silkie chicken information – Page 2

How to Prevent Pasty Butt in Baby Chicks

March 20, 2018May 1, 2020 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

Almost everyone has had a chick which has had a piece of poo sticking to its behind. We try to remove it and end up making an even bigger mess by smearing the poo around the poor chick’s backside. It ends up drying hard like cement or worse capping the vent causing a small explosion of backed up poo when finally removed. There must be a way to prevent all of this from happening again.

Pasty Butt or “pasting up”, is a condition in which the little chick’s poo gets stuck to the vent (small slit on chick’s back end) and “stops up” the chick like a cork. The chick can’t eliminate its poo and the poo gets backed up into the body of the chick. This can kill the chick fairly quickly if not removed.

If I see that a chick is plugged up, I will carefully remove the piece of poo with my fingernail. I gently tug, being careful not to hurt the chick. This works best when the poo is dried. Some feather down may come off with the poo using this method. Sometime there is too much poo and it is too wet to remove it with your fingernail. I will then use a Q-tip and warm water to soften the poo until it comes off. The disadvantage with this method is that now the chick has a wet behind and can quickly become chilled. I gently dry it off with a towel or paper towel and place it back under the heat lamp to finish drying.

Pasty Butt is common in chicks sent in the mail or in crowded feed store bins. It tends not to happen in chicks who are hatched and raised by a broody hen. Their temperature is regulated by her feathers and she will take care of making sure that their behinds are clean.

When you’ve hatched out chicks in an incubator or have had chicks arrive in the mail, you must take the place of the mother hen and clean the chicks yourself. The new baby chicks will not be able to clean themselves until they are at least a week old. They are not capable of reaching around to that spot to clean it properly. This will be your job as surrogate mother hen. You will need to check your chicks regularly for the first week of life. After the first week is finished pasty butt is less common and they are better able to keep themselves clean. Their bodies have also become better regulators of heat and their digestive system is better able to handle new food.

When checking your chicks, don’t confuse the vent with the belly button. The vent is immediately below the tail feathers. It is a thin line that opens and closes. This opening is also through which the eggs will come out of the hen’s body when she starts to lay. The belly button is between the vent and the chick’s legs. There may, perhaps, be a piece of the umbilical cord still there. Don’t pull on it as sometimes intestines can still be attached to it and you can end up pulling out the baby chicks bowels. The cord will drop off itself in a day or two.

You may wonder what causes pasty butt in the first place and why do only some chicks suffer from it. Silkies in particular seem to get it quite a bit. This may have something to do with their extra fluffy down. The poo seems to stick to it quite easily. It may help to put a dab of vaseline jelly with a Q-tip right below the vent line. The poo is then unable to stick to the down.

Temperature regulation has a lot to do with whether your chick will develop pasty butt. Too hot or too cold conditions will bring on an outbreak. Chicks that are sent in the mail often are left in cold mail rooms where they may become chilled. If mailed out in the summer they may also suffer from too warm of conditions.

250 Watt Heat lamp bulbs can often put too much heat into your small brooder. Try a smaller watt bulb or use a different heating source. I like the Ecoglow or the Sweeter Heater. They both mimic a mother hen by creating a warm cave where the chick can feel protected. I have not found them to be too warm. Radiant heat does not heat the air but does heat the chick and bedding. Watch your bird’s behavior. They will let you know if they are too hot or too cold. Chicks that are too cold will huddle up together and make loud cheeping sounds. Chicks that are too warm will spread out to the corners of your brooder to try and get away from the heat source. For the first week the brooder should be 90-95 degrees. For more information check out How to choose a Heat Source for your Brooder.

Placing the chick in stressful situations will also bring on pasty butt. Overcrowding in the brooder can bring on stress for baby chicks. Too many chicks can trample each other in their frenzy to find the best spot in the brooder, best place to get food or best place at the waterer. Stronger chicks will walk over weaker ones. Smaller chicks can get squished into corners. Keep your numbers in the brooder manageable. Newborn chicks need about six square inches of space each. They also need space in which to get away from the heat source if they need to. More information about brooder size is at Choosing the Perfect Brooder.

