Hey, I recently ordered a rainbow of silkie colors from my pet chicken. I ordered all pullets, and for the most part they all appear to be the same size, but the white is relatively larger than the rest. Her wings feathers are also a bit larger. My black silkie is the smallest, but she also seems to have something wrong with her. She does this weird head shake quite a bit and I was wondering if silkies could get ear infections? At how many weeks would she be safe to take to the vet? Also, with the white chick being larger than the rest of the same age, does that mean it's an accidental cockeral, or is the different growth rate normal? How can I tell if I have a male with silkies? I'm new to this breed, but want to continue to raise and breed them successfully. Also, I had one more question about my coop. I plan on having six or eight silkies including their silkie roo in the same coop as my cuckoo maran, americauna, salmon faverolle, cochins, buff brahma,speckled sussex, several types of polish, and a golden phoenix roo. The question is will the silkie roo successfully mate with the other silkie hens? I have plenty of chickens in both sizes and was hoping the roos would work this out somehow. I realize there is a possibility of crosses with the phoenix roo and silkie hens, but I'm also hoping for the silkie roo to do his business and not just sit back and watch. Sorry for the silly question, but I want to have and idea how everyone might get along out there.
Need Help with silkies!
Could you describe the head shaking a little better? How old is she? You may have the problem I just went through. Is it like this?
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72UqiYzfODo
If it is anything like that I can talk you through the problem. It is a congenital defect so teh vet won't be able to do much.
As for the potential roo, you'll know when he crows! One of mine just started crowing and he was born in March. He will also probably be bigger and have more of a comb and a waddle. It is hard to tell with silkies. It is really hard to sex them, too, so it is definitely possible.
In terms of the mating, you will have to see. the silkie will not be your dominant roo, so the phoenix may or may not let him mate with the other silkies. If there is a concern, you can always separate him and a couple of the silkie girls from the rest of the flock and let nature take its course. He probably won't be ready to really mate until this fall or winter, so you may want to wait for spring, if your weather is bad in the winter.
You'll have to see what the golden phoenix does. He and the little silkie roo might get along fine.
Thanks for responding. The chicks are three weeks old now, and I believe she has been doing this pretty much from the start, maybe not as noticable then though. The head shake is this almost constant quick shake back and forth like chicks do if they get water on their beaks. Every now and then she over corrects the quick shake with a weird slow side head slight dip back the right way. She seems to do this more when she is taken out of her box or if she's being talked to. It's not anything as severe as I saw with your girl. Did she start out simple like mine? Or was she pretty much like that from the start? Once again I appreciate the help.
Well, I wonder if it is the beginnings of wry neck, which is what Sahara had. Hers came on sort of suddenly, but it could have been there a little without me noticing before that. How I treated it is with a combination of antibiotics ( poultry ones, you can buy them online ~ for ear infections~ ) and a lot of vitamin E. You can get vitamin e gelcaps and soak little peices of corn for a few hours in the juice from the caplets and let her gobble them down. You can buy sunflower seeds ( although they may be too young to eat them yet). If worst comes to worst, you can get an eye dropper and open her beak and squirt it on her tongue. I don't know which did the trick. I think it was the vitamin e, but it is possible that your chicken has an inner ear infection. Silkies are prone to neurological disorders, so it is possible that is just how she will be, as well. Good luck!
Are you talking about this Baytril drug I keep hearing about or something else? Wow, neurological disorders, great! Man I hope not, still kinda think it's something with her ears, but who knows? At what age would she be safe for a vet visit? Or do ya thik I should give your solution a go? Could it hurt? I know vets are expensive visits for my pooches, can't imagine costs for chick.
Well, it is hard to find a vet around here anyway who knows anything about chickens. Some exotic pet vets will take them, but I've found that most vets who do dogs and cats don't know much about chickens and birds as it isn't their specialty. It costs as much as it costs for dogs and cats to take a chicken to the vet, so go for it if you want to, but I don't think they'll be able to tell you much that you can't learn here. That has been my experience.
This is another site that is helpful
http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi
and this one here
http://www.featherfanciers.com/
As to specific antibiotics, you'll have to research that, as I'm not 100% sure. Mine was a broad spectrum one.
Thank you for the help. I went to both of those lins and didn't find anything yet, but I plan on posting my question there.
THere is a lot in the Coop backfiles if you search them. Let me know how you make out. I am always looking to learn more about chickens, especially silkies.
Will do! Oh, by the way, the white silkie whose sex is in the air, has double claws on last toe of each foot? Have you ever seen this before, it looks like little crab pinchers, LOL. Is this something typical to their breed? I like it, it's so unique looking. Those toes are a little larger than the rest also.
oh, the silkie purist snobs would have your head for that! They are only supposed to have 5 toes :) I have one that has two nails that face the same direction on one of her feet and I love it also. She's a mutant!I know that it can happen, but is rareish. You have a special silkie!!
