silky chickens that wont grow

[puppy767]

they are three months old and the size of a softball they appear perfectly healthy except ont of them is breathing heavy and making a sound like its sucking out the last bit of liquid in a cup with a straw.if any body might know what this is it would be very helpful in treating them.

 

[meriruka]

What are you feeding them? What kind of bedding are they on? Did you hatch them yourself or buy them?

 

[tulie13]

Could they be "bantam" silkies? I don't even know if there is such a thing, but "bantam" birds tend to stay smaller than "regular" chickens. Don't know if silkies even come in "bantam" sizes...

Where did you get them from? As eggs or chicks? The "straw sucking at a drink" sounds like a respiratory illness of some sort. I don't have much experience with anything respiratory (thank the Lord!!!). If you have a sour or impacted crop issue, or coccidiosis, I'm an expert now...

 

[meriruka]

If you live in the U.S., your silkies are probably bantams. I don't think there are standard size silkies here, I've never seen one........

 

[puppy767]

i just got them yesterday along with a few other chickens and they have crusty white stuff on their head and ears and have some hair misssing.the chickens that are small eat and drink alot biut dont get bigger.they are all bantams but even for bantams these are even small at thier age.

 

[Elite Silkies]

Quote:
If you just got them yesterday, how do you know that they are not growing? Do you have any pictures?

 

[puppy767]

sorry i dont have pics actually found brownish reddish things crawling around on thier skin the man told me they werent and that they are three months old

i just gave them both a bath with dish soap and blew them dry and there are still the eggs and more bugs

 

[Elite Silkies]

Do you have any pictures of them? Do you know what breed they are? You can put them on Gamebird Feed, it has more protein.

 

[puppy767]

silkies or silky mixes

 

[Elite Silkies]

I have one Silkie that is alot smaller than the others, but she is my best layer

Silkies are not large birds. But, I would give them more protein and see if that helps.