Other things that can cause stress are loud noises and frequent handling by over eager children. The first week of life should be a time of calmness with no major transitions. They are very cute to look at but when you sweep your hands into their brooder to scoop them up all they are thinking about are flying predators. They instinctively know that they should fear things that come from above. Try moving the brooder off the floor and onto a table where your presence is not so threatening. Keep the brooder in a quiet area. Limit your handling of the chicks during that first week. There will be plenty of time later to cuddle with your chick. Chickens do not imprint like some other birds. There is not need to try and tame them that first week.

Baby chick’s first food should be “Chick Starter” crumbles. The size of the crumbles can vary. For the first week of life I recommend grinding the chick starter up so that it resembles powder. I use a coffee grinder. I think that this is easier to digest than some of the large crumbles that are in some packages. Pasty Butt poo is sometimes very loose and runny. Oatmeal can firm it up. I take old fashioned oatmeal and grind that up in a coffee grinder and then add it to the ground up chick starter. I make a batch that is 1/4 oatmeal and 3/4 chick starter. They seem to really like it and tend to eat more food with the oatmeal in it. I will also sprinkle some chick grit (sand) on top of it, kind of like just adding a sprinkling of salt to something. This will also help to firm their poo up as well. Grit can also be offered in a separate dish.

Treats should be given very sparingly that first week. I wouldn’t give them any treats beyond ground up oatmeal, hard boiled egg yolk, or perhaps some plain yogurt. Pasty butt is often a result of the chick switching from nutrients found in their egg to the new food out in the world. Stick with the chick starter for now. There is plenty of time for treats after they are a week old and their digestive systems can better handle it.

I do add some things to their water. Probiotics and vitamins can give them a good start. Rooster Booster has both vitamins and probiotics . It can be added to water or sprinkled on feed. Probios is also a choice for adding active cultures to your chick’s gut. Gro – 2 – Max is a product that is organic and provides probiotics for your water .I also add a splash of apple cider vinegar to their water for gut health.

Be on the lookout for listless behavior. I notice that my chicks move and walk differently when they have pasty butt. They do not feel well when they are plugged up. Remember that temperature, stress and food each play a role in your chick’s health.

For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.

Victoria J. Peterson

How to get Beetle Green Sheen in Black Chickens

March 12, 2018May 1, 2020 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

The green sheen on a black chicken is something very much desired. You find it in the tail feathers, wings, saddle and hackles of solid, deep black feathered birds. The purple sheen is not a desired trait and some will even say that it is a nutritional deficiency that causes it.

Microraptor was a very small, four winged dinosaur that lived 130 million years ago. Its feathers have been fossilized and they show black and blue hues similar to a crow. It is the earliest evidence of iridescent feather color. Microraptor was completely black with a glossy, iridescent blue sheen.

Feather color is produced in birds by arrays of pigment bearing organelles called melanosomes. Iridescence happens when the melanosomes are organized in stacked layers. This iridescence is widespread in modern birds and is frequently used in courtship displays.

In chickens, the green sheen on black is very much sought after and appears to be in part produced by the structure of the feathers and in part by the condition of the pigment in them. It is found only in chickens with good black color and in the absence of any purple barring. It can also be found in any chicken that has some black feathers such as partridge silkies.

The quality of the feather is a very important issue. A black chicken with a strong green sheen will have a much smoother feather feel to it. You should almost be able to feel how soft and conditioned that green sheen feather is when compared to duller feathers.

The amount of green sheen varies from bird to bird. Some have a lot of sheen and others don’t. Mostly it is found in roosters, but hens can have it too. I have seen some beautiful sheen on the wings and body of very dark hens. Sheen is more apparent in the sun where light can reflex off of the feathers.

Keratin is a crucial protein in bird’s feathers. The way it is structured allows light to twist and turn and separate. It allows feathers to act like a prism by scattering the longer wavelengths of light and reflecting shorter ones to give us the gorgeous blues, purples and greens.

The preen gland is a gland that is located at the base of the tail. This secreted oil helps to keep keratin flexible. This makes feathers appear more saturated with color. Most birds preen by rubbing their beak and head over the preen gland pore and then rubbing the accumulated oil over the feathers on its body.

The green color you see is due to the effect of light scattering and reflecting off the feather structure. This is called the Tyndall Effect and it creates the illusion of certain colors.

There are four basic types of feather luster. There is green, red/purple, blue and matte- the absence of any sheen. Feather sheen is a matter partly of genes and partly of feather condition.

