Silkie thread!

[OzarkCountryGirl]

I posted about an older hen that has eggs hatching has wry neck. I've been giving her a multi-vitamin. Yesterday I was told to give her vitamin E. So I went on a search for them and found a whole bottle of the gel tabs. I just gave her one. I cut off the tip and squirted it in her mouth. I did move her and the now 3 chicks she has to the old trough I use for mothers with babies when it's cold outside. Today her head is under her breast when she is resting. When I moved her she did bring her head up but she still has a "kink" at the base of her head. When I gave her her babies and remaining 2 eggs she went back to tucking her head under her.

Does anybody know how long the vitamins will take to get her back the way she is suppose to be? For the next few days the chicks will stay under her and as long as she don't move they will be fine but when she starts showing them food and water she will have to be able to get around. I didn't think of it sooner but she probably isn't drinking and her food bowl had the same amount in it that it did yesterday. They have both been right in front of her.

As soon as I send this I'll go down and give her some water by pipette to make sure she don't get dehydrated. It's in the 80's today.

I would give her Poly-Vi_Sol (liquid) on a bit of scrambled eggs or mush (she 's probably only able to eat soft foods right now). And if you can find it, give her some Prednisone as well, as that really helps with the inflammation and swelling. You really don't want to be holding her head/neck to give her meds/vitamins as long as she's able take it in her soft food or water. And if she seems to be in pain, you can add 3-5 ml of baytril to her soft food. This can take a couple of weeks. Best of luck to the little momma.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Dorothy is slowly improving! She hasn't gotten her equilibrium back yet so she refuses to raise her head up while standing. She does a quick lift of her head to spot the food and then drops her head back down. Then she'll raise her head quickly to grab a bite of food and then drops it again. And then sometimes I'll see her sitting with her head up looking around. She'll catch me looking at her and drop her head back down again. The little sneak! I told her she better not be milking all the attention and pampering!

The ears are a difficult thing to diagnose a problem on. I'd say though! If they are holding their head to one side and one side only like Dorothy has been. I'd say it was an ear problem. Everytime I see one of my chickens dusting! I cringe! I'm always worried about something getting into their ears and of course their nostrils get full of dirt too. If you think in the future a chicken of yours is having an ear problem? I strongly suggest you take it to a VET so they can look inside their ears. If it's an inner ear problem? Then the wait is on!

TC

I use chlorsig antibiotic eye drops for any ear problems. I would still be giving her a B complex or some brewers yeast on her feed. Even a drop of polyvisol in her beak each day may help , certainly can't hurt. Muscle atrophy can show up in many different ways. The classic ' star gazing ' stance is when it's more severe.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Never heard of that, I'll have to go look at the ankles. I'm pretty sure a boy. Which means somebody has to go.
Thanks everyone for the comments I was hoping you all would say no way that's a girl! Lol

I wouldn't ' throw the baby out with the water ' just yet. The spikes in crest look more like pin feathers to me. Could still be a hen, and I'm usually 50% correct on these things.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I would give her Poly-Vi_Sol (liquid) on a bit of scrambled eggs or mush (she 's probably only able to eat soft foods right now). And if you can find it, give her some Prednisone as well, as that really helps with the inflammation and swelling.  You really don't want to be holding her head/neck to give her meds/vitamins as long as she's able take it in her soft food or water. And if she seems to be in pain, you can add 3-5 ml of baytril to her soft food.  This can take a couple of weeks.  Best of luck to the little momma. 

I agree with all but the baytril. If you intend eating eggs from this hen I would give it some serious thought.

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart/baytril-for-birds

 

[Fancychooklady]

what a glorious day.

