Silkie thread!

[Zgm12]

You can massage her crop and help some of it drain and then put the crop bra on, but is the bra tighter as it is made to be that way so it helps hold he crop closer to the body to help it drain easier.

I'm trying Acidified Copper Sulfate as a water supplement for treatment. Read about it in
The Chicken Health Handbook, 2nd Edition: A Complete Guide to Maximizing Flock Health and Dealing with Disease, Edition 2.

Thank you both for your suggestions. I've had her in a supportive harness for the past two days. Her crop fully drained yesterday after a 24 hour food fast and a 12 hour water fast. Since then I've kept her in the harness and she's on a diet of plain yogurt (for the probiotics) and acv water. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

 

[abbevilleoz]

Thank you both for your suggestions. I've had her in a supportive harness for the past two days. Her crop fully drained yesterday after a 24 hour food fast and a 12 hour water fast. Since then I've kept her in the harness and she's on a diet of plain yogurt (for the probiotics) and acv water. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

Hope it clears up. We've been treating an Ameraucana pullet with this ailment for months. From what I've read the causes are not clear and there is evidence it is an hereditary issue. So I have a beautiful sweet splash AM that we can't breed. Oh, forgot to mention the Acidified Copper Sulfate is a anti microbial that will also help draw up the gut. It's inexpensive, too. Yeast and fungal infections often go along with pendulous crop because food sits there so long.

 

[Zgm12]

Which roo would you keep I was thinking roo number two because he is the same color as the hens but his comb I don't know if it's the right color, and his leg feathers arnt as bushy as the first one. And number two has a good comb color I think and has good feathery legs, but his color is almost white compared to the hens.

Silkie roo #1

Silkie roo #2

Definitely keep the first one over the second. The crest seems bigger, he has a slightly darker comb, his toe spacing looks nice, his eyes are darker, and his skin is darker. Type is the way the bird is shaped and how they carry themselves in terms of posture. For type, you want a short back and broad shoulders. The tail and head should kind of be balanced. The best way to explain this is that the Silkie should look heart shaped. Here's my blue rooster as an example. He's not perfect but he has a pretty nice type.

 

[abbevilleoz]

I have a pair of white pullets with a cockerel. The hens have spent all their life together and are so in sync now that lay at the same time. It's so cute watching them in the nest box together.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Definitely keep the first one over the second. The crest seems bigger, he has a slightly darker comb, his toe spacing looks nice, his eyes are darker, and his skin is darker. Type is the way the bird is shaped and how they carry themselves in terms of posture. For type, you want a short back and broad shoulders. The tail and head should kind of be balanced. The best way to explain this is that the Silkie should look heart shaped. Here's my blue rooster as an example. He's not perfect but he has a pretty nice type.

Ok thank you they other one stands taller but he is higher in the pecking order than the other should I post some pics of the hens also to see what one would go best color wise I can always get a black or blue silkie roo and breed him in with the hens and see if we can get a darker colored roo, but his color could change as he matures right?

 

[aliren]

Thank you both for your suggestions. I've had her in a supportive harness for the past two days. Her crop fully drained yesterday after a 24 hour food fast and a 12 hour water fast. Since then I've kept her in the harness and she's on a diet of plain yogurt (for the probiotics) and acv water. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

I have a black rock recuse hen with the same problem, and also been giving ACV and today plain yogurt, her crop will get so full over night that it hangs to the ground and her skin gets very red, it takes up to 2 days to drain it out , then she will be fine for quit a while, I think her problem is that she was starved and ate mud, if I let her out she will eat so much of it still , thing is how can I not let her out when all the others are out!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Ok well those are the only two I have and what do you mean as of working on type

Rhoda, what are you breeding for? Pets? To the SOP? If your goal is pet quality birds, then just breed whichever you like the best. If your goal is to breed as close to the standard of perfection (SOP) as possible, then I'd suggest you buy or borrow a copy so you can read/see what is acceptable as far as type goes for Silkies. Both of your boys are cute, but they have some faults that would get them DQ'd at a show (like the red combs and light eyes), and those are faults that they'll likely pass on to their offspring, which will cause a lot of frustration and culling for you later on...