Yay! That is cool. The claw pointscurve toward one another as opposed to going the same direction so they totally give that pincher look. Now, is this really two toes that fused together or just a weird claw deformity? Are there any chickens with six toes? Sorry, just excited by the new breed. Oh, I can't help it just one more question..... My silkies were ordered (current) from My Pet Chicken, and the white and partridge silkies have flat blue combs, while the red has a comb that doesn't appear to be really blu, but is flat with three tiny nodules across the end on her forhead. The black silkie appears to have what I call the beginnings of a typical chicken comb, ya know the vertical with the typical nodes pointing up. Is this normal for silkies? Will it disturb the crest formation? Why are the combs different, are they not purebred because that is what I ordered? Ok, sorry for all these insane questions, but I just want to know what to expect, and I certainly didn't think that would be an issue. I wasn't expecting show quality or anything, but I guess I figured that comb type and color would be a given.
Well, your are probably what is called pet quality, which means that funky combs and toes show up from time, as they are not selectively bred out. Think of them as extra festive and special! It is a genetic mutation, sort of like the extra toes in cats. Silkies are pretty much mutans anyways, with the black skin ( they all have it no matter what the color chicken) 5 toes and furry feathers.
The combs will end up being sort of mulberry in color, but most of mine look pretty much black right now. They will rosey up as they get older. The feather crest forms right around the coms, so don't worry about that.
My gal with the six toes is probably my least standard gal. She doesn't have a very big crest and she has six toes. Some of her old flockmates, from where I got her, had a single comb as opposed to the little strawberry one. These things do show up from time to time but wouldn't worry about it.
Basically, chickens are for loving as they are at our level. You can pay tons of cash for ones that are "perfect" and unless you are showing them, it won't make any difference, so enjoy them and you get to see what happens next! it will be an extra surprising surprise!
Here is my mutant gal, Ursula:
Also, I'm really interested in what your red looks like. I have a few really red partridges. Are your all that different from each other? Here is Amaretto, my fabulous boy? girl?
And here is Twinkletoes, a black.
Hope this little comb show helps.
This is General Tso, our splash rooster. He has the biggest, brightest combs by far.
I also just remembered to mention that we have a little one, a buff named Tuscany who doesnt have any crest at all. She has a totally flat feathered head, like a normal chicken. She has ear muffs and a beard and reminds me of one of those biker men, bald on top with a bushy beard below! Oh well. She is certainly unique! That's the way it goes sometimes! Doesn't seem to bother her any!
Your chickens are beautiful, I just love the silkies! My red silkie is only four weeks old right now but looks very similar to the pic of yours. Her comb is the smallest and least blue. My partridge is a nice brown color, but since they are both so young they still have their chipmunk stripes; ) Yes, you are definately right, they are pets for loving and at this time I'm not interested in showing. I do want little silkies in the future though, so I am interested in breeding. I'm having trouble finding sites that go into detail about breeding among the different colored silkies. Silkies come in black, white, blue, buff, red, partridge, and splash, right? So, what I am trying to figure out is what happens when I cross different colors, and how to acheive these colors with the fewest of roos. Wee! Do you know of any websites or have info on the breeding of each of these colors to one another? Like, what happens if I breed a white silkie to a blue? Stuff like that (yeah, I just couldn't keep it simple, but this is interesting stuff). I REALLY love these chicks. I did find out that if you breed the silkies with the typical walnut to a silkie with the single comb like my black, that they will probably have baby silkies with the typical walnut comb because the single is recessive! Sorry, this stuff is fascinating to me. It's going to turn into a regular Island of Dr. Moreau over hear, LOL!
Tuscanny sounds absolutely adorable! Do you have any pics of her?
I'll take some and post them.
Actually that is why I got my silkies, too, to see if I could figure out the genetics. I am going to meet someone to talk about silkies tomorrow and I will report back anything I find :)
Nice! I eagerly await ; )
Hey there. still haven't gotten around to getting a pic of Tuscany yet, but I will.
So the chicken show lady told me a few things about silkies and actually showed them to me, so that the description in the standard makes more sense.
Anyone with more or better info, please add.
First off ~ black skin, 5 toes, strawberry shaped comb and silkie feathers are musts. When adults, the comb should be mulberry purple and the ear should be blue, preferably turquoise.
~ the comb on a rooster should be wider than it is tall. In the middle of the comb, there should be a little fold that cuts across the whole thing, like a frown. Also, and I never notices this, a lot of times there are a few little horny type growths at the top of the comb, which ideally aren't there but if they are it isn't a huge deal.
~ The feathers should be as silkie as possible without a lot of stiff feathers. When you look at the wing's flight type feathers, they should look shredded all over.
