Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

One of Puffs chicks has a personality like Biscuit always comes running up to me and friendly, sweet little cutie I think it maybe a little pullet, I can't tell quite yet but all 3 of Puffs look like pullets so far and just Burtle out of Smokey's 3 looks like a cockerel. That would be great if I have 5 girls and 1 boy!! Surely that won't be the case!

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Yeah MG is a real pain in the butt and makes the chickens pretty miserable I hate all the things that torment our chickens and mosquitoes are to blame for so many! Most of my chickens that seem to be somewhat more immune to the MG issues got dry pox and have managed to deal with it just fine. But my rooster boy and Marianne, whom I refer to as Patient Zero or Typhoid Marianne, both had wet pox and the roosters were all in his throat so he just got worse and worse until he could no longer breathe. Marianne has the lesions inside her beak but her throat looks okay. I’m not sure she’s going to make it though. She looks pretty bad tonight. :-(

Anyway, didn’t want to hijack the thread, just feeling a bit desperate and worried for the silkies and my other babies.

Just give them lots of vitamins and supplements. When my girls weren't looking so good, i rotated one day of ACV water, then vitamin and probiotics, then nutridrench, then clear water, and repeat. I also got them shelled pumpkin seeds (whixh they didnt want) and added fresh greens eaxh day. Just healtjy diet stuff. The epsom salt did seem to make them less itchy. All you can do is try your best and know you've loved them.

I think your silkies sound like they are tough little cookies and will be fine. Ive had many bird varieties, and give them all neck massages. They are all little ovens under those feathers, so the cold won't bother them. Ive been throwing a blanket over the coop on the cold nights, just as an extra layer of insulation. But i think you're doing a good job. ❤

 

[chickengr]

It’s been down to the low 30s here which is cold for Central Valley California! No, not Mareks…they all have Mycoplasma and also battling dry pox :-( Seems to be hitting my boys much worse than the girls. They’re all on Tylan, but if I don’t see improvement in a couple days I will try something else! Poor babies

feed them chick starter till they get better. also give them doxycycline together with tylan.

 

[kurby22]

Just give them lots of vitamins and supplements. When my girls weren't looking so good, i rotated one day of ACV water, then vitamin and probiotics, then nutridrench, then clear water, and repeat. I also got them shelled pumpkin seeds (whixh they didnt want) and added fresh greens eaxh day. Just healtjy diet stuff. The epsom salt did seem to make them less itchy. All you can do is try your best and know you've loved them.

I think your silkies sound like they are tough little cookies and will be fine. Ive had many bird varieties, and give them all neck massages. They are all little ovens under those feathers, so the cold won't bother them. Ive been throwing a blanket over the coop on the cold nights, just as an extra layer of insulation. But i think you're doing a good job. ❤

Thank you I have started them on meds, am giving them vitamins, VetRx, and probiotics. I hadn’t considered a daily rotation like that, but that sounds like an easier way to do things. That way I can ensure they get some. Thanks so much!

 

[LynnaePB]

I have a question for the Silkie experts…I have my two silkies Betty and Fuzzbert, and they were part of my original 6 chickens I got back in April with 4 standard size chickens. Well 3 of the 4 standards were boys so I rehomed 2 of them and kept the favorite. The four of them were my OG coop and always slept 4 in a row on their roost bar with the silkies huddled under the two big chickens for warmth. Well on Christmas my sweet boy, Eevee the Lav Orp rooster, died in my arms from an illness. Not having him in the coop with the three girls has caused a bit of a reshuffling—with Charlie the big hen wanting to be in the other bigger coop with the younger pullets and bantam Cochins. The silkies want to stay in their original coop and I think it suits their size better and their ability to reach good roost bars and a nest box but it’s a lot colder now when they sleep with just each other for warmth. Are they going to be okay? Lonely? Cold? The illness in my flock is a contagious and lifelong one so I’m not really wanting to get more chickens and sentence them to a life of illness as an option either :-( the bantam Cochins like sleeping on the roosts way up high in the other coop so I don’t really want to take them away from their happy place either! I am just worried they will get cold and lonely and I’m feeling sad that my boy is gone. He always let them snuggle under him at night he was a really good boy and my first chicken I ever loved.

Oh no I am so very sorry about your boy! It's always hard losing them but so much harder when it's one you are truly attached to and love.

I agree with the others here that your silkies will probably be ok where they are. As long as they are protected from drafts and in a nice dry coop silkies seem to do pretty well. Since you don't get really low temperatures I wouldn't worry. It doesn't get below freezing here often but occasionally it'll drop into the 20s or teens and the silkies have never had a problem. Even the boys I had to give their own little sections of coop who had no snuggle mates did fine in the colder weather.

Well only 1 Christmas chick ended up hatching unfortunately dunno why I've had a terrible run with infertile eggs last season and this season too! This season now with new rooster Biscuit still didn't solve the problem. Hopefully if it's the molting then the fertility should go back up soon.
It is a little cutie but probably a boy knowing my luck and 6 months of no egg laying from Chickaletta with being broody and raising this chick, not really worth it.
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Aww I'm sorry more didn't hatch but congratulations on the one that did! I hope the lower fertility was just due to molting and you have better luck soon.

Also that is great about so many of the older babies looking more like pullets! With how awful cockerel luck can be it has to go the other way sometimes!

 

[HipMystic]

PuffPuff has been laying an egg every day since November, becoming one of my most consistent layers.

That is, until this week. Now she’s decided to go broody, so no Silkie eggs for a while again

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

PuffPuff has been laying an egg every day since November, becoming one of my most consistent layers.

That is, until this week. Now she’s decided to go broody, so no Silkie eggs for a while again

Will you allow her to brood some chickies!? If not then break her asap and she should start laying again very soon!

 

[Sara S]

It’s been down to the low 30s here which is cold for Central Valley California! No, not Mareks…they all have Mycoplasma and also battling dry pox :-( Seems to be hitting my boys much worse than the girls. They’re all on Tylan, but if I don’t see improvement in a couple days I will try something else! Poor babies

OMGG my Babies have it I think, very sneezy and some clicking when they peep. I’ve been giving them tetracycline from tractor supply via nebulizer and they’re doing a lot better, almost done with the treatment. A lot less sneezing and they aren’t like drinking air anymore! It is an injection bottle but I just stabbed a hole in the top and used a dropper to take some out and put it into the nebulizer. Good luck and happy new year!!!

 

[HipMystic]

Will you allow her to brood some chickies!? If not then break her asap and she should start laying again very soon!

I’m going to break her this time just because it’s so cold right now. I’d like to get more Silkies eventually, so I may let her hatch some out this spring or summer

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Yall the babies are 6 weeks old now! I just LUV satin silkies soooo much! It's like the best of both worlds - chickens n silkies!!! (I don't think of my silkies as "chickens"...they r fluff balls!!! Lol)
I'm workin on integration with my 3 older silkies and the one I thought would be most accepting is being the worst! Vanilli has plucked out mouth full of feathers from lil Gracie even through a fence!
I read on BYC that the pecking order can change when chicks enter into the flock...Vanilli is definitely the lowest in older flock but she was also the sweetheart! It's like her personality totally changed!
I'm wandering if I'll ever be able to integrate em fully. I haven't intervened other than to say no or behave but I hate seeing em pecked and not getting along.