and getting feathers pulled out. The two boys will figure out who is boss and who is second in command and there will be peace again.

The sideways shuffle is called the "Dance" and it is meant to impress the girls. Pecking on the back and pushing on them is to say "squat down". They should not take the food away, they should be calling the girls over to GET the food, picking it up and dropping it until one of the girls eats it.

I usually throw the hormone ridden boys in with an older hen. She will teach them manners in short order - won't stand for any funny stuff and they will learn to leave the hens alone until the HEN is ready to be mounted. Since you only have young ones you will need to leave them alone to figure it out.