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you both for your suggestions. I've had her in a supportive harness for the past two days. Her crop fully drained yesterday after a 24 hour food fast and a 12 hour water fast. Since then I've kept her in the harness and she's on a diet of plain yogurt (for the probiotics) and acv water. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

The Greek yogurts have live bacillus culture for digestive issues but can anyone tell me where the ACV water helps? I got this message from chickenwaterers.com when I asked about using ACV in chicken drinking water:



I did quite a bit of research on ACV and didn't find much compelling to recommend it. If you want to read the blog posting I did on this, you can find it at:

http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2012/12/dont-use-apple-cider-vinegar-acv-in.html

The article is titled "Don't Use ACV" but what the article really concludes is "there's no real evidence that it works, so don't bother." By the way, yogurt is a probiotic because the lactobacilus bacteriait contains can survive in the gastrointestinal tract.( Lactobacilus doesn't need oxygen to survive). ACV contains Acetobacteria that people also think is a probiotic but this type of bacteria does need oxygen to live and so it can't survive in the gut. ACV is not a probiotic. The best time to give your chickens probiotics is when they are baby chicks. At that time, the normal flora in their guts has not developed yet and they would be more prone to get salmonella or coccidiosis. Commercially available probiotic solutions are sold for chick but you can also try giving your chicks some sauerkraut.

Putting some ice in your water jug is a nice touch. Chickens prefer cool water and it will increase their water consumption. Leghorns given cool water versus warm water laid about 10% more eggs because their overall water consumption rate was higher.

Kind regards,

-Mark

 

[Zgm12]

The Greek yogurts have live bacillus culture for digestive issues but can anyone tell me where the ACV water helps?  I got this message from chickenwaterers.com when I asked about using ACV in chicken drinking water:



I did quite a bit of research on ACV and didn't find much compelling to recommend it. If you want to read the blog posting I did on this, you can find it at:
 
http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2012/12/dont-use-apple-cider-vinegar-acv-in.html
 
The article is titled "Don't Use ACV" but what the article really concludes is "there's no real evidence that it works, so don't bother." By the way, yogurt is a probiotic because the lactobacilus bacteriait contains can survive in the gastrointestinal tract.( Lactobacilus doesn't need oxygen to survive). ACV contains Acetobacteria that people also think is a probiotic but this type of bacteria does need oxygen to live and so it can't survive in the gut.  ACV is not a probiotic.  The best time to give your chickens probiotics is when they are baby chicks. At that time, the normal flora in their guts has not developed yet and they would be more prone to get salmonella or coccidiosis.  Commercially available probiotic solutions are sold for chick but you can also try giving your chicks some sauerkraut.  
 
Putting some ice in your water jug is a nice touch. Chickens prefer cool water and it will increase their water consumption.  Leghorns given cool water versus warm water laid about 10% more eggs because their overall water consumption rate was higher.
 
Kind regards,
 
-Mark

ACV in the water isn't for probiotics (or at least that's not what I'm using it for). I'm using it to neutralize the ph inside the crop. When chickens have sour crop, their crop is very acidic. The ACV is an alkaline-forming vinegar that can be used to neutralize that very acidic matter inside the crop. This is mainly to help treat and prevent sour crop from happening. The information you provided was very interesting though. I will definitely keep it in mind. Thank you!

 

[Fancychooklady]

ACV in the water isn't for probiotics (or at least that's not what I'm using it for). I'm using it to neutralize the ph inside the crop. When chickens have sour crop, their crop is very acidic. The ACV is an alkaline-forming vinegar that can be used to neutralize that very acidic matter inside the crop. This is mainly to help treat and prevent sour crop from happening. The information you provided was very interesting though. I will definitely keep it in mind. Thank you!

There is no real science behind the use of acv in sour crop . Once the food has sat and fermented bacteria builds. The use of tablets and cream designed to treat thrush are said to help, but the only way to remove the blockage , more often than not, is surgery. Once it becomes a physical blockage only small amounts of food make it down into the stomach and starvation is the outcome. Some people try to Vomit the bird in an attempt to clear the blockage , but this often results in the bird choking. You can watch crop surgery on YouTube. This is one ailment that I think requires a visit to the vet.