Silkie thread!

[cade hall]

Ok thanks

 

[Sylvester017]

I know, they act just like al other chickens. Dust baths, scratching, preening, etc. we've only bathed ours once and they loved it. Reminded me of myself in a hot tub lol.

My wife loves doing their "hair." Im sure they produce an oil that coats their fluff and this helps propel dirt and grime.

Whenever we do health maintenance checks on the Silkies we massage vitamin E oil into their legs, leg feathers, toes, toenails, toe feathers, walnut comb, beak, and skin on the face. The vet said it's OK if the feathers get the vit E around the face or toe feathers - he said the oil is a good mite deterrent on the leg/toe scales and the vit E at the same time is very beneficial to the skin, nails, beak. We wipe off the excess oil and put the Silkies to roost. That way the vit E absorbs overnight and by morning there is no oily residue on either skin or leg/toe feathers the way petroleum jelly leaves a residue for dirt to stick to the feathers. We haven't used vaseline in years since the vet recommended either vit E or vit A oil for our chickens. We made the mistake of using vaseline on a Leghorn's comb during a freezing spell and the next morning she went to take a dust bath and the dirt stuck to the vaseline on her white feathers and stained her so badly it wasn't until next molt that she had white feathers again! When we had a Silkie indoors recuperating from her CRD we gave her the vit E treatment and patted off the excess. We let her walk around the kitchen and noticed she rubbed the vit E from her toe feathers and then rubbed the oil gland at the base of her tail several times and preened all her other feathers w/ the vit E oil. I had to keep her from licking the oil while massaging it into her! Safer, neater, and healthier to use vitamin oils on chickens than yucky petroleum jelly. We also found that all the breeds of chickens we've had don't mind tush/vent shampoos or the warm blow drying that follows.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Can someone tell me the difference between paint and splash silkies.

With paint , the pigment or colour patches go all the way down the shaft to the skin. Splash , on the other hand is only towards the top of the feather , as if they were ' splashed ' with paint.

 

[cade hall]

Ok cool

 

[Little Fuzzy]

I love my white Silkie, 5months old, but she can't keep up with the herd, acts like she can't see, so I was wondering about trimming her Frow? Do you just cut it on the sides? Also I would like to get her a companion. A black Silkie, do you think she would just accept a new chick as her own? She is not laying yet.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Unless she is not broody I don't think she will except it as her own she might kill it so I would look into maybe just waiting until she starts laying and goes broody and see if she will hatch a few eggs

 

[Little Fuzzy]

OK thanks, I think I'll just wait till summer and raise a chick up for her.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I wouldn't recommend one as I could be really hard to introduce one at least two is easier than one as it gives them each less stress than having them all after the new one so you should always have at least two to introduce

 

[Little Fuzzy]

WoW! If you put a fertilized egg under a broody Silkie and she hatches it , will she protect it from the rest of my hens?

 

[Fancychooklady]

I love my white Silkie, 5months old, but she can't keep up with the herd, acts like she can't see, so I was wondering about trimming her Frow? Do you just cut it on the sides? Also I would like to get her a companion. A black Silkie, do you think she would just accept a new chick as her own? She is not laying yet.

You can either use a smal hair band to keep the eyes clear or trim. If you decide to trim, only cut the longer feathers on top and try not to get too close to eye itself. If you cut the feathers closest to the eye you always run the risk of them growing back in the wrong direction and into the eye.
They generally won't take on a chick unless they have been broody and you can manage to trick them into believing that they hatched it. There are exceptions to the rule , I have a little one eyed hen that is always happy to foster chicks. But you wouldn't even attempt it unless you had a brooder with lamp set up as an alternative.