Love a sun baking chook.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Photo overload! I am now wondering, if my white one is a girl. I've been thinking boy, but the comb isn't real big..looks big in the photos now that I posted them..I parted the feathers apart for the photos. And the top isn't that swept back. Three months old a couple of days ago. Still no crowing, but it's sibling started crowing at the age of a month! I know that's unusual. But happens. This little one could be either, I don't mind..I was kind of hoping for a boy, but, if I get a blue boy out of the younger ones..that would work..with my paints, and my splash. It looks wide, but no pink really. Poor baby hurt it's nose. :/ Side view of the head and tail LOL..stink eye! Poor nose. It is healing real well though. The sore nose doesn't show up as bad from afar. Thankfully. Hope when the scab comes off, it will look fine.

Looks rooish. But the swoosh hairdo is not foolproof .

 

[citygoincountry]

Hello all! I'm brand new to raising chickens. I got a white silkie from a breeder. I was told it was a hen, but I'm not 100%. I'm not as concerned at this point about the sex, but more so as to how unsocial she is with me. She runs and will fly if we try to pick her up. She won't even eat from my hand. We've had her since she was 2 weeks old. Any thoughts? Is this normal of an 8 week silkie chick?
These pictures were about 2 weeks ago I think.

Thanks!
Traci

 

[Sylvester017]

Maria hasn't layed an egg in many many months! Molly hasn't laid an egg in over two years! I don't know Molly's age either! They are more our pets than our needed egg layers. They haven't even been interested in setting either for over a year! So it would be a real feat to get Maria back into the REAL chicken thing again! LOL However Maria does take interest in the two roostes when they are out in a pen beside her.

I used to laugh at our LB chickens standing in line in their coop. Patiently waiting for their turn in the SO SPECIAL hole out of 10! There was one or two that wouldn't wait and would get in the hole with the other hen. She'd either get out or they'd both sit there together. The 2nd hen usually didn't take long to lay her egg. I guess that's why she wasn't able to wait!

The best thing I've found that all my hens have loved! Is a cardboard box filled with hay and a hole cut out of the front of it. I mean I look at it this way! We like our privacy in the bathroom so they probably like their privacy laying their eggs too!

TC

I keep a calendar tacked to our fridge and keep a quick record of vet visits, broody periods, egg laying by which hens, or other quick notes to jot down. I can flip through my fridge calendar to check on how long a hen's been broody and whether it's time to break her, or which hen started up laying again and how long since last laying cycle, what day we visited the vet - diagnosis - treatment/medications, etc. Just quick notes to help my 70-year-old brain remember. My alpha Silkie layed eggs for a solid year til age 18 months. She went broody then didn't lay again for over 7 months - I figured she needed the long vacation from so much laying by a little hen. Then she started laying prolifically again for a few months and went broody again. Another 6 month wait for her to start laying again. I never knew this kind of laying cycle could affect such relatively young chickens but then Silkies are an unusual breed anyway.

I expect broodiness from hens in the Spring, expect moulting to begin anywhere from September through January, and no eggs in the winter. Which is why we were so delighted to find our Ameraucana laying eggs since late fall and hasn't stopped yet. I'm expecting a moult from her any time now at which time I hope my broody Buff Leghorn will snap out of it to start laying again. She lost a lot of feathers for her first adult moult and we've been supplementing her diet and making sure she gets out of the box for eating/drinking/dust-baths/vitamins, etc.

The erratic egg-laying by all these girls has caused us to prepare for adding two new egg-layers next Spring that are not broody types - we're trying some lightweight and gentle Bredas. I like feeding pets that will give us back at least a little in return! It'll be interesting to see how they resolve the nextbox problem. Our Black Silkie asked my DH to let her in the house again to go lay her egg in he hospital pen and immediately went out again. She's got him wrapped around her little toe!

 

[SilkieMama512]

what a glorious day.

Oh my goodness! I love when they do this! Adorable picture

 

[SilkieMama512]

This is my little runt named Smidge, he is 3 wks old already, can any of you guess what color he may end up?? His dad is a Porcelain Silkie and his mom is a pure black Silkie. He's a creamier color than my grey/black chicks that I have(they will be Blue/grey as adults...

And this is a pic of my 3wk old Silkie Show girl just for funsies:}

So does anyone out there have any suggestions as to what color this little guy might turn out to be??