Please help with my silkie. I've only been keeping chickens for 9 months and this is our first taste of something amiss.
1) What type of bird , age and weight: White Bantam Silkie, 9 months old, 2-3 lbs.
2) What is the behavior, exactly: She's been laying in her nest box not moving for the past hour, not interested in treats I throw in the pen, breathing and she'll lift her tail feathers and make a tiny noise if I touch her. I haven't picked her up and put her on her feet to see if she'll stand and walk yet. I kind of wanted to leave her alone for a bit to see if she would get up on her own. I know someone will ask - she lays nearly every day and laid yesterday but not today yet.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?: About an hour - she was fine just before (see below for possible incident)
4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma: No
5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation: We have a 5-year-old next door neighbor who likes to play with the birds and we carried three of them over to her yard to eat their clovers (they've eradicated mine completely!). The neighbor girl carried the silkie but she's very good with her and knows how to hold them carefully. We set them down in the neighbor's yard for about 30 minutes while we watched them. She was poking around and seemed fine. There was one incident where the neighbor set her on something about three feet off the ground and she tumbled down, flapping . She stayed upright the whole time and seemed fine afterwards, though I have to admit I didn't look closely. (Yes, the girl was corrected in her behavior). We carried them back and set them in the coop. I threw some clovers in the run that I collected at the neighbor's and noticed the silkie didn't come out. She was sitting in the next box and hasn't moved since. When she's laying an egg she's normally pecking around and more upright. Now she seems like she's really not up on her feet at all.
6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all: Don't know yet.
7) How does the poop look? Don't know yet.
8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Leaving her alone for the time being.
9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? - I will take her to a vet if necessary (and if we can find one in Oakland or Bay Area that will treat a chicken.
11) Describe the housing/bedding in use: Coop is 6 x 3 and run is 6 x 3 but they free range in the backyard about half the day. They eat a laying mix and have free choice oyster shell chips.
1) What type of bird , age and weight: White Bantam Silkie, 9 months old, 2-3 lbs.
2) What is the behavior, exactly: She's been laying in her nest box not moving for the past hour, not interested in treats I throw in the pen, breathing and she'll lift her tail feathers and make a tiny noise if I touch her. I haven't picked her up and put her on her feet to see if she'll stand and walk yet. I kind of wanted to leave her alone for a bit to see if she would get up on her own. I know someone will ask - she lays nearly every day and laid yesterday but not today yet.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?: About an hour - she was fine just before (see below for possible incident)
4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma: No
5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation: We have a 5-year-old next door neighbor who likes to play with the birds and we carried three of them over to her yard to eat their clovers (they've eradicated mine completely!). The neighbor girl carried the silkie but she's very good with her and knows how to hold them carefully. We set them down in the neighbor's yard for about 30 minutes while we watched them. She was poking around and seemed fine. There was one incident where the neighbor set her on something about three feet off the ground and she tumbled down, flapping . She stayed upright the whole time and seemed fine afterwards, though I have to admit I didn't look closely. (Yes, the girl was corrected in her behavior). We carried them back and set them in the coop. I threw some clovers in the run that I collected at the neighbor's and noticed the silkie didn't come out. She was sitting in the next box and hasn't moved since. When she's laying an egg she's normally pecking around and more upright. Now she seems like she's really not up on her feet at all.
6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all: Don't know yet.
7) How does the poop look? Don't know yet.
8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Leaving her alone for the time being.
9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? - I will take her to a vet if necessary (and if we can find one in Oakland or Bay Area that will treat a chicken.
11) Describe the housing/bedding in use: Coop is 6 x 3 and run is 6 x 3 but they free range in the backyard about half the day. They eat a laying mix and have free choice oyster shell chips.