Help!! Help! Silkie possibley brain damaged...or sick! Need help!

[Frozen Feathers]

I just went out and saw my baby Gwen (July 28th hatch Silkie) just laying there. She can't get up, she keeps tossing her head back and laying it on her side. She is trying to hold it upright, but can't. There was a little blood on nostril, but can't see any anywhere else. I have her in my house, her breathing is really shallow and she didn't peep when I picked her up.

Please is there anything I can do? Is there anything I can medicate her with? I think she may have been pecked on the head. No one is acting sick. She was acting fine this morning. Please help me. I don't want her to die.

 

[chickensrme]

by any chance is she having trouble walking.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

She can stand, if I stand her up, but she is having a hard time keeping balance and she won't walk. She's acting like she's drunk.

 

[lfoose]

Is it possible she could have gotten into something poisionous?

 

[TxChiknRanchers]

Someone, I think silkiechicken, said that they are very susceptable to head injury. Hope she recovers

 

[Frozen Feathers]

It is very doubtful she could have gotten into anything. She stays in a coop except when I take her (and the other young ones) out to play in the grass. I am watching them when they play.

 

[speckledhen]

Sounds like a condition called limberneck, common in some Silkies. I don't have Silkies but I've been privy to many discussions on this condition, which I think is caused by a vitamin deficiency. I don't want to say more because I'm afraid to tell you the wrong thing. Do a search on limberneck and see if her symptoms match.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

I did a search and the symptoms seem the same. It was also suggested that this can be caused by a hard peck on the head. I believe it must have been a peck on the head, rather then a vitamin deficiency. It came on too suddenly, I feed commercial feed and no one else is showing any of the early symptoms of limberneck. I will however keep a very close eye on my flock.

She seems to not being swinging her head around as much and purred when I just came in the house. I've been giving her water with an eyedropper and she is drinking it. Other then that I don't know what else I can do...

 

[dlhunicorn]

Here is the treatment for crookneck-limberneck caused by injury;
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=casestudiesemergencies&action=display&num=1160927052