4th day not eating drinking. Pullet. 21weeks. Silkie. HELP!

[Greebo]

Yes I had the sun set which meant I've just had to go secure all the other (healthy) chickens and other animals. Back on task now. I've also been told to use honey dissolved in water (on another site), but would you put that over the electrolyte combo?

 

[Greebo]

Okay, so far so good. The yellow *might* be a concern of a broken egg, but as she hasn't laid yet, we'll hold off on that worry for now. Everything else I've read sounds like it's as it shoud be except for the purplish area of the comb. That could have been a temporary thing, though, so let's not concern ourselves with it too much.

I wondered if she was beginning to show signs of being a regular silkie with the purple? All her siblings have purple/black combs. Thought may be a sign of maturing or other adolescent changes...? Not sure. Hoping not a bad sign.

 

[nightowl223]

Yes I had the sun set which meant I've just had to go secure all the other (healthy) chickens and other animals. Back on task now. I've also been told to use honey dissolved in water (on another site), but would you put that over the electrolyte combo?

Not the first time, no. The electrolytes mix is more important right now, to combat dehydration. That would kill much faster than doing without the extra calories from the honey. The electrolytes mix should have vitamins in it, anyway. After you've gotten that crop full of some liquids, then you can worry about getting calories in.

 

[nightowl223]

I wondered if she was beginning to show signs of being a regular silkie with the purple? All her siblings have purple/black combs. Thought may be a sign of maturing or other adolescent changes...? Not sure. Hoping not a bad sign.

Well, if her coloration is like the others, and they have the purplish combs, then that's nothing to worry about. The concern I had is that a purplish comb in a bird with normally a red comb is that there's some lack of oxygen for some reason, whether due to disease or shock or injury or some other reason. But, like I said, if she is the same kind of coloration as the rest, and they have purple in their combs naturally, don't be concerned with it right now.

 

[nightowl223]

Once you get a few of the larger syringes full of liquids in her, then you can try taking her temperature. Use something natural like mineral oil for lubrication if at all possible. No need to risk getting any weird chemicals into her system!

 

[nightowl223]

It's nearly 6 AM here, close to my (don't laugh) normal bedtime. I'll try to hang in there until I get to hear you managed to get those liquids in her, and maybe a temperature. If you don't hear from me, though, hopefully someone else will pitch in in a couple of hours. Just know that the most important part right is getting those fluids, electrolytes, and vitamins in her as fast as safely possible. After that, while you're waiting, get her settled into a crate or box or something comfy, and install her in your tub or something to contain any messes. Come morning, you can scramble some eggs, toss some garlic powder or crushed fresh garlic and some cayenne pepper (crushed, fresh, powder, whatever) into the mix while you're mixing it up to cook in, and the garlic and cayenne are both good for getting the energy levels up and strengthening the immune system. That, because even if she is 100% illness free currently, whatever she has going on is liable to be hard on her immune system, and we need to try to get her strength up before any bugs move in on her system.

OH!! It completely skipped my mind when I was listing things to check... that's why multiple heads are better than one...
Feel along her breastbone, her keel, and see if there's lots of meat along both sides, or if there's just a sharp, pointy keel bone sticking out and hardly any muscle either side, which would be a sign of being really underweight. Also, you need to check her feathers around her cloaca and underbelly for signs of feather lice (if you can't see anything crawling around, look for white crusty blobs at the very base of the feathers, right where they go into her skin. If theyre there, those are feather lice eggs). Also keep a watch in your coop(s) for mites, which are tiny little red parasites that are fond of chickens, too. And once you get her energy built up, you might need to worm her, in case that's what's dragging her down.

 

[Greebo]

Had to hunt for the thermometer, got it now. Bonus the batteries still work! In business. I have coconut oil would that do for lubrication?
I have gotten her to drink 3.5ml by dribbling into the crack on side of beak, and she swallowed it all, but towards end she was moving her head away. Should I wait before giving her another syringe or force her head to stay?
Also, I have kept food in front of her (she's on kitchen floor with me atm) a disgh of chick crumble and a dish with some mealworms. She just ate about a desert spoon size of mealworms! But left rest. Don't think she should eat more than that though anyway if not go grit in her atm, do you think? Should I remove them now? She's not showing further interest yet but not sure if that would be bad for her if she did...

 

[nightowl223]

Put the mealworms away for another time, and let her rest, then try for more water later. it's a good sign, though, that she indicated when she'd had enough. Just keep some feed in front of her. As for the grit, as long as she'd been out with her siblings for any time at all out where she could get grit, she wouldn't necessarily need any more right away. The generally don't go through it too fast.

in a pinch, I'd say that would work for lubrication. It would be safe, as long as it has no extra chemical additives in it. But if she shows an undue amount of upset over the process, hold off until you get a better lubricant. I'm not sure how the coconut oil would do for lubrication, is the thing, not having ever tried to use it for this kind of thing before. I suppose if worse comes to worse, you can try under the wing, though that wouldn't be as accurate, just like it's not as accurate for us humans.

 

[Greebo]

Sorry, just realised you must be in diff country - America yes? Thanks so much for helping me! I have a hospital cage, with a heat lamp I use. Cover it with a sheet to keep warmth in - heat lamp is only 25w, use reptile air temp gauges to monitor, only gets to 34*c under the lamp and 28*c to the rest of the cage. They don't like the wire floor so I lay a towel down or put perch in, her preference is towel.
She isn't skin and bone, but not fat either. No signs of moving critters nor eggs. Silkies have thick feathers though for sure! Helps that she has so many new feathers coming in, so they are just little pins I can push aside to look around. All seems clear. Was wormed on 28th Jan, last dusted for mites on 8th Jan. Was due, I have bought some diatomaceous earth was about to do them all again, but she showed these symptoms and I held off in case it affected her adversely. Should I dust her now?
How much garlic and cayenne pepper would I need, say per egg used? Is crushed fresh or powder better? I have both. Will need to buy the cayenne, shops shut near me til after 8.30am 2moro, so would be a late breaky for her.
Should I go to her through the night to give liquid? Or leave her sleep? Prepared to get up as often as needed for her though!

 

[Greebo]

Coconut oil was success! Temp came to 40.3*c which google translated to 104.54F. Lower end of what you'd said, is that ok? She's not been under lamp, she's still in kitchen with me, she might be getting cold? Though room temperature gauge says it's currently 24*c in here. I mean 75F. So not a cold night.