Silkie thread!

[carrie a]

Has anyone orderd silkies from purely poultry before? If so how were they and did most have beards? Where is everyone getting their silkies from?

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

HELP! ... If it's not one thing its another.. I just check on my babies and noticed one of them has bad wry neck!! I dont know anything about it. I just did a quick google search. She looks horrible and keeps going in circles with her head completely twisted and laying on the side I just saw her try to eat still but she looks terrible and keeps flipping herelf on her back. Ive never heard of this condition. What do I do???! Another chick is limping on one leg And my single blue chick is still huddled on the ground and doesent want to walk. If I push its lil bottom it can walk slowly but it wants to lay down with its wings spread out. I dont know why im having such poor luck with my babies I probably made the mistake of letting my daughter hold all of them in her lap (kinda corraling them in) and if one jumped out she put in back in. I thought it was a good time to let her start handling them so that they learn to like being held. I watched her the whole time and she was very careful, i didnt see anything that might have hurt them. But today they look so bad What did I do wrong? Im so sad. I feel like im going to loose yet another chick or probably two.

 

[destiny_56085]

I know its cute and all to let the kids play with them, but its asking for dead chicks. The only time mine get handled that young is when I take them out of the incubator, check their feet for faults quick, and while cleaning their brooders. Is your brooder large enough for them to spread out and not crowd under the heat lamp? Is their starter mash fresh? Clean drinking water? Are you dragging them out of the brooder quite a bit and thus letting them get chilled?

 

[atrueb00]

I hope not lol I have a couple babies with very big crests that I am hoping are hens

with mine, it seems to be the opposite. The majority of vaulted skull chicks that I hatch seem to be female.

You both are giving me hope! I really want to find some more with top knots cause they just look so much better IMO. I only keep silkies so no need to worry about them getting picked on.

 

[kabhyper1]

Originally Posted by Iluvmysilkies

There you all are! lol I had a silkie rooster when I was younger and he was my baby, i loved him more then anything and he was spoiled rotten. Had his own bed in my room and everything lol. Well im a mom now, we finally bought a house so I finally got silkies again yesterday! They are only a day old

I picked out 6 bearded, all different colors and I am hoping you all can clearify the colors on them. I picked out a Black, white, blue, splash, buff and possibly partridge or something. But now that I got them home, and can get a better look at them im really curious about two of the colors. The one I thought was a splash is soo light colored and I dont see any other colors on it. Is it still a splash or could it be a lavender or something? And the other one I am very curious about is my darker buff. Its not quite as orange as the other one, its more brownish with a grey back. Im curious what color this one will be. I picked out all the different colors that I could find

And does anyone have any pics of their silkies as adults who might have started out looking like any of mine, that they can share to give me an idea?. Im so curious what colors I should be calling these guys (well hopefully girls)

Also is there a reason why some of the chicks have vaulted heads and some dont? Does it mean those will have a bigger crest then the others or will they still have a big one to? I am so excited to finally get these beautiful birds again, and get to chat about them with fellow lovers

Okay I had to paste since I couldnt find this t quote, but as far as the splash question goes, I have a splash roo that had no splashes until he was about 4 weeks old. here he is at 1 day 1 week and now

 

[atrueb00]

We finished the coop and run today, a day later than I had planned, but done never the less with the exception of a few loose ends.
I'm working on a gravity fed PVC feeding system and watering system with poultry nipples, so that will come later.
The weather forecast decided to take a turn for the worst, so after I got the run finished, we brought the silkies out to hang out in it for a couple hours to get acclimated.
The kids did not know how to act at first and just stood there, since this was their first adventure outside the brooder.
They eventually started scratching and moving around the run.
Since it's supposed to rain tonight and all day tomorrow, and be in the 40's, we decided to bring them back inside until that passes.

As for me, I'm tickled and exhausted, so I'll post more later after some much needed rest.

Two days of 12 hours a day, but it was worth every minute to see them in their new home.





And a good time was had by all.

This is so well done! I love the red color! Great job!!

If any of the littelens gets lethargic, try some honey water. It perks them up in no time flat. Use sparingly as it will cause diarrhea and dehydration also. I used this when my little black silkie was lethargic too.

This is a great tip since I have honey around all the time (also a beekeeper). Thank you for sharing!

Many chefs will tell you its best to let eggs come to room temperature before using them, especially for merengues! Something about how the molecules behave. I'm still buying the eggs we eat, so all of mine are refrigerated until use. God willing,I'll soon have some fresh eggs of my own!

Hoping you get some eggs soon too! Mine are 9 months now and have been laying since beginning of December.

