Silkie thread!

[countrygirl911]

hi i have a 3 week old silkie that is acting funny i have seperated it from the others it keeps its head tilted and looks to be trying to sleep every once in a while its head will be straight but it tilts it almost all the time and the poo is runny what could be wrong with it

 

[PamB]

oh no! poor baby! I'm not sure what could be wrong. Did you also post on the illnesses thread? I hope someone can help you figure it out!

Quote:

 

[Floridachicken1958]

Quote:
That would be considered crooked kneck

 

[shay20]

Quote:
too cute

 

[countrygirl911]

Quote:
That would be considered crooked kneck

wha do i do for it

 

[Debbienmousey]

Quote:
That would be considered crooked kneck

wha do i do for it

You will need to give it some vitamin E every day. I had the same thing happen to a baby of mine this year. I just cut the tip off of a vitamin E capsule (which had Selenium added, that's a good thing) and used a syringe to feed it to the baby. I also gave her 2-4 drops of Poly-vi-sol every day. Within 2 weeks she was fully better and she's now living a perfectly normal life. You could never tell she was sick. You may need to try and feed it it's dinner and/or give it water/help it drink, depending on how severe the crook neck is. After a couple days of treatment you should see improvement. If the treatment doesn't work then you may need to try getting a prescription of prednisone from your vet, in case there's swelling in it's head. Hope your baby gets better soon!

 

[fledgling]

We just got a Silkie locally. She was $10 so I'm sure she's not show quality, but our laying hens have let us down on in regards to setting on their own eggs so I am hoping she'll help us come springtime. She is the first Silkie we've had but we've had a variety of standard chickens over the last several years (some are raised for meat in one area but we also have a small, very spoiled, layer flock in our laying hen suite). She's only 6 months old and not laying yet. I don't like the idea of putting her in with my year old standard hens and roo so we have a little coop just for her.

I brought her inside to look her over carefully and I noticed poo balls stuck to her feathered feet pretty badly. I cut them off and noticed her fifth toe on each foot. One of these extra toes had a nail pointing up and one has no nail at all. Is this a common fault with Silkies? Does it cause them any trouble down the road? Also, her feet are a bit gnarled looking. I trimmed a few long nails and the minor feathers that had poo stuck to them. They weren't using any bedding at the farm I bought her from, are shavings okay? I use a nice bed a of clean pine shavings in my coop and change it weekly.

I tried her in a yard yesterday but she didn't move around much so I'm afraid she might be hawk bait if I keep her like my layers. The mini chicken coop my husband built should do nicely for her, but it seems she'll need her own yard with a top to stay safe during the day. Our intention is to swap in some fertilized eggs under her once she starts laying herself. I moved her to a large homemade brooder right now until I set up her private palace. I really intend to have fun with her private yard. I'm getting a small cement pagoda and a Japanese wind chime to decorate it. Might dress up her coop a little to make it look more Japanese as well.

Onto pictures! These were taken after I cut her poo balls off.

She was very docile to handle but I'm glad to say she protested when I placed her on her back to do her feet.

She didn't try to run when our son pet her.

Can she see with all that fluff?

 

[Magic Birdie]

Quote:
She's so cute!!!

 

[muddyhorse]

Quote:
She's so cute!!!

if she has trouble seeing you can trim her crest and carefully trim the beard. they are supposed to have five toes on each foot. she would be hawk food in an uncovered pen. pine shavings are fine just make sure she doesn't try to eat them. you can try getting her to go broody at any time, just give her 3 eggs and see if she takes to them. I have had plenty go broody before they lay. she may not lay untill 9 months. check her very carefully for mites they are tiny and silkies are really prone to them. each of mine get a squirt of addams flea and tick each month
she is cute

 

[mshuey1]

Hi yall just wanted to show off my babies that hatch from PamB. Thank you PamB

I love my little fluffies!

2 days old

Can anyone tell me what colors they r?