Silkie thread!

[K Epp]

Here is a smooth version of a sizzle. I'm going to be breeding her bake to a frizzled sizzles.

Is it safe to breed a smooth to a curly with out getting the brittle feathers.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

Is it safe to breed a smooth to a curly with out getting the brittle feathers.

yup, the frizzle gene is "all or none" lol they either have one copy(frizzled) or no copies(smooth), the double frizzled brittle birds have two copies of the frizzled gene.

 

[jajeanpierre]

You can buy them from a breeder, but to start your own project you have to breed a frizzled cochin to a silkie and breed those together or back to silkies. But you don't want to breed two frizzled birds together, only a frizzled to a non-frizzled. Two frizzled birds create a double frizzled, bald bird with brittle and painful feathers. I have one, she's a pittiful little thing who needs a sweater to live outside right now.

I have two double copy frizzles. They are a mess. The feathers break. The vane breaks off leaving just the wiry shaft. The feathers fall out. Just picking them up causes a lot of feather damage. They have lots of health problems from them trying to keep warm.

Painted Feathers, how cold is it where you have your birds? Where did you get the sweater and did it destroy the feathers that it covered? Have you noticed any skin issues with the double frizzle?

Thanks

 

[PaintedFeathers]

I have two double copy frizzles. They are a mess. The feathers break. The vane breaks off leaving just the wiry shaft. The feathers fall out. Just picking them up causes a lot of feather damage. They have lots of health problems from them trying to keep warm.

Painted Feathers, how cold is it where you have your birds? Where did you get the sweater and did it destroy the feathers that it covered? Have you noticed any skin issues with the double frizzle?

Thanks

It got to low 20's last night, I sewed the sweater myself =) I don't believe there is any damage underneath but I haven't taken it off. It's kind of form fitted to her =P It's made of fleece so it isn't very stretchy. Ruby does have a lot of waxy flaking and her skin gets a little red but it isn't terrible. Poor thing has been getting picked on though so she's in a pen by herself. I'm going to try to find her a good friend that won't pick on her...

 

[jajeanpierre]

It got to low 20's last night, I sewed the sweater myself =) I don't believe there is any damage underneath but I haven't taken it off. It's kind of form fitted to her =P It's made of fleece so it isn't very stretchy. Ruby does have a lot of waxy flaking and her skin gets a little red but it isn't terrible. Poor thing has been getting picked on though so she's in a pen by herself.
I'm going to try to find her a good friend that won't pick on her...

Is this the sort of red your frazzle gets (pictures below)?

The top picture is the underside of my cockerels tail. (Vent is to the lower right--he's lying on his belly after a bath.) I read frazzles have skin problems but can't find anything other than people with no personal experience with frazzles just repeating what they have heard.

I can't find any evidence of parasites, just this chronic inflamed skin. The inflammation seems to be limited to where it is exposed and there isn't a lot of feathers--the keel, the vent and underside of the tail, the feet, and surprisingly the tip of the tail and the oil gland. I think it might be an infection--bacterial or fungal--in the layers of the skin like a cellulitis, but I'm not spending $160 at the vet to have skin scrapings and tests done on some hatchery birds. The vet tech (a chicken person) suggested Polysporin (or was it Neosporin?) AF that had anti fungal properties as well as anti bacterial properties. I took them off of pine shavings (neither roosts) and am using hay and everything is improving a lot but it still is there.

I'm lucky so far, no one has picked on the little pullet who is in a flock of seven hatchery Silkies, one bantam Rock, and four LF (but really small) Polish, all pullets from the same hatchery shipment. The cockerel has escaped death by dog, along with another gawd-awful hatchery Silkie cockerel. My son pushed all my buttons--but Mom, he's a SURVIVOR--so the two cockerels seem to have escaped death by me (I was intending to slaughter any cockerels). Those two live in my back yard by themselves and are actually quite entertaining.

I would like to get this skin thing dealt with but I just can't afford $160 for a couple of chickens. I've posted pictures on every BYC thread I can think of and haven't gotten anything other than parasites, maybe gout or biotin deficiency. It doesn't look like any pictures I've seen of gout. All the chickens have a fair amount of pasture and I regularly feed them bugs that I harvest from my compost bin, so I just don't think it is nutritional since only the frazzles and one frizzle have had it. (The other frazzle and frizzle were killed in the dog attack.)

There doesn't appear to be any pain or itching associates with it--unless you looked you would never know they had any skin issues.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this skin problems.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

Is this the sort of red your frazzle gets (pictures below)?

The top picture is the underside of my cockerels tail. (Vent is to the lower right--he's lying on his belly after a bath.) I read frazzles have skin problems but can't find anything other than people with no personal experience with frazzles just repeating what they have heard.

I can't find any evidence of parasites, just this chronic inflamed skin. The inflammation seems to be limited to where it is exposed and there isn't a lot of feathers--the keel, the vent and underside of the tail, the feet, and surprisingly the tip of the tail and the oil gland. I think it might be an infection--bacterial or fungal--in the layers of the skin like a cellulitis, but I'm not spending $160 at the vet to have skin scrapings and tests done on some hatchery birds. The vet tech (a chicken person) suggested Polysporin (or was it Neosporin?) AF that had anti fungal properties as well as anti bacterial properties. I took them off of pine shavings (neither roosts) and am using hay and everything is improving a lot but it still is there.

I'm lucky so far, no one has picked on the little pullet who is in a flock of seven hatchery Silkies, one bantam Rock, and four LF (but really small) Polish, all pullets from the same hatchery shipment. The cockerel has escaped death by dog, along with another gawd-awful hatchery Silkie cockerel. My son pushed all my buttons--but Mom, he's a SURVIVOR--so the two cockerels seem to have escaped death by me (I was intending to slaughter any cockerels). Those two live in my back yard by themselves and are actually quite entertaining.

I would like to get this skin thing dealt with but I just can't afford $160 for a couple of chickens. I've posted pictures on every BYC thread I can think of and haven't gotten anything other than parasites, maybe gout or biotin deficiency. It doesn't look like any pictures I've seen of gout. All the chickens have a fair amount of pasture and I regularly feed them bugs that I harvest from my compost bin, so I just don't think it is nutritional since only the frazzles and one frizzle have had it. (The other frazzle and frizzle were killed in the dog attack.)

There doesn't appear to be any pain or itching associates with it--unless you looked you would never know they had any skin issues.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this skin problems.

I wouldn't worry about it if it isn't bothering them. No need to stress and spend a ton on something that may not even be fixable. a couple of mine have had this and they are fine, it comes and goes.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

Jingle and Jangle have taken up the roles of "mama" LOL I hope that's a good sign!

 

[Suzierd]

I wouldn't worry about it if it isn't bothering them. No need to stress and spend a ton on something that may not even be fixable. a couple of mine have had this and they are fine, it comes and goes.

Looks very sore and tender to me, must hurt.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I wouldn't worry about it if it isn't bothering them. No need to stress and spend a ton on something that may not even be fixable. a couple of mine have had this and they are fine, it comes and goes.

What do you mean, "a couple of mine have this"? What breeds/type of feathers of yours have this? All mine that had a frizzle gene had it--three frazzles (double copy frizzle) and one frizzle had it. Of yours that have this, are they all carrying a frizzle gene or two?

Thanks. You are the first person I've "talked" to who has seen this before.

 

[sacramento]

Jingle and Jangle have taken up the roles of "mama" LOL I hope that's a good sign!

Awwwwwwwwwww! That's so cute!