Silkie thread!

[TheRookie]

Cute, where did you get this little guy from?

Gavin of gavinandallison gave me some hatching eggs for my broody and she hatched out three silkies and 4 mixed breed layers. My other two baby Silkies are blues ( I think) and have great feathering too. One only has 9 toes but theyre still cute.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

So he wouldnt be a desireable showing bird?

The bit of black I can see in him is not a big issue, you want clearer buffs but some black 'smutt' in the wings and tail is common...It would be a few points off on his overall score for color, but not a huge deal...His comb is lighter than you'd want per say but again not uncommon for a buff...The picture you have is not good at all to determine anything else about him, so honestly I can't say how 'show worthy' he could possibly be...

I would try showing him, just for the experience, and to see how he competes against other birds. Honestly I think that is the absolutely best way to get a feel for how 'show worthy' a bird is, either just go yourself for fun, or enter him and see how he competes.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

One of my brand new babies

What color is he/she?

two days old and has amazing feathering on all 10 toes

most likely a lighter blue

 

[shanebroadbent]

Definitely a boy. Sorry.

Thanks all for your help. The rooster is going back tomorrow to be replaced. I would love to keep it, but that is not really an option unfortunately.

Regards,

Shane

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Gotta share on here too pictures I took over the weekend
Cinder-Fella (was named Cinderella in a hope it was a girl - no luck - LOL )


The one the only - Sherbert


Light 'blonde' Partridge pullet


Blue partridge cockerel


young Red pullet



Titus from Urban's Showboat Silkies

 

[Hawkeye95]

I'm hoping someone might have an idea of what is going on with my silkie pullet. She is loosing all of the feathers on her crest. No parasites that I can see. She recently moulted on her body, but now all the feathers to the front of her crest are gone. She isn't being picked on...She is the boss in my flock. Any ideas what is happening? And how long before they will grow back? We have a show in Sept.

I was going to suggest it was a rooster pulling on her crest while mating. But I read ahead and saw you have no roos.. Also, from the really blurry photo, I could see the problem is in the front of the crest and not in the back where that mainly happens. You can't show her in that condition. Well, I guess you could, and then it would still be an experience. I'm guessing parasites. It doesn't matter that you can see them on top of their head, they hang out near the vent, under the wings... and lay eggs in those areas. I would be dusting her with Sevin and rechecking her vent area every few days. How is she feeling? If she has a worm load, she might be slower or eating less, too. Might be a good time to worm her.

From what I have read on another site it appears that only one or two chickens in a pen can be affected while the others are fine. Folks are wondering if mites/lice will be attracted to some birds and not others. Kind of like when my hubby gets a lot of mosquito bites when I get none. I have recently developed my own "paranoia" about these pests from a negative experience.

This is absolutely TRUE. I've noticed that I have a couple of birds that get mites and the others don't. If I were just checking mite free birds, I'd assume wrongly that no one had mites when in fact, those two birds could be over whelmed if I wasn't checking or dusting everyone.

Okay snapped a few pics. Sorry they are blurry....I tried to take a few more but my battery died. This is the pullet who is losing her crest feathers. Normal? or something to worry about?



Camera is charging, so I should be able to get better pics later. I can see the follicles (not sure if that is the right word) where the feathers used to be. She looks like a hot mess.

Other than those suggestions... could she be starting to molt? Is she missing feathers anywhere else? Tails and backs are often where mine molt first.

Thanks for putting me at ease, Hawkeye - I've just never had such little babies, one of the EE's died w/o pipping after chirping all day, then I got on here and was seeing all sorts of "omg, my silkie chicks are dying!!!!!" posts and it kind of freaked me out. I swear the little boogers are nearly twice as big today as they were Thursday when they hatched! I've got to set up a photo shoot soon Hatching in summer is soooo much easier than February-March, just glad they didn't try during the 100's weeks!

No problem. Silkies have hatched and raised numerous types of birds-- from ducks to LF to guineas. Silkies often make good mamas and chicks do really well with them. I agree about not hatching in the heat. I turn off my incubator and give it up in the summer. We hit highs of up to 118, and no way do I want to care for chicks during that time. I do all my hatching late winter, and early Spring.

One of my brand new babies

What color is he/she?

two days old and has amazing feathering on all 10 toes

Blue or splash... and WOW that foot feathering is amazing!!!!!!!!!!

I would try showing him, just for the experience, and to see how he competes against other birds. Honestly I think that is the absolutely best way to get a feel for how 'show worthy' a bird is, either just go yourself for fun, or enter him and see how he competes.

X2-- the experience alone is worth taking a less than show worthy bird just to be able to figure out what happens, and what you need to start looking for.

Gotta share on here too pictures I took over the weekend
Cinder-Fella (was named Cinderella in a hope it was a girl - no luck - LOL )


The one the only - Sherbert


Light 'blonde' Partridge pullet





Titus from Urban's Showboat Silkies

Love your showgirl! He's beautiful! Wow, that blonde coming out in that pullet is amazing!! And I really like your rooster here.

 

[4hchickmama]

I was going to suggest it was a rooster pulling on her crest while mating. But I read ahead and saw you have no roos.. Also, from the really blurry photo, I could see the problem is in the front of the crest and not in the back where that mainly happens. You can't show her in that condition. Well, I guess you could, and then it would still be an experience. I'm guessing parasites. It doesn't matter that you can see them on top of their head, they hang out near the vent, under the wings... and lay eggs in those areas. I would be dusting her with Sevin and rechecking her vent area every few days. How is she feeling? If she has a worm load, she might be slower or eating less, too. Might be a good time to worm her.


Other than those suggestions... could she be starting to molt? Is she missing feathers anywhere else? Tails and backs are often where mine molt first.

I bathed her yesterday because she decided to get IN to a watermelon and was covered in sticky mess. When I bathed I noticed it was under her chin as well that she is missing feathers. I'm going to go ahead and dust her for bugs just to be on the safe side. She is my daughter's showmanship bird soooo I guess it doesn't matter horribly. I mean she is entered in exhibition, but...yeah. I will just hope something grows back by then.

She is acting fine. Laying normally, acting normally. She moulted badly about a month ago, and I thought that was it. Shes still pretty young, about 8 months. Do you think maybe she is just having an odd, delayed moult? -sigh- silly bird. I'm going to try again with the camera. I snapped 2 quickly before the battery died. Sorry about the blurriness.

 

[peepblessed]

So he wouldnt be a desireable showing bird?

I'm sorry, no....

 

[cindersga]

It is always fun to see what people name their chickens isn't it? So, we thought you might like to see why this chicken received the name she got.



MEET MRS. VANDERBILT

 

[cindersga]

Wanting to know if this Silkie looks like it will be a Roo. Bigger than all the rest of the chicks that are the same age.