Silkies rescued, sickly, and weak.

I just rescued three Silkies from a filthy farmer's market. (Ididn't need any more chickens, but I couldn't leave them in that condition). All three have swollen and oozing eyes, they've lost most of their feathers on their neck and heads, and the feathers they do have are dull and matted. (they are definitely separated from my small backyard flock)
I've got them on medicated starter feed, put some Nutri-drench in the water and put some Neosporin in each eye.
What next? Any one have any suggestions for additional treatment for these babies?

try some "Rooster Booster" rub it on any cuts or sores it saved my chickens life

I would worm them ASAP. I would start with safeguard, check the dosage but I think its 3 tablespoons per gallon of water, given for 3 days and repeated in 14 days, but check to make sure I'm right before doing it. And check carefully for external parasites, if they have mites, dust with poultry dust and vaseline (or skin so soft) their legs and feet. If you have lots of eggs, you can give them boiled eggs mixed in with their feed, also any extra protein you give them should help them with their feathers. Thanks for rescuing them and good luck.

jha31452 said:

I just rescued three Silkies from a filthy farmer's market. (Ididn't need any more chickens, but I couldn't leave them in that condition). All three have swollen and oozing eyes, they've lost most of their feathers on their neck and heads, and the feathers they do have are dull and matted. (they are definitely separated from my small backyard flock)
I've got them on medicated starter feed, put some Nutri-drench in the water and put some Neosporin in each eye.
What next? Any one have any suggestions for additional treatment for these babies?

Click to expand...

Watch the discharge from eyes,sounds like a respiratory infection which could spread to your entire flock. Yes,keep quarantined,the longer the better. Use separate utensils,feed.wear gloves,feed healthy chickens first,then attend to sick ones.

jha31452 said:

I just rescued three Silkies from a filthy farmer's market. (Ididn't need any more chickens, but I couldn't leave them in that condition). All three have swollen and oozing eyes, they've lost most of their feathers on their neck and heads, and the feathers they do have are dull and matted. (they are definitely separated from my small backyard flock)
I've got them on medicated starter feed, put some Nutri-drench in the water and put some Neosporin in each eye.
What next? Any one have any suggestions for additional treatment for these babies?

Click to expand...

Keep them isolated, as it sounds like they have a respiratory disease. Give electrolytes and probiotics to help them recover. Check them for mites and lice (look around the vent and under the wings). They probably have lost feathers on their heads because either they've been kept with a rooster, or they are molting. You might want to worm them. Valbazen would be the best dewormer in this case, as, though Safeguard is just as good, it shouldn't be used with birds that are molting/growing feathers in.

If you want to treat the possible respiratory disease, get some Tylan50. It is a good antibiotic for most respiratory diseases. Give your Silkies .5ccs once a day for five days. Injecting it into the breast muscle is probably the best idea (some people inject it subcutaneously into the back of the neck, but I've always read to do it into the breast muscle-- really, either way is fine; I just recommend the breast muscle method). Use a small gauge needle, like around 20-22 gauge.

If they have any wounds/injuries caused by pecking, put some antibiotic ointment without any "caine" ingredients or painkillers on. Make sure that all of the Silkies have enough room so that they don't pick on each other more.

Keep in mind that many respiratory diseases make birds carriers for life. If you introduce them into your backyard flock, they may get the disease too. Some people would cull birds sick with a respiratory disease. If you only have a small backyard flock, you could probably keep them. Just don't sell any hatching eggs or birds that have the disease.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I had some poultry dust, so that is taken is taken care of. I'll get some worming med tomorrow and pick up some antibiotic.
They've been eating nonstop, so I'm guessing that they weren't feed very well before.

My plan is to keep them in isolation for at least a month before integrating them into the flock. Hope they make it that long.

ten chicks said:

Watch the discharge from eyes,sounds like a respiratory infection which could spread to your entire flock. Yes,keep quarantined,the longer the better. Use separate utensils,feed.wear gloves,feed healthy chickens first,then attend to sick ones.

Click to expand...

I agree. Do they sound gurgly at all? if so it could be Mycoplasma, be very careful. Might want to have some Tetracycline on hand. Be careful not to over load them on all these remedies at once though, might be too much for their weakened systems to handle.

jenifern said:

I agree. Do they sound gurgly at all? if so it could be Mycoplasma, be very careful. Might want to have some Tetracycline on hand. Be careful not to over load them on all these remedies at once though, might be too much for their weakened systems to handle.

Click to expand...

If its Mycoplasma, or a more serious respiratory disease, Tetracycline would not be a good antibiotic to use-- its too weak. Tylan would be better.

Wyandottes7 said:

If its Mycoplasma, or a more serious respiratory disease, Tetracycline would not be a good antibiotic to use-- its too weak. Tylan would be better.

Click to expand...

Oh yes I agree. But it's better than nothing. Here in Canada you can't just walk in to your local feed store and buy Tylan in most cases, you have to get it from a vet or order it in the mail from the US. $$

jenifern said:

Oh yes I agree. But it's better than nothing. Here in Canada you can't just walk in to your local feed store and buy Tylan in most cases, you have to get it from a vet or order it in the mail from the US. $$

Click to expand...

So true,isn't it frustrating how limited we are to meds. The only thing i can purchase at a livestock store is Tetracycline,like you said everything else has to be purchased from a vet,even Amprol.