Do any of you have silkies? I only got two with my assortment from McMurray,but the Buff has a deformed beak! YOu cant see it well in the photo but its beak looks as if the upper and bottom halves cross, like crossing your fingers. He eats well and has no other problems that I know of but is this a trait I should worry about in his(or Her) offspring?
Unfortunately, yes, it is an inherited trait from what I have read. I could very well be wrong about this but that is how I understood it. However, if the chicken is eating and drinking well I would let it live and do what ever it does. It is so hard to tell who laid which egg in a flock so sorting out this one chicken's eggs to make sure none of them are hatched is very nearly impossible. Best wishes.
Thank you leaf lady, I love him and he has such a sweet personality already. I definitely am going to keep him as a pet! I had high hopes for him though as I heard that the Buffs were rare! His name is "Uggie" and his friend is a white Silkie named " Sang", as in the old fashioned " uggie sang" ,LOL!
Awwwh, bless his little heart. Hopefully it won't affect where he falls in the pecking order later on. Sometimes other chickens can sense when there's something odd or not quite right about one and they will be mean to it. As far as he's concerned, it probably dosen't bother him near as much as it does us. Probably seems the normal to him since it's all he's ever known. He probably wonders what's wrong with everybody ELSES beaks.......lol. He sure is a cute little fellow.
