5 should be fine. I've had a single silkie hen sit 5 large fowl eggs with all five hatching, and 4 turkey eggs with all 4 hatching, so she should be fine with 5 silkie-sized eggs!
Silkie thread!
- Thread starter americana-chick
- Start date
I give my Silkies 5-12 bantam eggs depending on how big they are. Some of my hens are very petite, others, not so much. 5 bantam eggs should be easily covered by your hen.
- Mar 3, 2012
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Thank You. I hope she does good, she seems a little scattered brained with the eggs. Fingers crossed she hatches babies and is a wonderful mama.
From the very beginning of having Silkies ours always went into our very roomy nestboxes to sleep for the night (each box dimensions are 16x16 inches by 2 feet tall). The roosting pole that came with the coop is only 2x2 inches by 4 feet long and they will use it during the day. But at night every chicken - Silkie or other breeds - have always picked a nestbox to sleep in for the night. At the bottom of the coop there are 4 open-wire walls so none of our hens have ever piled up on the floor - too breezy with open wire walls. I figure with open wire walls in the coop they feel more secure inside the nestboxes to sleep. On summer nights the chickens each pick a box, but during the winter/cold weather sometimes all of them will pile up into one nestbox for warmth. Hey, it works for them so who am I to change it? Next year I hope to get a chickencondos.com coop/pen combo to give them a more enclosed sleeping area. Outdoors I have a couple large doghouses and when they aren't foraging they'll be hanging out all safe and secure inside the houses and usually all together. Our visiting Cooper's Hawk has taught our free-range hens to have several hiding/snoozing places during the day.
The "conversation" to observe each night seems to be a normal thing among chickens. Ours coo and mutter for 15 or 20 minutes to each other before settling themselves down for the night. During the day when they see us they come running to talk to us "Did you bring us a treat?"
I posted this on "a good cure for crd?" BYC thread but decided to post on this Silkie thread also in case any of this is helpful to other Silkie owners.
I've taken my Silkie to our vet in Oct 2013 and Dec 2014 for CRD (Mycoplasma infection) which caused very labored breathing/wheezing and sometimes a little cough but ours didn't have runny nose or watery eyes. Last year one Baytril injection and 10 days followup with Tylan mixed in her drinking water fixed her quickly. This year she came down with it during the cold weather and she needed 3 days of injections along with a stronger solution of Tylan. We have to keep her warm indoors to recover. Meanwhile the vet suggested Tylan water for the hens outdoors that showed no symptoms.
This is the 2nd year for my CRD-prone Silkie. You never "cure" Mycoplasma infections and the hen will be a carrier of the disease that will flare up again during a time of stress. My 2 other hens have never showed symptoms and must have good immunity from it but we put Tylan in their water just to be sure during the stressful weather. Vet recommended chicken vitamin supplement but I told him we have a health maintenance during stress (molting, broodiness, hot/cold weather changes, prolific laying cycles, etc) of giving each hen ONE drop of children's no-iron Poly-Vi-Sol liquid vitamin on the side of each hen's beak 2x a week. We like giving a measured dose that the hen licks off her beak since vitamins in drinking water don't ensure that each hen is getting an adequate vitamin intake. My CRD Silkie actually loves the taste of Poly-Vi-Sol and will lap up the drop out of the palm of my hand. Refrigerate the opened bottle to keep it fresh. The vet is okay with the measured use of the no-iron Poly-Vi-Sol as long as it is not over-dosed - human vitamins can be too potent for chickens' internal organs - liver, pancreas, etc.
Our CRD Silkie has a more difficult time each incident she comes down with it. Last year she healed up nicely and fast. This year her voice sounds raspier and we have to make sure she gets a stronger dose of follup Tylan. Thank goodness her appetite is good since at the first sign of CRD the ailing trachea/esophagus can kill appetite. However if we pick her up in the "show judge hold" her full crop will press on her chest and she has stress breathing so we limit holding her unless absolutely necessary. She's had a Baytril shot 3 days in a row this weekend and we have yet another followup visit with the vet on Monday to check on her esophagus/trachea since her voice is still a bit raspy. He says each time a bird comes down with CRD it damages the air sacks. With birds like broilers (Cornish X) the disease spreads quickly throughout their digestive tract/intestines to where there is severe diarrhea and usually ultimate death. We immediately take our Silkie to the vet since she is delicate so we've never had a diarrhea issue but the first symptoms of CRD will diminish appetite so it's critical to get the bird immediate help. Unfortunately the Baytril and Tylan cause watery stools so feeding cooked rice is good for firming up the poops a bit.
