wanting to learn more

[silkiemaniac]

Hi everyone. This is my first day on this site and looking foward to be able to learn more about chickens. This is my second year raising chicks. Last year i raised 6 black sex links and this year SILKIES! I do have a question those, my silkies are about a week and a half old and one of them is about half the size of the others and i noticed today that it was limping. If anyone has any information that could possibly help me i would really appreciate it. Thanks

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! You might post about your limping Silkie on the Emergencies forum, https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures Silkies seem to be really prone to vitamin deficiencies, have you given them any, are they on regular chick feed, do the rest of the chicks seem normal?
You might also like to check out some of the Silkie threads, here is a really long one. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread
And a great place to read up on chicken keeping is the BYC Learning Center https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

 

[drumstick diva]

Have you checked the bottoms of his feet for "bumblefoot"? You can put that in the search box and symptoms and examples should pop up.

 

[gander007]

 

[silkiemaniac]

I had been looking up stuff about bumblefoot and my chick doesn't have any spots on its feet. All my other chicks seem to be healthy and run around and play while this one just finds a nice corner away from the others and sleeps. I'm just glad that none of my bigger ones pick on it. Thank you all so much for helping me and I will have to go look at those threads and see if I can find something.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

Your chick is too young to be affected by bumblefoot. Hope you can find out what is going on - the folks in the Emergencies section are very helpful.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

Silkies are fun to keep, but they can have health issues. It is highly unlikely the chick poked a hole into it's pad and has bumblefoot. Chicks can get caught on things, trampled by the others or twist their tiny feet. So it is possible that this is just a small injury. Keep an eye on the chick to make sure it does not get worse. But yes, Silkies can have vitamin deficiencies, so always be on the look out for issues before they turn into monsters.

Welcome to our flock!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC.

Glad you joined us!

 

[silkiemaniac]

How can I help with the vitamin deficiency?

 

[TwoCrows]

Add some good poultry vitamins. Poly-vi-sol is supposed to be good. Even things like Calf Manna Performance pellets might help. Any supplements with vitamins and minerals will help with vitamin deficiencies.