 

[atrueb00]

Weather was so nice by us this weekend my babies got to take a venture outside! They were a little leary at first, but really warmed up to the idea and was hilarious watching them strut their stuff, hopping around, chasing bugs, found a worm, eating some grass, good times.... They are 6 weeks old now!

You lil ones are so cute! Very good looking feathering too. I'd also love to have this many colors at some point.

Thanks! I thought it might be something like that but didnt think chicks needed grit so early? Can they ever eat too much grit? If I found some and put it in there next to their food?

I started my chicks with grit right away, just bought a small bag of fine grain grit from TSC and put it in a dish. Sometimes they'd eat a lot of it and I'd get concerned but I guess they know better than I did cause they ended up fine.

HELP! ... If it's not one thing its another.. I just check on my babies and noticed one of them has bad wry neck!! I dont know anything about it. I just did a quick google search. She looks horrible and keeps going in circles with her head completely twisted and laying on the side I just saw her try to eat still but she looks terrible and keeps flipping herelf on her back. Ive never heard of this condition. What do I do???! Another chick is limping on one leg And my single blue chick is still huddled on the ground and doesent want to walk. If I push its lil bottom it can walk slowly but it wants to lay down with its wings spread out. I dont know why im having such poor luck with my babies I probably made the mistake of letting my daughter hold all of them in her lap (kinda corraling them in) and if one jumped out she put in back in. I thought it was a good time to let her start handling them so that they learn to like being held. I watched her the whole time and she was very careful, i didnt see anything that might have hurt them. But today they look so bad What did I do wrong? Im so sad. I feel like im going to loose yet another chick or probably two.

I've run into this before and was able to have the chicken make it through crook neck, it was a silkie as well. I separated her from the bunch and put her into a milk crate (she was a couple of months old) and the close confinement kept her from literally rolling all over the place. I've heard if they are super small, a cup or bowl should be a good spot to put them in. I fed her crumble feed mixed with water so it was the consistency of wet food for cats almost. I mixed in selenium, vitamin b and vitamin e. I got all the vitamins at a GNC. I crushed the vitamin b pills so they were just powder and mixed it in with her wet food. I pierced the vitamin e pills and squeezed out the liquid from the capsule. For the selenium, it was a powder inside a gel cap and easily came out. She ate it really well, at first I was feeding and giving her water via a baby medicine dropper to ensure she got enough but after day two she was eating on her own. I did this for a couple of weeks and she ended up being okay then, so I just started putting Manna Life vitamin supplements with their water so everyone got it.

Here's where I got my info from, I didn't get prednisone as none of the vets around me service chickens: http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html.

You can't really blame yourself on this one. There are many causes and some are permanent. I believe my chicken had a mineral deficiency and that's why she got better. She ended up laying eggs shortly after this episode so that really helped calm me down.

I hope this helps!

 

[Spoiled Birds]

I'm so sorry.

It's awful to see this. When one of mine was less than a week old and went lethargic on me people told me to get some 'sav-A-chick products' Electrolyte and Probiotic (got mine at TSC). You mix it in 1 gallon of water(can put one of each in together) I'd dip my finger in the water and put her beak in the drop.

She slowly perked up and was able to walk and drink and eat on her own.

Good luck.

HELP! ... If it's not one thing its another.. I just check on my babies and noticed one of them has bad wry neck!! I dont know anything about it. I just did a quick google search. She looks horrible and keeps going in circles with her head completely twisted and laying on the side I just saw her try to eat still but she looks terrible and keeps flipping herelf on her back. Ive never heard of this condition. What do I do???! Another chick is limping on one leg And my single blue chick is still huddled on the ground and doesent want to walk. If I push its lil bottom it can walk slowly but it wants to lay down with its wings spread out. I dont know why im having such poor luck with my babies I probably made the mistake of letting my daughter hold all of them in her lap (kinda corraling them in) and if one jumped out she put in back in. I thought it was a good time to let her start handling them so that they learn to like being held. I watched her the whole time and she was very careful, i didnt see anything that might have hurt them. But today they look so bad What did I do wrong? Im so sad. I feel like im going to loose yet another chick or probably two.

 

[atrueb00]

Here is the newest pic of Top Knot. Just yesterday he decided to start doing a dance for the ladies. It involves shaking one foot like a cat with a wet foot would do. Hens so far are not impressed, hoping to get a video soon.

 

[kabhyper1]

Poly vi sol for infants WITHOUT IRON! works wonders for silkie chicks with vitamin deficiencies. I put it in my silkies water for the first 6 weeks. Just a drop with some apple cider vinegar. For wry neck full dose of a drop on the beak a couple times a day should help. I have never had wry neck in my flock, but I have heard poly vi sol is the best thing for it. It is in the pharmacy section of walmart or cvs, walgreens etc.