Gold based blacks are easier to get the correct green sheen and eliminate purple sheen. Green sheen is good and purple sheen is not among chicken breeders in the United States. A dilute black will not give you the same sheen display as a pure black color. Here is an article on my adult black silkie pen and what it is like to work with the black color. That super black color is especially useful if you are working with varieties such as Paint Silkies.

If you want to breed towards improving green sheen you must selectively breed for those desired traits. Breed green to green and remove birds with the purple/red sheen from your breeding program. Have a separate coop to keep your breeding pair in; that way you can be sure of the parentage. Keep track of your breeding pens and keep careful written records of parents and the quality of their offspring. For more information check out “How to Keep a Flock History“.

The degree of iridescence seen on all feathers is a matter of condition. A healthy bird on a good diet has more vibrant colors. Excellent food and clean, safe conditions in the coop will go a long way towards bringing out the color in your birds. Good health will improve the sheen of the feathers so they better reflect the light.

Feather Fixeris a supplement feed that people often use to improve a chicken’s feathers. Any higher protein feed will help to condition feathers. Adding vitamins and electrolytes to your bird’s water will also improve its overall health as well as probiotics and Rooster Booster.

Victoria J. Peterson

Silkies For Sale – 3/6/18

March 6, 2018March 7, 2018 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

Silkies For Sale – 3/1/18

February 28, 2018February 28, 2018 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

Silkie Wings – What makes Show Quality?

February 23, 2018May 4, 2020 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

20180222_161805 There has been lots of discussion about the difference between a show quality silkie and a pet quality silkie. Some of that has to do with their wings. I am going to talk about a few different problems that the silkie breed is known to have difficulties with as far as wings are concerned.

First of all, what is a perfect wing on a chicken? The wings should be well formed when the wing is opened out. You may see judges at a poultry show opening and shutting a bird’s wing. You need to open the wing and stretch it out so you can see from one end to the other and look at every individual feather. The formation should be perfect and easy to fan out. There should be no gaps showing and the feathers should form an arc. When there is an open space between the primaries and the secondaries when the wing is opened, the defect is called a split wing.

There are ten primary feathers and ten secondary feathers. There should be no gap between them. There is also a small axle feather between the primaries and the secondaries.

The wing muscle should also be sufficiently strong enough to fold the wing back correctly and firmly. The primary feathers should tuck under the secondary feathers and be held tightly to the body and into the cushion. They should be held horizontally and not droop. The wing should be flat against the body and not stick out.

The entire body of the silkie should be covered in abundant fluff and the wings should be ragged, almost shredded or tattered looking. Ideally, they should be shredded one third up the primary feathers. No hard looking feathers should be visible.

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There are three main faults that can be seen in silkie wings. Split wing is where the feathers have a gap between the primary and secondary feathers or at the top of the wing between the primaries. You will always know when a wing is split as the wing feels weak and has a lot of give when handling it. Both sets of feathers should be level. With split wing on set of feathers will be longer than the other.

Slipped wing is when the wing does not return to its natural folded position when opened. The primary feathers may overlap in reverse order or there is a tendency for the primary feathers to be held outside the secondaries when the wing is closed. The primaries should tuck under the secondaries but instead the reverse happens. The primary feathers show from the outside and may even be twisted. Angel wing is slang for slipped wing in chickens. Actual Angel wing is found in water fowl.

Twisted feather is when a feather is in the slipped wing position but is turned upside down so that you are seeing the bottom side of the feather.

All three of these conditions are considered disqualifications in the show ring. When assessing for faults in your bird make sure that you are not looking at it if it is heading into its annual molt. The best age to be checking is the thirty week mark. By this point the bird will be mature enough and is not usually going through a molt. You can begin to look at wings earlier at three to four months as most birds have fully feathered out by then to start getting an idea of what you want to save for poultry showing.

An APA standard is a valuable book to own. It gives you complete descriptions of what is correct for all breeds of chickens when you are showing. It also will let you know what is a disqualification or a fault. There is also the Bantam Standard which is also quite good. Silkies are classified as bantams.

You should try and breed your best to your best. These wing defects are a recessive trait and can be passed down. Choose wisely and create breeding pens with your best hens and rooster. A separate pen from the rest of your birds allows you plenty of room for your breeding program. This article on “Selective Silkie Breeding” will give you some ideas on how to set a program up.

Victoria J. Peterson