~ the feet should have feathering on the middle big toe, as much as possible. It's okay if there are feathers on even more toes. As for the two little toes in the back, the more front one should be smaller than the back one and ideally, the back one lays so the nail bends towards the back.
~You will have to look up the standards for coloration as tehy are all really different, but she said that it idoesn't really matter what color buff that buff silkies are as long as they have as little ( ideally no) black on them as possible.
whew.
SOooooo, I looked at my little girls and boys and found that I have Tuscany the no top, and Macadamia Nut, who has a single comb. So those two are right out of the old standard. Otherwise, we'll see!
Im so interested in these silkies! Mine were half grown when I got them from auction. At the time I only had one little white girl. So when these two were brought home I was surprised by the definite color differences. The other thing I noticed was that my new buff babies had obvious light bulb burns on the tops of their heads. Ive had them now for over a year and the burns are just now growing over and top knots are starting to fill in.
My Uggie and Purty Sang will never be show quality but both are as gentle and people friendly as can be. Miss Purty will come to me and want to talk and be petted.
She hatched 3 eggs and only one survived a few weeks ago and Little Gremlin was the result, I believe he is the result though my White Silkie and old lecherous Uggie Sang!!
Here is a photo of Uggie and his Amazing Walnut! And his new Topknot growth coming in!
As you can see he needs grooming since he is a "Yard Bird!"
Miss Purty, is getting her new hair too! But I have a question!.............
Is It Possible for Silkies to have Clean legs, or is Miss Purty a Cross-breed??
Eufala, I was watching the travel channel the other day and they were discussing unusual foods like a certain black skinned chicken. When they showed the live bird, it had the typical silkie feathering, but no crest and no leg feathering. Backyard, now I'm inspecting my chickens more, LOL. It really is interesting stuff. I think we should start a post on the various color crosses with silkies and what different colors they bring. I was discussing that on another sight, how it would not only be interesting, but helpfull to breeders, or anyone with silkies for that matter. ; )
Sure, anything is possible :) If she is silkie like in every other way, I bet that she is just a little bit off :) One of mine doesn't have any tuft on the top!
Patch, I totally agree!
backyard, i agree with ur descript that is mostly it in easy to understand wording, the standard reads very detailed and can be hard to understand, great job!!
the strawberry part i haven't heard, i believe it is called walnut shapped with mulberry color in the standard book. the darker purple and smaller it is the better but i believe what you said is the same thing. with that frown part you are saying if you look at it it actually looks like a shelled walnut stuck to their head it's kinda funny looking,lol.
the standard of perfection colors are, pure colored with no smutt colors-black, blue, buff, white, gray and partrige(brown-black/gray head and tail and some in wings). all these colors are for bearded and non bearded. however if shown like a buff with black smutt color in tail or wings, could be shown but if their is a pure no smutt color the pure would take higher ranking in the show. a dq- or disqualification can mean points off at show or disqualified from the show depending on what it is or how bad. usually production or pet quality looking birds are automatically not allowed in shows by superintendants. they have to look show quality or something special to even be allowed to enter.
all purebreed silkies should have 5 toes(although i have had some hatch 4 on one 5 on the other or 6, these can not be shown anything other than 5 on each is an automatic dq) and fully feathered feet. they don't have to have the middle toe feathering totally but the more the better and the longer the feathers the better. silkies don't have what it called a topknot it is called a vault which is basically a v-shape whole in the head exposing the brain if i remember right which the bigger it is the higher risk of danger it has of neurological problems. however the bigger vault is more desireable for a fuller crest by breeders for show.
to answer that question on Miss Purty i believe she is a silkie cross as i have never seen a pure silkie with no feather leg. i have seen them with minimal but never totally bare, she also doesn't have the right look in face for a silkie. if you are not showing her or useing her for a breeding program to show i wouldn't worry about it she is very pretty and a cutie and there is nothing wrong with pet quality at all.
i have show quality silkies and sq showgirls (silkies w/ a naked neck gene)but also exhibition line white silkies. as soon as i have the time i will take pics of them to show you differences if it will help you guys. i also have a few pet quality silkies. i do show my birds not all are silkies but most are from my older ones. some of my birds are show winners and have won 1st, 2nd places and also grand champions includeing 1st and 2nd for my white showgirls. i'm also a state liceanced poultry tech so i do testing on my birds as well as for others for shows and npip testing flocks and for diseases and such. i also help with local shows to get birds entered into show. at the moment i'm working on getting my showgirls to be recognised by apa aba to be shown as a recognised breed which is very exciteing. they have to make special classes for them now and the highest they can get is best of breed i believe but hopefully someday they will gain the recognize and can get grandchampion. that is my goal so anyone can show them they are an awesome breed. they can win ribbons but not get premiums yet or points for winning. anytime you all have questions just ask as i'd love to help out, i could talk silkies forever,lol.
hope this helps ya to learn a little more about colors, show, the breed ect. for the silkie mix colors, long ago i used to do it. i will have to sit down and think what i mixed made what colors. i will post for ya what i can remember.
silkie
Oh well, I guess my two will never make a show, but they are terrific parents! I got them to help me hatch eggs. they are very " Blue Ribbon" at that! I have the worst time hatching eggs so I needed their help, and I chose the right pair! Now if I the summer heat would cool down a little, Im going to get Miss Purty busy again soon! I understand we can expect heat here in the triple digits for at least another couple of weeks!
silkie chick that is so helpful! Please do.
Walnut is exactly the word I was looking for to describe the comb. thank you.
I would love to hear any and all and everything you have to say about silkies, so please do tell.
THANKS!
I'm so excited for them to grow up enough for me to start breeding. Yay!
My sentiments exactly Backyard ; ) Thanks Silkie! Oh, and those Showgirls are absolutely adorable! They look like little poodles. Did I mention how beautiful my white silkie chick is? I sure hope this sexed pullet is a she instead of a he! Chick sure is alot larger than other three though.... You know Backyard it's probably only a matter of time before this silkie breeding leads to extra pens and possibly show birds! WEEEEEEEEEEE! (must stop, no self control with with chickens)! Why is it you just can't stop, they really are addictive! One of my favorite things is coming home and hanging out with the chicks...my friends all think I've lost it, how do you explain a "chicken addiction"? I find myself explaining my fascination-"no, they really do each have their own distinct personalities", or " it's calming to watch them". No one understands me, LOL : (
It's so true. You'll just have to have them over for a chickens and cocktails afternoon and I'm sure they'll see the light. :)
One thing that amazes me about show silkies is how they breed out a lot of the male traits ~ stiff feathers, really full comb and waddle, etc, so that in the really good quality birds, a lot of times people can't tell if they are male or female...until one of them lays an egg!
Which is one of those qualities that makes them absolutely amazing birds. Unfortunately, it's really frustrating waiting to see and wondering if you get to keep a bird or not. I mean how many roos can I possibly hold on to ? : )
i went cam happy today and took pics for ya all of my silkies and my friends to show the differences in pet, sq, breeder and exabition line. had to take them to the inlaws to burn to cd since my ports don't work. dh had to do it since they have a lap top and it is different than mine. i had over 300 pics on the cam and somehow he missed all the chicken pics got all my flowers and some of my mil's pics then the batteries died got to recharge them,lol.
tomarrow i will go over and copy the chicken pics for ya. then i'll start a new post of pics for ya and explain with each pic why or why not they are what quality. hope that will be more helpful to ya, i also have some of my show winners from this last show they where at and i have one in oct they will be at also but more will be in it. i also took pics of my white showgirls also so you can see them. they are 11th generation and gorgous, they look nothing like the ones on feathersite. i'm hopeing to get some really good pics of them and send to them to see if they will add them to their site, that would be so neat if they do add them!! i could talk silkies forever,lol. i'll post pics as soon as i can.
silkie
Weeee! I'm totally excited, I can't wait to see the pics and get an ideal of the expectations and differences. Speaking of ideal, I just received my second batch of baby chicks (from Ideal Poultry), and the blue and buff silkies appear to be bearded. I'm totally siked! The other silkies are all non-bearded, so this is totally new for me! (Apparently I'm easily amused)? LOl, anyways I eagerly await the pics, thanks: )
Oh and not that it matters much, but this isn't my SECOND batch from Ideal, the first was from MY Pet Chicken, I meant my second batch, blah blah blah, I'll shut up now, LOL.
i have gotten bearded white silkies from ideal as well as others and they look wonderful!! i'm sure you will love your new babies!! i have to recharge my batteries and build a coop in the am so i will take some more pics too.
silkie
Cant wait! New chick Pics!! I will be home from work around 11 AM, hope to see them then, (Yawwwwwwn!) I have to go to work now!!!!! This 4 O'Clock in the morning job is for the birds! The Early birds that is! See ya'll later!
i have to spend all morning building another 4 in 1 pen and run and also another wall brooder for my babies in the hatcher since all my last bator full are hatching now. they are not big enough to put in either of the other 2 brooders,lol i will soon have a full nursery, hehe. so when i get done with that and takeing a few more pics. i have to run to the inlaws to reburn the cds. it probably will be in the afternoon before i get home. i have to pick 3 of my kid's up from school at 3:30 so i want to squeeze in as much as i can before they get home since i have 5 kid's. if i can't it should be somewhere close to that i'll be home before or after i pick them up. and i'll post as soon as i get home.
hugs,
silkie