off balance, shaking legs and wings - silkie mix

[ZagstHomestead]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Were they still chicks or already laying?

Marek's is an easy assumption and could well be. But hatching eggs from Silkies being fed a more nutritious diet than the one you describe... and not diminished by treats (just for comparison, no rudeness intended)... has proven to me that some individual birds will have greater needs than others. Maybe they don't process or absorb things as well. And sitting hens are a target for extra parasites, that can cause anemia and a whole host of things that might attack a weakened immune system. In this instance, I'm thinking nutrient deficit could be a real possibility. Maybe riboflavin specifically.

Many of my broody hens that sat for long (standard) periods will go through a molt afterwards.

Necropsy is highly recommended if she passes. North Carolina is #35 on my list to make it easy to find for ya...
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahln/downloads/all_nahln_lab_list.pdf

Oh gosh, a new born... congratulations!

Sorry you face this.

Thank you guys for all the quick responses!

I can try to post a video of her later, I'll reply to this thread with the link if so.

She was a laying hen, but because she's literally been broody for months on end (despite our efforts to gently break the broodiness) I had hoped this was maybe malnutrition from not even coming out to eat most of the day.

It seems odd to me that two of the silkies were suddenly struck with this out of the blue. There is one remaining silkie mix amongst the flock who is perfectly fine.

Has anyone ever sent off feather shafts for analysis? I had read on the state university's website something about that, I need to call the lab to see if it's a possibility as I'm not sure I can justify to my husband the shipping charges for sending her body off when she dies.

 

[Kiki]

I dusted her with diamataceous earth. I feed her this: www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/dumor-layer-pellet-16-50-lb

They don't get a ton of treats as they're mostly free-range. When they do it's fruit and veggie scraps.

Thank you.
Unfortunately DE won't rid the lice.
Can you get some permethrin dust or spray?

 

[Kiki]

Thank you guys for all the quick responses!

I can try to post a video of her later, I'll reply to this thread with the link if so.

She was a laying hen, but because she's literally been broody for months on end (despite our efforts to gently break the broodiness) I had hoped this was maybe malnutrition from not even coming out to eat most of the day.

It seems odd to me that two of the silkies were suddenly struck with this out of the blue. There is one remaining silkie mix amongst the flock who is perfectly fine.

Has anyone ever sent off feather shafts for analysis? I had read on the state university's website something about that, I need to call the lab to see if it's a possibility as I'm not sure I can justify to my husband the shipping charges for sending her body off when she dies.

Feather shaft is not a good way to test for many diseases.

 

[azygous]

One thing no one has mentioned that can cause these symptoms is exposure to petroleum distillates.

Several years ago, I was seeing a number of my chickens with neurological symptoms, lameness and balance issues. After searching for two days for a source, I discovered my log splitter was leaking hydraulic fluid onto the soil. Chickens picked up oil coated grit and it caused varying degrees of brain damage. It was something I had overlooked as a danger to my chickens.

 

[casportpony]

I can justify to my husband the shipping charges for sending her body off when she dies.

Most labs will let you use their FedEx account number so shipping costs will be much more affordable.

 

[coach723]

I don't have silkies and what I know is from reading, so one more possibility. They are particularly prone to Mareks disease, they are also particularly prone to 'water on the brain' which is infection/inflammation due to the dome in their skull, symptoms are often mistaken for Mareks. I understand that it may respond to treatment with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds if treatment is started early enough. You will likely need the help of a vet to get the appropriate medications if you want to try that.
https://poultrykeeper.com/blog/diseases-common-to-silkies/
If you lose her and have a necropsy done, that will hopefully remove any question and may be helpful if you have another with similar issues. So sorry, sometimes the answers aren't easily gotten.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

The only breed I will not have is silkies or anything crossed with them. Just to frail and in my opinion ugly. My apologies to those of you who like em.

Aside from not being helpful, it's kinda hurtful that a member of our community has lost one bird and others are showing symptoms that quite frankly have a poor prognosis... No thought of concern for the original poster but just intent on voicing an opinion about the breed they are seeking HELP with being ugly and frail, which is a statement without merit and just an opinion.

Anyways, I hope you will take this opportunity to consider in the future how your statement effects the actual poster and not just folks who may disagree with you.

I don't think your intention was to be hurtful. And my intention is not to be rude but to share with you that peeps facing death and having dealt with it already, many care for their chickens as pets and are quite saddened and very stressed by the time they post here.... and in some cases still in fear of losing their entire flock.

So I just encourage you to participate more in threads that you might enjoy and have some good input on instead of ones that are seeking medical attention if you don't have any encouragement or experience to offer these often desperate for answers type post.

 

[Eggcessive]

There are labs which will test a feather and one that will test blood for Mareks disease. The most accurate way to test is with a necropsy where tissue from both tumors (along nerves and in tissue) and feather shafts. With other methods, there can be false negatives, giving someone false hopes. The labs that do these tests may assure clients that their test may be very accurate, but in the poultry textbooks and most of the veterinary college literature say that the necropsy and testing is most accurate.

So many issues can look like Mareks, so I would try to rule out as many as possible.

 

[Kiki]

There are labs which will test a feather and one that will test blood for Mareks disease. The most accurate way to test is with a necropsy where tissue from both tumors (along nerves and in tissue) and feather shafts. With other methods, there can be false negatives, giving someone false hopes. The labs that do these tests may assure clients that their test may be very accurate, but in the poultry textbooks and most of the veterinary college literature say that the necropsy and testing is most accurate.

So many issues can look like Mareks, so I would try to rule out as many as possible.

I agree with this false negative result from testing will any sample from a live bird.

I've seen the false negative test yet the owner continued to lose birds. Necropsy proved the blood drop mail in test false.

I'm afraid there are many more people who have yet to post about getting the same results or continue to live in denial holding on to that one, mostly wrong, negative result.
Especially when they continue to lose birds.

 

[ZagstHomestead]

Thank you all again for your input.

I had never considered they may have gotten into something in the environment, I'll need to take a good walk around and look for anything potentially toxic.

When I noticed silkie B acting weird it made me think of a brain injury or stroke symptoms. I know these two chickens were always picked on, but they seemed to be able to run and hide from the bullies, I had never thought they could be seriously injured but I'm now considering it a possibility.

Here is a link to a (crappy) video of her sitting and moving around a little bit. Couldn't get a video of her trying to walk tonight but if anyone thinks it'd be helpful to see I'll try again tomorrow: