Did I get a bad Silkie??

[Blingchix6]

I recently purchased a Silkie pullet at a poultry show. She keeps her head down/hides it in a corner. It's
almost like wry neck except she keeps her head tucked down in front of her. She will actually roll over(like a chicken somersault) sometimes. I gave her a dose of NutriDrench when we got home, and she has access to food and water but her crop is empty. She is (in my opinion) acting lethargic and "puny". Any suggestions for how I can help this little girl?

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

If you got her from a show, she probably is worn out spending how many days in a little cage with people staring and poking at her. I'd highly doubt anyone would be showing a chicken with wry neck so that's why I doubt she's got that.

I would keep her on the Nutri-Drench water every other day. If you are feeding pellets, try crumbles. Our silkies didn't do well on pellets when we tried them years ago. They've been on Kalmbach's Flock Maker crumbles for years. I just provide a separate dish of oyster shell for the layers.

You could try wetting her feed as she should like that. Most of ours think it's a treat.

If she doesn't improve in a day or two, then I'd go with giving her a whole Vitamin E pill. Just open her beak and put it in. Give her a little scrambled eggs to go with that for the selenium she'd need to absorb the E. I'd continue this once a day for a couple of weeks. If it truly is something neurological, this should help.

Do you have other chickens?

 

[Blingchix6]

Hi,

If you got her from a show, she probably is worn out spending how many days in a little cage with people staring and poking at her. I'd highly doubt anyone would be showing a chicken with wry neck so that's why I doubt she's got that.

I would keep her on the Nutri-Drench water every other day. If you are feeding pellets, try crumbles. Our silkies didn't do well on pellets when we tried them years ago. They've been on Kalmbach's Flock Maker crumbles for years. I just provide a separate dish of oyster shell for the layers.

You could try wetting her feed as she should like that. Most of ours think it's a treat.

If she doesn't improve in a day or two, then I'd go with giving her a whole Vitamin E pill. Just open her beak and put it in. Give her a little scrambled eggs to go with that for the selenium she'd need to absorb the E. I'd continue this once a day for a couple of weeks. If it truly is something neurological, this should help.

Do you have other chickens?

Yes. I have a flock of 15 chickens outside and 2 house chickens. The flock is mixed with a lot of different breeds. My 2 indoor chickens are a 12 oz black Serama I got last year at the poultry show and a frizzled bantam Cochin named Lola, who is an 8 year old rescue chicken that I got from my friend Lisa. She said I was the only person she could trust to take proper care of Lola, who had been living inside her shirt for 3 weeks since she pulled her out of the water dish in the brooder. Lola has never been an outdoor chicken and she is the Queen of the House. I'm fairly certain that the new Silkie has some type of neurological issue. Thank you for the suggestion and I will try giving her some Vitamin E. She also has both crumbles and Kalmbach feed in her dish, as well as NutriDrench in her water. I hope she is okay. I feel very badly for her. I can hold her head up by putting my finger under her beak, but when I let go, her head returns to her chest and she cannot lift it. I also wonder if I should contact the person I got her from, who posted on FB that the Silkies that she entered in the Ohio National Poultry show came in at a respectable place (I do NOT want to say where they were ranked as I do not want to name her specifically).

 

[Debbie292d]

Yes. I have a flock of 15 chickens outside and 2 house chickens. The flock is mixed with a lot of different breeds. My 2 indoor chickens are a 12 oz black Serama I got last year at the poultry show and a frizzled bantam Cochin named Lola, who is an 8 year old rescue chicken that I got from my friend Lisa. She said I was the only person she could trust to take proper care of Lola, who had been living inside her shirt for 3 weeks since she pulled her out of the water dish in the brooder. Lola has never been an outdoor chicken and she is the Queen of the House. I'm fairly certain that the new Silkie has some type of neurological issue. Thank you for the suggestion and I will try giving her some Vitamin E. She also has both crumbles and Kalmbach feed in her dish, as well as NutriDrench in her water. I hope she is okay. I feel very badly for her. I can hold her head up by putting my finger under her beak, but when I let go, her head returns to her chest and she cannot lift it. I also wonder if I should contact the person I got her from, who posted on FB that the Silkies that she entered in the Ohio National Poultry show came in at a respectable place (I do NOT want to say where they were ranked as I do not want to name her specifically).

Could she have possibly strained or injured her neck in transport? It's just odd she was shown, then suddenly has wry neck. Regardless, with E, scrambled eggs, and some poultry vitamins every other day, she should recover!

 

[Blingchix6]

Could she have possibly strained or injured her neck in transport? It's just odd she was shown, then suddenly has wry neck. Regardless, with E, scrambled eggs, and some poultry vitamins every other day, she should recover!

I do not know how she could have sustained any injuries during transport. I put her in a cardboard box with pine shavings and some food and water. She stayed in my hotel bathroom on Friday night and I took her home on Saturday. I also bought a large Buff Orpington and transported her the same way, and she is outside sequestered in her own coop and doing just fine. I think of wry neck as being sideways, and this girl definitely has her head down. I noticed that she went into the corner of her box, but I figured it was just stress from being transported around. I really hope I can help this girl.

 

[Blingchix6]

I just scrambled up some egg for her and tried to get her to eat....but she just cannot control her head movements enough to eat anything. I left the scrambled eggs in her box and I will hope that she can eat something. She does not want to be picked up and resists if I try to put the food near her beak. I gave her the NutriDrench via a small syringe that I slid down into her crop, so I know that it went in.