Silkie thread!

[spazy67]

My heart is broken, I never wanted chickens they were my husbands idea/hobby and I thought he was nuts. 2 years ago we got our first 5 girls (red/black sexlink & barred rock) it's fun watching them grow and develop their own personalities. A year later we got 4 silkie chicks 3 of which ended up being roosters we couldn't keep due to living within city limits. We did everything we knew to make her apart of the flock they just never accepted her. So when we got our next to hens (buff & Americana) we put them together hoping they would become their own group. Well they were fine then we started noticing the older they got the more they started picking on our silkie as well. She learned to stay out of their way. She was broody most the time and they would get beside her in the nesting box and lay eggs she slept next to them. We never expected to find her dead today. My heart is in pieces she loved us and we let her down. It makes angry at the other girls. I never imagined I'd be so hurt over losing a chicken but she was such a sweetheart.I was thinking about bringing her inside crazy enough..

My vet always ends our visits with a reminder to use vitamins for the chickens.  I feed Rooster Booster, Multi-Worm Booster, and Poly-Vi-Sol no iron liquid vitamins to our chickens.  I also have liquid vitamin E oil refrigerated and E capsules on hand if I momentarily run out of Poly-Vi-Sol.  I also sprinkle a very tiny bit of Selenium powder into their organic cooked brown rice along with added Brewer's Yeast and Bee Pollen.  Some of it goes to waste but I'd rather it be available then not offered at all.  Extra vitamins may or may not be your Silkie's haunches problem since that could be a symptom of any number of maladies -- but vitamins should always be prudently supplemented in any chicken's diet.

How often do you give vitamins I just have two that run the back yard and eat shiebird food when they want I give oyster shell and scratch

 

[LittleWhiteDove]

This rooster was born in april. No wattles visible dose this mean he is bearded?

 

[Deebee123]

My 5 month old black silkie cockerel is changing colors! He has been sold black until this point. Is he partridge?

 

[Sylvester017]

How often do you give vitamins I just have two that run the back yard and eat shiebird food when they want I give oyster shell and scratch

I give Rooster Booster vitamins almost every day very sparsely mixed in a cup of cooked brown rice (no white rice because it lacks the nutrition that brown has), and add a very bare sprinkle of Brewer's Yeast powder and even less Selenium powder, and add a little Bee Pollen and mix altogether (for 4 chickens). This is in addition to some Turkey grower/game feed, organic Scratch & Peck layer feed, and some layer pellets so the hens can choose the nutrition they crave on any given day. Sometimes we throw a handful of mixed wild bird seed (no corn/no soy) on the ground for fun scratching, sometimes 3-grain scratch, sometimes sunflower seeds. I have calcium carbonate powder mixed with at-will oyster shell for layer hens. 2 or 3x/week I offer a drop of Poly-Vi-Sol no iron in my palm or on a plastic spoon and the Silkies love it -- I think it's the vitamin E in the liquid that appeals to them. Not all chickens go for the Poly-Vi-Sol so for them I put a drop on the side of their beak so they have to lick off the annoying drop with their tongue. For the first full week of every month in the brown rice I use Multi-Wormer Rooster Booster in lieu of the regular Rooster Booster vitamin crystals. We also supply some type of produce daily -- cantaloupe, cuke, spinach or chard cut-up in tiny bits, grapes, tomato, raisins, banana, peas, corn, etc -- just no citrus, avocado, or brassica family (cauliflower, broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, cabbages) since it plays slight havoc on thyroid in humans and chickens although some people feed it to their flock -- I choose not to. But we can't beat ourselves up if we still lose a chicken to illness or unknown circumstances even with all our efforts to keep them nutritionally fortified. Some losses are beyond our control.

 

[Sylvester017]

My 5 month old black silkie cockerel is changing colors! He has been sold black until this point. Is he partridge?

Is he in the sun a lot? My hen molts and has beautiful, almost shiny, black feathers but as the hot summer sun blazes she starts turning rusty/reddish from fading in the sun -- her next molt she grows in her new black feathers again. Brown dust baths don't help keeping the feathers pristine black either. She gets dirty with cobwebs and straw in her "hair" but stays black most of the time until we start having hot brutal summers again.







Damaged faded black "fur" turns rusty in the sun. She looks like a totally different Silkie from photos above. It's probably the reason show breeders keep their birds indoors or out of direct sunlight before attending poultry shows.

 

[Sylvester017]

This rooster was born in april. No wattles visible dose this mean he is bearded?

No wattles - bearded. Wattles - nonbearded.

 

[Justjered]

I think this one is a pullet. Thoughts?

13-14 week blue silkie

And think this might be a roo? Less interest in being held and starts most of the "in the boss" flapping around. Also think I see more of a Mohawk than a poor on its head.

 

[moomoodiddy]

Oh man... it just got real in here!

Don't be cocky

 

[Deebee123]

Is he in the sun a lot? My hen molts and has beautiful, almost shiny, black feathers but as the hot summer sun blazes she starts turning rusty/reddish from fading in the sun -- her next molt she grows in her new black feathers again. Brown dust baths don't help keeping the feathers pristine black either. She gets dirty with cobwebs and straw in her "hair" but stays black most of the time until we start having hot brutal summers again.







Damaged faded black "fur" turns rusty in the sun. She looks like a totally different Silkie from photos above. It's probably the reason show breeders keep their birds indoors or out of direct sunlight before attending poultry shows.

Yes he has been out in the sun more lately. I added an extension to his run a few days ago and it does not have roofing so maybe that's it! Thank you

 

[Fancychooklady]

She is much better this morning after a day of pushed poultry drench. She was able to walk on her feet but didn't stand still on them. Once she would stop walking she then dropped back to her haunches. Today she stood on her feet for quite a while until i bumped her and she was then unsteady. When i brought her in yesterday her crop was empty and she was almost lethargic. I had changed where her food was located in the brooder so I'm wondering if she wasn't really able to see but knew where the food had been located by memory. I noticed the other day she didn't see my hand come towards her to pet her until I touched her.

Anyways, she is much better today so I think I will wait and see about trimming her crest back any further. Some have said that it is frequent that they need to give their silkies some extra vitamins so maybe this is the case with her.

Thanks!1.

Yes it is suspected that silkies in particular don't absorb vitamin E very well, which is why a diet high in corn isn't recommended.I give mine a multi vitamin liquid every Friday in their cooked rice and mackerel treat. Being vision impaired certainly can have an impact on their ability to seek water and feed. Dehydration can also be detrimental to their health. If you aren't sure as to trimming the crest and it's benefits try using a small rubber band to keep it up for a while and see if that has any change on her demeanour.