Silkie thread!

[Suzierd]

I tried my best but I soon as it walked the band fell... arg 
At the end I had to leave it alone because I feel I am making its leg worse. I really don't think it's gonna make it. It seems it getting weaker which make me sad and mad. I went to the feed store to see if they had anything for it but the guy told me there was nothing to do and it was better to kill it...:/  and he said the most humanly to do it was to put it in the freezer  . That is just terrible and awful to do. I will never do that. Now I am wondering (for future when I will have chicks that are suffering) how do you guys (especially breeder) cull a cute little chick? One day, I really would love to start breeding and unfortunately sometimes chicks are not able to continue their journey, but I don't know what I will have to do in those circumstances.

Maybe this thread will help
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/318395/spraddle-leg-treatment-for-feather-legged-chicks

 

[aoxa]

Quite frankly, 7 drops in a gallon is WAY too dilute.  http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm lists a VERY MUCH STRONGER concentration; more than I would have thought, but this is the original webpage advocating oxine use in poultry, and the author is a reputable and knowledgeable poultry breeder.  (Note, this is NOT the alleged silkie breeder who uses a similar farm name.)

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/chicken-fungal-infections lists what I would have to say sounds like a better plan, although that may be because it is not mixung up an entire gallon at once.

That's where I got my dosage. I meant to come on last night and mention that, but my in-laws were home and I was distracted @_@

 

[aoxa]

I swear Steve and Curly are related! LOLCurly loves to take care of his babies. He feeds them and everything. I've even caught him sitting on the chicks like the hens do. lol

I think so! Brothers from another mother Steve is the best father I could ever hope for. Even his arch nemesis Jagger (barred rock rooster) is a great dad.

I know this is not silkie related, but I just had to share. Jagger calling his son to food.

 

[Scifisarah]

I tried my best but I soon as it walked the band fell... arg
At the end I had to leave it alone because I feel I am making its leg worse. I really don't think it's gonna make it. It seems it getting weaker which make me sad and mad. I went to the feed store to see if they had anything for it but the guy told me there was nothing to do and it was better to kill it...

and he said the most humanly to do it was to put it in the freezer

. That is just terrible and awful to do. I will never do that. Now I am wondering (for future when I will have chicks that are suffering) how do you guys (especially breeder) cull a cute little chick? One day, I really would love to start breeding and unfortunately sometimes chicks are not able to continue their journey, but I don't know what I will have to do in those circumstances.

I also had a silkie with this leg problem and was able to get it fixed fairly quickly. Don't use a bandaid - that did not work in my experience. Use some of the thin 1/2" wide surgical tape that is like white cloth and very sticky on one side. If you don't have any it is cheap to get in the first aid section near the bandaids at most any store. Use a piece that is much longer han you think you'd need and wrap it around several times so there is a lot of tape holding it together, not just one little section that will break free under pressure. If you have someone to hold the chick on its back with its legs sticking up while you apply the tape, this is very helpful! Leave a section of about 3/4" - 1" between the legs and press the tape firmly together up to the legs so they don't slip out. If it is a very fluffy legged chick, you can trim off some of the leg fluff so it sticks better. Don't give up - this is fixable.

Oh, and please don't ever put a chick in the freezer! Maybe he meant it was an easy way for the person to be rid of the duty, but definitely not for the chick which would die a slow dragged out death. I usually ask my husband to take care of it when there is a chick that is too far gone and he will quickly remove its head with a sturdy very sharp knife. Doesn't sound pleasant either way, but the freezer idea makes me quesy thinking of how the chick would suffer.

 

[peepblessed]

I hatched some Catdance Silkies last weekend, and to my embarrassment I let some I was trying to keep separated get mixed together.

I wanted them separate because I had some from her lavender pens, some from her paint pens. So I figure the darker chicks from the lav pens are splits, would that be right? Not sure what the non-paints from the paint pens would be. Can anyone tell me what colors these chicks might be, and what genes they might carry that it would be helpful to be aware of? To make matters worse, there were also a few b/bl/spl silkie eggs from another source :-( Also quality birds, but makes it harder to ID everybody. I can post pictures, but wanted to check first if there were any specific things I should be aware of... for instance, I did get two paint chicks. If I later wanted to breed one, should it be to another paint, or a different color chick from that same group, or something else altogether? Thanks for any information you can share. I did email Karen, so I'm sure I'll hear from her too, but I know there are things I can learn from the Silkie people on this thread. Thanks in advance!

This is always one of my fears. You are going to have a real problem I think. The paints that didn't color may be the easiest to see. Mine all developed odd light spots and leakage in the hackles. The lavender splits shouldn't develop any odd coloring and if they are blue or black, but you aren't sure if they are split or BBS, they can be used as BBS in your program. Keep careful notes of who is bred to who and if a self-blue (lavender) shows up you will know that you bred two lav/splits to each other. I have not heard that a solid paint is useful in a breeding program. Someone else may have another opinion. I sold mine as pets.

 

[hecatesmoon]

Well, I once had a 4 month old PQ silkie pullet take over and brood a tiny chick--long before she ever started laying. It was adorable, but I would not expect that to be common.

They are such odd little birds, but endearing! And I have heard of silkies willingness to play surrogates, including the males, but I wondered just how common that really was.
One more question? They were fluffy, they were sweet, I picked them up and took them home...without even thinking to ask how old they were. This morning is the first time I heard one of them crow. Can anyone tell me at what age they tend to start crowing and the generally accepted age that they start to lay?

 

[tiki244]

I swear Steve and Curly are related! LOLCurly loves to take care of his babies. He feeds them and everything. I've even caught him sitting on the chicks like the hens do. lol

I think so! Brothers from another mother Steve is the best father I could ever hope for. Even his arch nemesis Jagger (barred rock rooster) is a great dad. I know this is not silkie related, but I just had to share. Jagger calling his son to food.

Aww I have been doing a lot of work outside getting ready for the cold front coming in within a day or two. It is really windy today. Looks like I have a lot lot of reading to do to catch up.

 

[aoxa]

They are such odd little birds, but endearing! And I have heard of silkies willingness to play surrogates, including the males, but I wondered just how common that really was.
One more question? They were fluffy, they were sweet, I picked them up and took them home...without even thinking to ask how old they were. This morning is the first time I heard one of them crow. Can anyone tell me at what age they tend to start crowing and the generally accepted age that they start to lay?

30+ weeks in my experience.

Males - My only big boy is 2, and the next up in age was born May 5th. Still no crowing out of them!

 

[hecatesmoon]

30+ weeks in my experience.
Males - My only big boy is 2, and the next up in age was born May 5th. Still no crowing out of them!

Thank you.

 

[Scifisarah]

Here is silkie sweater version 2.0 modeled by lovely Priscilla! I fixed my first pattern so they have full range of motion in the wing, and I also discovered that if the bottom of the sweater is touching the front of their legs all the way up to where they meet the body at all, they just sit down or walk very funny. I took it up higher so she can scratch to her heart's content unhindered. She didn't peck at this sweater or seem to mind, other than some loud vocals to express her displeasure of my chicken dress-up time. She flew off the deck wearing it and it didn't come off so I am pretty happy with the fit now. I had fun adding some ruffles to a heart pair that look really cute over her fluffy tail.