Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

thank you for the info on vaulted vs non vaulted.

another question, my first batch of silkies will be hatching this next wednesday

I have 18 viable right now so have high hopes... however would like to get another group of eggs to incubate in a week or so.... how hard would it be to have to introduce a new batch of chicks to my chicks who will then be 4 weeks old? I am thinking would have to wait a little bit until the newbies are a week or more? anyhow, really wanted to hatch some more, but nervous of introducing everyone (I am totally counting my chicks before they hatch here... but wanted to know prior to ordering more eggs...)

thank you for any input!!!

I saw some Privett Hatchery Silkie chicks that my local feed store orders from (our feed store has been ordering hatchery stock as well as juveniles from local breeders for over 10 years). The couple chicks I saw from Privett had vaulted skulls so guess it depends on the hatchery. And yeah, skulls on Silkies are delicate - vaulted or not IMO - which is why you may see them stooping or ducking their heads out of the way a lot. At least my two behave that way moreso than our 2 LF do. One wrong thump on the skull of a Silkie can either disable or kill it. Read somewhere that the skull bones don't quiet grow to meet each other completely - something like the soft spot on a human baby's skull.

Use the usual quarantine parameters before introducing newbies & have a fence between them when introducing newbies so the older & newer chicks get used to each other. When the fence/wire barrier is removed they'll hardly notice it's not there any more. Of course, no matter how well chickens know each other, there's always a pecking order they have to establish. My 2 girls went into a broody knock-down drag-out fight last week w/ one losing a couple head feathers but now they're best buds again. Just something you have to let them go through as long as there isn't major injury going on.

 

[suebgbr]

I was too but something cane into my garage where the cage we had was and took one out.. That's why I want them in so I know there safe. Its constantly 67 degrees in house. Its been 45-65 here. The coldness seemed to pass. I just want to know if that size is k

Could you not find a coop with a timed door? It keeps them in and safe but keeps the temp the same.
When I give mine their yearly bath and deflea I keep them in a large dog cage/crate in the conservatory overnight.

 

[Emmasmom]

Novice question here, I have a partridge rooster and a back/dark gray hen, is it possible to know the color of their offspring?

 

[kabhyper1]

So I have 4 week olds to 1 year olds. They will be going outside as soon as it warms up, but the majority of them havent ever been outside. I went to tsc to get feed and bought medicated dumor show poultry feed. I figured it would help the 4 week to 5 month olds have a leg up on coccid before they go outside. Any thoughts? Have any of you used this?

 

[I<3MyChickens-Jewel&Flash]

Could you not find a coop with a timed door? It keeps them in and safe but keeps the temp the same.
When I give mine their yearly bath and deflea I keep them in a large dog cage/crate in the conservatory overnight.

I dont .... mine always went in garage in there cage at night. I dont feel cofortabke with timed ones...,as I woukdnt kniw if my cat woukd be l8cked in garage. He likes to sleep with them lol

 

[I<3MyChickens-Jewel&Flash]

I got a new cage. I may use it for chicks. Spent a fortune in it.... its 48x24nits great size

 

[Fancychooklady]

Novice question here, I have a partridge rooster and a back/dark gray hen, is it possible to know the color of their offspring?

It varies but this is hen is from that cross.

Last pic.

 

[Urchin]

So, I gave her a bath in warm water with a little baby shampoo and used a very small (travel) blow dryer on low with a diffuser and my hand around the chick to make sure it didn't get too warm. I was extremely gentle and carful, but the chick is doing much worse now than before. It was running around before and doing great, but now it's having trouble keeping it's balance and keeps falling over when it tries to walk. In my experience, when a chick starts having trouble with balance like that, it usually dies.

One of my silkie chicks used to lay flat on his side or sit there with his beak on the ground like a tripod when I had to bathe him. He liked to sleep on the bottom of the pile, so he ended up covered in poop a lot. He scared the heck of me the first time he did that after a bath, but once he got all dry and warm again, he'd go back to normal.

 

[ellymayRans]

The chick seems to be doing a little better now.  Maybe it was just disoriented?  I got most of the guck off of it's back, but it's head is about the same.  I don't want to put too much pressure on it's little head, I might give it brain damage.  I think I'll just leave it a few days and see how it does.  Thanks for the help!

Most say never wet your chicks. I have had the sticky chicks a couple times the gunk was so much like concret! I just left it alone and made sure it didn't get chilled. That stuff might take 4-7 days to be gone but it just flakes off eventually. Imagine the egg white that gets on something then is allowed to dry..it turns and just flakes off there too.

 

[RockerHen]

Another one of my cockerels. I like his shape, but his comb is on the redder side and he has little wattles peeping out. I'll see what he produces, as he has a nicer crest than the rest of my males. He is a very vigorous cockerel, however, always running, clucking to the hens, crowing, and attempting to breed.