Silkie thread!

[RubyNala97]

At hatch I cull right away for 6th toes, 4 toers, if I can see single combs starting, skin color, double nails, feathering to mid toe, splay legged ones, etc. At about 4-6 months I cull for color, bumpy combs, wings, etc. On colors I have pretty well started in, I cull hard for everything and only hold back the best. In project colors, you have to be a lil more lenient til you build up your breeding stock. In cockerels, I keep best 1-2 of each variety back for breeding, 1-2 more for showing and sell rest of good ones to other breeders. Culls go to pet homes if they can and rest go to Asian friends for their dinner.

Thank you for the details! I appreciate it. It takes so much time with silkies! All the ones I hatched to start with in spring are 4-5 months old and really just starting to develop into their male vs female figures and combs are just becoming apparent. It's a long journey with silkies!

 

[chicken hawk 33]

The cage is open and they steel won't come out to free range

 

[chicken hawk 33]

 

[QueenMisha]

I don't mean to interrupt this thread, but I have a strange problem with my silkies, and I posted somewhere else but didn't get much of a response...looking to see if anyone else has had an issue like this.

I have a year old silkie who has had foamy eyes over the past few months off and on. Each time I see it, I get scared it's something contagious and I run her into our garage to separate her from the flock. Only to find that it clears up and goes away in a few hours. This has happened at least 3 times! My husband noticed that she has a weird habit of sticking her whole beak in the dirt (and sometimes even water), and she might be getting her nostrils clogged with debris, then she can't breathe well and her eyes start to foam. It also seems like her nostrils are smaller and more narrow than my other chickens are.

After it rained here recently this happened again, and it was so bad both eyes were foaming and she started breathing heavy when she got scared, causing them to foam more. So.. Here we go back into the garage for some vet rx and TLC. We were thinking it wasn't contagious, due to the fact that this was only occasionally, and there has NEVER been any nasal discharge or sneezing, activity level is good, but now I just saw my silkie Roo with a foamy eye. Now what? He looked like he had dirt in his nostril too, but I don't know. I have my hen still in the garage on Tylan 50, just to be sure, and because I think it's possible she got so much junk in her respiratory system, that she may have an infection. But now she has had clear eyes since last night.

Do I treat them all with Tylan? I read it's not good for laying hens though. I'm so lost right now I don't know what to do. Has anyone else had nostril and/or eye problems with their silkies. Any advice is hugely appreciated right now.... Please and thanks!!!

~Sara

I would say that without any incidence of respiratory symptoms, it's probably a simple eye infection. Silkies can be prone to them due to the feathers hanging into their eyes. I have one cockerel who has had a chronic eye infection for about 2 years now. Antibiotic ointment designed for use in the eye has helped but it comes back consistently. I eventually gave up, as it has minimal impact on his vision, and it doesn't seem to be hurting him, and frankly, also because he's a terrible, horrible, awful bird who is very lucky my mother likes him, or he would have been stew long ago.

It's a bit of an odd coincidence to have two experiencing the issue at the same time, but if it was contagious, I would have expected it to spread a lot further and faster. And as someone who has seen a lot of respiratory disease issues in the past, I will say that most often bubbly eyes shows up in conjunction with runny noses, and only one or two birds have shown just a few bubbles and nothing else.

 

[chicken hawk 33]

How come mine have five toes

 

[chicken pickin]

How come mine have five toes

All Silkies are supposed to have 5 toes. It is a breed characteristic.

 

[Fancychooklady]

How come mine have five toes

Silkies are supposed to have 5 toes. Occasionally they will hatch with 4 or even 6 and this is considered a DQ ( disqualification) in the show ring.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I don't mean to interrupt this thread, but I have a strange problem with my silkies, and I posted somewhere else but didn't get much of a response...looking to see if anyone else has had an issue like this.

I have a year old silkie who has had foamy eyes over the past few months off and on. Each time I see it, I get scared it's something contagious and I run her into our garage to separate her from the flock. Only to find that it clears up and goes away in a few hours. This has happened at least 3 times! My husband noticed that she has a weird habit of sticking her whole beak in the dirt (and sometimes even water), and she might be getting her nostrils clogged with debris, then she can't breathe well and her eyes start to foam. It also seems like her nostrils are smaller and more narrow than my other chickens are.

After it rained here recently this happened again, and it was so bad both eyes were foaming and she started breathing heavy when she got scared, causing them to foam more. So.. Here we go back into the garage for some vet rx and TLC. We were thinking it wasn't contagious, due to the fact that this was only occasionally, and there has NEVER been any nasal discharge or sneezing, activity level is good, but now I just saw my silkie Roo with a foamy eye. Now what? He looked like he had dirt in his nostril too, but I don't know. I have my hen still in the garage on Tylan 50, just to be sure, and because I think it's possible she got so much junk in her respiratory system, that she may have an infection. But now she has had clear eyes since last night.

Do I treat them all with Tylan? I read it's not good for laying hens though. I'm so lost right now I don't know what to do. Has anyone else had nostril and/or eye problems with their silkies. Any advice is hugely appreciated right now.... Please and thanks!!!

~Sara

Sounds like one of the upper respiratory diseases. Mycoplasma or MG can present with these symptoms and will reoccur when the bird is under stress., so separating her from the others will only stress her more.Treating with antibiotics will ease the symptoms but the birds remain carriers. Removing the bird from the flock won't stop the others from contracting it as you will be carrying it on your clothes and shoes. Biosecurity when bringing new birds to your flock is the best way to prevent this disease. The best advice I can give is, treat the birds that are systematic and operate a closed a flock, no birds in and no birds out.

 

[Fancychooklady]

At hatch I cull right away for 6th toes, 4 toers, if I can see single combs starting, skin color, double nails, feathering to mid toe, splay legged ones, etc. At about 4-6 months I cull for color, bumpy combs, wings, etc. On colors I have pretty well started in, I cull hard for everything and only hold back the best. In project colors, you have to be a lil more lenient til you build up your breeding stock. In cockerels, I keep best 1-2 of each variety back for breeding, 1-2 more for showing and sell rest of good ones to other breeders. Culls go to pet homes if they can and rest go to Asian friends for their dinner.

I'm assuming you meant ' those without ' feathering to middle toe.

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Standard.html

 

[Alex1010]

Nic

Sally doing silkies!!! so excited!!!
I hatched paint eggs in early October. Only 2 chicks are paints. The others were silver or black with the silver gene. I'm really hoping for a girl and boy too. Plus I am getting some hens this month from Judy Lee! I'd love to see pics as yours grow out! Here's my two:

Not as many spots as I'd like but their type is good and pigment is dark!
I'm trying to start a breeding program for this spring with paint silkies. Can you be more specific when you say that you cull at hatch for obvious dq's? What are obvious dq's? Like toes and skin color? I'm just learning and I'd like to get serious, so any info appreciated. And any suggestions for what to do with extra cockerels?

e nice looking paints