Silkie thread!

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?
The brooder is a large bucket, the biggest one I can find and has 7- one week old chicks in it. The can easily get away from the lamp. I even put it up a little higher to make sure they werent too warm. Their starter mash is brand new and I crushed it to make it even easier to eat for them. And I give them clean water everyday. I handle them a little bit everyday but not enough for them to get chilled. They are in the back room where its always perfect room temp.
 
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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



Awesome! Im pretty sure mine will be a splash then, yay :)
 
You lil ones are so cute! Very good looking feathering too. I'd also love to have this many colors at some point.
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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.
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!
I picked up some chick grit today and the lady there told me that chicks were not suppose to have grit till they were at least 2 weeks old? Should I wait or start giving it to them now? They are 6 days old today.
 
I picked up some chick grit today and the lady there told me that chicks were not suppose to have grit till they were at least 2 weeks old? Should I wait or start giving it to them now? They are 6 days old today. 
give it to them now, then after a day or two you can start giving them treats like meal worms!
The lady at the store is just talking out her own thought process and not basing it on facts. Chicks start eating grit with their mothers sometimes w/in 12 hours of hatching!
 
I'm so sorry.
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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.
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She slowly perked up and was able to walk and drink and eat on her own.
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Good luck.


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.
I just picked up Vi-tal from the Ifa store and Poly vi sol at walmart. Wasent sure which to try. How exactely should I mix the poly vi sol? Do I give it to her straight from the dropper and not mix it with water? Just dip my finger in it and put it on the beak? And how many drops, and how often? Can I also give it to my other lethargic chick who is laying down alot and doesent want to walk? Infact can I put it in the water for the rest of the chicks to everyday to keep them healthy or will it give them the runs?
 
give it to them now, then after a day or two you can start giving them treats like meal worms!
The lady at the store is just talking out her own thought process and not basing it on facts. Chicks start eating grit with their mothers sometimes w/in 12 hours of hatching!
Ok! And I can leave it with them 24/7 next to their food, and not worry about them eating too much of it?
 
Awww. I have a little day old chick by it's self :( Doesn't look like anymore are gonna hatch. He has an Aflac duck to snuggle with, but he want's something with a beating heart!
 

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