Silkie thread!

[Suzierd]

Got our first egg today!!!!!  Yay!!  Also got some pics of the babies. 

They're so adorable!

 

[Adoravachick]

They're so adorable!

Thanks! We are very pleased with them. One of my roos took a few feathers out of the baby on the left

She looked perfect up until then.

 

[LaPetiteFarmer]

Thank you, I really appreciate your replies. Today, we just finished our main coop for the big girls and I copied the design with the pdz.
As for the silkie's coop I am undecided because I keep reading they don't roost and they lay eggs on the ground. I would like to make my job easier when it comes to clean, that is why i would love a pooping board, but if they won't use it

 

[dwegg]

Paulette's....I have a little three step roost in mine and some of them do use it...the first run is on the ground...the next about 2 inches off...and the next is another 2 inches from that...it is a slopping kind of steps...I used old fence boards so they are quite wide and they can easily sit their whole little bodies on them...

I also have a barred rock hen that grew up with them in there so she of course sits on the top so maybe that's why some of the silkies follow her and do the same....

But most of them sleep in the corner in a pile....love those little buggers!

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

When two of my chicks had Wry Neck they said it was caused by a vitamin deficiency. I gave them poly-vi-sol, Selinium, and E in their food and they got over it. Would the same vitamins help her chick?

no not at all, wry neck is completely different than wry tail. Wry tail is a deformity of the skeleton like scoliosis in humans.

 

[dwegg]

Oh...pooping board....well I don't have one and I have a hard time keeping it clean in there...didn't really think about that when I built the little coop for them in the corner of my fence only 4 foot high...I keep sand in my LF coop and it is sooooo easy to keep clean....but since the silkies sleep on the floor I figured sand would be too cold so I uses sort of deep litter method...a deep base of shavings mixed with DE...fluff shavings every week, sprinkle moreDE and then clean out entirely every month with new shavings...

Not the best or easiest method...I wish I could rebuild my silkie coop

 

[dwegg]

[COLOR=800000]no not at all, wry neck is completely different than wry tail. Wry tail is a deformity of the skeleton like scoliosis in humans. [/COLOR]

Hey ScareofShadows....is crossed beak a genetic deformity and starts in the skull or does it have to do with incubation problems???? I have heard both....if it is genetic then that bird should not be breed .... I have a cockerel and hen both with cross beak... I trim them almost weekly and they a doing fine and almost 6 mths but both are smaller than their coop mates...

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Hey ScareofShadows....is crossed beak a genetic deformity and starts in the skull or does it have to do with incubation problems???? I have heard both....if it is genetic then that bird should not be breed .... I have a cockerel and hen both with cross beak... I trim them almost weekly and they a doing fine and almost 6 mths but both are smaller than their coop mates...

there is a big debate on this. There is evidence of both I believe. I would not breed crossbeaks/scissor beaks, I never have...I believe the beaks that are more turned (both tips of the beak line up but are squished to the same side, I think this is more incubation caused, but actual crossbeak where the beak is misaligned and the skull is affected, this I believe can be hereditary PERSONALLY - but thats just me)

Also the failure to thrive and inability to grow to an optimal size (them being stunted compared to hatchmates) is because they can not care for themselves and eat as well as the others, it takes crossbeaks more time to consume feed, and thus they typically do not consume as much feed as the others. depending on the severity of the crossbeak it becomes a question of how bad is it when they are young, and where in the skull its affected, just the lining up or ends of the beak itself or if its the jaw into the skull itself. The jaw deformities are the worst, and get worse as the birds age, as long as the birds skull grows the deformity will get more severe, so by the time they are 8 months old or so, you will know just how bad it will be. Just be prepared that special considerations have to be taken with these birds their entire lives, and if you keep them in a group setting make sure those birds aren't at the bottom of the pecking order of other birds because they can be bullied and kept away from main food dishes that they need and bullied away from eating the minimal amount of food that they need to survive.

 

[peepblessed]

Got our first egg today!!!!! Yay!! Also got some pics of the babies.

Babies are gorgeous!!!

 

[wvchix]

My black Silkie is about 8 months old. She has a swollen crop that feels like a water balloon. I rubbed it and got her to vomit a little bit, and then gave her a drink of water. I have now put her and my other Silkie in a seperate pen. What should I do next?