Chicken possibly paralyzed. Dying.

[Goodmorningelaine]

Hi all, I am new here. I've had chickens for a number of years. Had a flock wiped out by dogs, lost a batch of baby chicks to some respiratory virus but nothing more than that illness wise. About 3 months ago we lost a silkie with no warning. All other chickens were fine and we moved them to the big coop, buried the silkie. We got another batch of Silkies about a month later, kept them indoors for a bit and then moved them out to the little coop. I dont think these chicks were vaccinated. I've never vaccinated any chickens which I am now realizing is a mistake.
Today I went out to the silkie coop (this is a new batch of Silkies a few months old.) And one girl who had seemed fine yesterday (we've all had covid this week so the chickens have not had much attention) was curled up leaning on the wire. She did not react to the dog so I scooped her up. At first she tried to run but was easy to catch. She made a fuss about it. I had a look at her and wondered if she had a broken foot. She kept falling over. I wondered if this had prevented her from eating and drinking because it would have been difficult to get to the food and water. I brought her inside and realized she had wet poop stuck in her feathers. I cleaned her up and put her in a tub with bedding and food and water. She attempted to eat but not drink. I went to pick up my kids and go to the store. When I returned I picked her up and she was pretty limp. Made no real fuss but she was still cheeping almost in a song like way. Her head sort of slowly fell backward like she had no control of it and her wings opened but she was alive. I called the vet and they were closed. I called animal control. Same. I called A&M and they told me how to bring her in for a necroscopy. They were lovely they just couldn't provide advice.
I googled and thought it sounded like Marek's disease but found some things that might look the same. I went to tractor supply and ultimately injected her with b1 and gave her a large dose for vit E by mouth. She kept opening as if she wanted more so I syringe fed her some water. The lovely cheeping now stopped completely and I think now she was gasping for air and not asking for water.
I'm afraid I've killed her. Could I have given her too much vit b1? Could I have drowned her? She was not gasping for air before I fed her water by syringe. I could have accidentally stabbed an organ when I tried to administer vit B1. Ive never injected a chicken. This is really devastating.
Its been an anxiety filled week (COVID) and now I'm afraid I've killed this chicken. I'm afraid maybe she had something transmissible and I shouldn't have been handling her. I'm worried the kids will get it. I'm worried about the other chickens. I'm worried about bird flu. In short, I'm spiraling. Does anyone have anything helpful?

 

[nuthatched]

Take a breath and calm down, what's done is done and there's no reason to worry (with no reason) about every little thing.
It sounds like vitamin deficiency, silkies are prone to it.
It's possible she's aspirated but let's hope not.
How big of a dose of b12 did you inject? What size needle and where did you inject her?
Stop worrying about bird flu or your kids getting it.
Don't tell a&m you suspect bird flu, the government takes it far more seriously than needed.

 

[Goodmorningelaine]

20 gauge. Looking at it now it looks way too big. The thiamine I used was for larger animals so I used a tiny amount. Like .25 ml of the solution. She's tiny. The a&m doctor was actually reassuring that it was not bird flu. She suggested Marek disease so that led me to google. I will take her in anyway. I don't know if it's possible to prevent in the rest of the flock if thats what it was.

 

[nuthatched]

20 gauge. Looking at it now it looks way too big. The thiamine I used was for larger animals so I used a tiny amount. Like .25 ml of the solution. She's tiny. The a&m doctor was actually reassuring that it was not bird flu. She suggested Marek disease so that led me to google. I will take her in anyway. I don't know if it's possible to prevent in the rest of the flock if thats what it was.

If it's already mareks, there's nothing you can do. But it's likely not.
I would only worry about things you can help, like offering support care through the night.
If she pulls through tonight continue the thiamine, but what is the solution of the thiamine? We can help.you with the dose.

 

[Goodmorningelaine]

If it's already mareks, there's nothing you can do. But it's likely not.
I would only worry about things you can help, like offering support care through the night.
If she pulls through tonight continue the thiamine, but what is the solution of the thiamine? We can help.you with the dose.

 

[Goodmorningelaine]

She died. I will take her to A&M for some clarity and post the outcome here. Feeling so heartbroken but also relieved because she was suffering and I just didn't know if I could possibly save her.
The whole thing has brought some attention at least to the kinds of things that can happen to chickens with nutritional deficiencies.
So far the other chickens seem fine. They are being fed what I perceived to be the bougie feed from tractor supply. It's a starter feed as they are not laying yet. I've never used it before. The brand is Cluck and Co. Is that wrong? What do I do to prevent deficiencies in the Silkies? They do not yet free range as I don't have a space for them to do so yet.

 

[nuthatched]

She died. I will take her to A&M for some clarity and post the outcome here. Feeling so heartbroken but also relieved because she was suffering and I just didn't know if I could possibly save her.
The whole thing has brought some attention at least to the kinds of things that can happen to chickens with nutritional deficiencies.
So far the other chickens seem fine. They are being fed what I perceived to be the bougie feed from tractor supply. It's a starter feed as they are not laying yet. I've never used it before. The brand is Cluck and Co. Is that wrong? What do I do to prevent deficiencies in the Silkies? They do not yet free range as I don't have a space for them to do so yet.

I'm very sorry to hear that.
Cluck and Co is usually a whole grain feed, birds can pick out the parts they like best and leave the vitamin powders. It's best served as a mash or fermented. A pelletized or crumble feed will provide a better balance for now. Maybe even add done nutritional yeast. And if you see these symptoms again ( strange head movments or twitching, stubbling etc) , give a 400 i.u vitamin E capsule and a third of a B complex tablet every day for a few weeks. You can get these at the grocery store, any brand. Just pull down on the wattle and pop them in the beak.