We love our little Silkie who is 3 years old now but we have come to the decision that after she recovers we will monitor her closely for her next symptoms and put her down rather than go through another round of treatments. The disease only does more successive damage and we don't want to put her through another episode after this one. If she recovers nicely from this episode we will keep her freely indoors in a diaper until the weather gets better so we can put her back in the flock. Currently she is progressing nicely but not as quickly as last year. The vet is hopeful and encouraging because she is so spry, eating well, and has good stools in spite of all the antibiotic treatments she is getting. She is the sweetest, friendliest, outgoing of all our girls. I do not look forward to her next year because it will mean putting her down if she gets ill again (which is highly probable with Mycoplasma).
I've taken my Silkie to our vet in Oct 2013 and Dec 2014 for CRD (Mycoplasma infection) which caused very labored breathing/wheezing and sometimes a little cough but ours didn't have runny nose or watery eyes. Last year one Baytril injection and 10 days followup with Tylan mixed in her drinking water fixed her quickly. This year she came down with it during the cold weather and she needed 3 days of injections along with a stronger solution of Tylan. We have to keep her warm indoors to recover. Meanwhile the vet suggested Tylan water for the hens outdoors that showed no symptoms.
This is the 2nd year for my CRD-prone Silkie. You never "cure" Mycoplasma infections and the hen will be a carrier of the disease that will flare up again during a time of stress. My 2 other hens have never showed symptoms and must have good immunity from it but we put Tylan in their water just to be sure during the stressful weather. Vet recommended chicken vitamin supplement but I told him we have a health maintenance during stress (molting, broodiness, hot/cold weather changes, prolific laying cycles, etc) of giving each hen ONE drop of children's no-iron Poly-Vi-Sol liquid vitamin on the side of each hen's beak 2x a week. We like giving a measured dose that the hen licks off her beak since vitamins in drinking water don't ensure that each hen is getting an adequate vitamin intake. My CRD Silkie actually loves the taste of Poly-Vi-Sol and will lap up the drop out of the palm of my hand. Refrigerate the opened bottle to keep it fresh. The vet is okay with the measured use of the no-iron Poly-Vi-Sol as long as it is not over-dosed - human vitamins can be too potent for chickens' internal organs - liver, pancreas, etc.
Our CRD Silkie has a more difficult time each incident she comes down with it. Last year she healed up nicely and fast. This year her voice sounds raspier and we have to make sure she gets a stronger dose of follup Tylan. Thank goodness her appetite is good since at the first sign of CRD the ailing trachea/esophagus can kill appetite. However if we pick her up in the "show judge hold" her full crop will press on her chest and she has stress breathing so we limit holding her unless absolutely necessary. She's had a Baytril shot 3 days in a row this weekend and we have yet another followup visit with the vet on Monday to check on her esophagus/trachea since her voice is still a bit raspy. He says each time a bird comes down with CRD it damages the air sacks. With birds like broilers (Cornish X) the disease spreads quickly throughout their digestive tract/intestines to where there is severe diarrhea and usually ultimate death. We immediately take our Silkie to the vet since she is delicate so we've never had a diarrhea issue but the first symptoms of CRD will diminish appetite so it's critical to get the bird immediate help. Unfortunately the Baytril and Tylan cause watery stools so feeding cooked rice is good for firming up the poops a bit.
We love our little Silkie who is 3 years old now but we have come to the decision that after she recovers we will monitor her closely for her next symptoms and put her down rather than go through another round of treatments. The disease only does more successive damage and we don't want to put her through another episode after this one. If she recovers nicely from this episode we will keep her freely indoors in a diaper until the weather gets better so we can put her back in the flock. Currently she is progressing nicely but not as quickly as last year. The vet is hopeful and encouraging because she is so spry, eating well, and has good stools in spite of all the antibiotic treatments she is getting. She is the sweetest, friendliest, outgoing of all our girls. I do not look forward to her next year because it will mean putting her down if she gets ill again (which is highly probable with Mycoplasma).
Hi peeps. Just wanted to share some picts of my new chicks. Silkie and Sizzle. I had some really nice ones on this last hatch.
Have you considered Denaguard? A once a month dose keeps them from getting sick and no résistance.
Adorable!Hi peeps. Just wanted to share some picts of my new chicks. Silkie and Sizzle. I had some really nice ones on this last hatch.
CRD is chronic and not cureable. Will Denaguard really ensure resistance to manifesting symptoms? I mean even with a vitamin regimen our little girl seems to come down with CRD every winter. Have you used Denaguard successfully for preventing recurring episodes of CRD in your flock? I am willing to try anything and everything to keep her healthy but each year's attack is worse than the previous episode and vet says damage occurs each time. The Denaguard is worth a try. Is it by vet prescription or available OTC and do you recommend it for the entire flock whether they show symptoms or not?
Thank you for your help.
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