HELP PLEASE! SICK SILKIE!

[MrsMommaJones]

My baby Gidget is very sick. I don't want to lose her but I don't know what's wrong. She's 18 weeks old. She was fine this morning but when I went to choose up the coop this afternoon I found her laying on her side. She looked like she hadn't eaten very well but we have fed them several times today and have given them pellets. The other silkies seem fine.

It takes effort to lift her head and she has had one bought of runny poop. I have been giving her watery apple sauce which she will eat a bit from a spoon. I have brought her in away from the others.

Please help me save my poor baby.

 

[casportpony]

Can you keep her warm and get her to a vet in the morning?

-Kathy

 

[MrsMommaJones]

She's in the house right now. Unfortunately this came at a bad time financially. We are broke until Friday

 

[MrsMommaJones]

Turns out she took a bump to the head. She is eating and I can get her to drink but not well. She can't really stand and when she does walk she can only walk backwards. She is holding her head up today however.

 

[Eggcessive]

Some silkies have vaulted skulls which can be injured very easily causing neurological symptoms such as wry neck, walking backwards or in circles. Since she is not eating well I would give some electrolyte water and vitamins. SaveAChick, Poultry Nutri-Drench, Poultry Cell and other commercial products would work, as well as Pedialyte or Gatorade. Soft scrambled egg, feed made into a mush with water would be good to feed. Applesauce may cause diarrhea. If you have no electrolytes, then add 1 tsp of sugar and 1/4 tsp of salt to 1 quart or liter of water. Only use that for a day or two until she is drinking normally. Keep her warm and in the house for now. Keep her quiet and away from too much stimulation or noise. Hand feed her and dipp her beak into electrolytes as often as you can. I hope she recovers. Here is a good link about tube feeding or crop feeding if you need it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

 

[ten chicks]

Yes,head injuries are very common with silkies due to vault. I had to tube feed a silkie roosters for 7 days due to some type of head trauma from a very mild peck. he immediately became lethargic,almost comatose like and stayed that way for about 5 days,tube fed him,used an electrolyte solution as base and added aspirin to mixture. Kept him warm,he recovered.

I have also read of using ensure supplement drink for wry neck(the owner of bird tried vitamin route with no success,so realizing she had nothing to lose she tried ensure,apparently it worked and bird completely recovered),but make sure it contains selenium and vit E.

 

[MrsMommaJones]

All 3 of our silkies have very vaulted heads. We took her out to play in the sun with our other 2 (they are very close) they all started chirping and she started walking forward a bit. We are in Texas and it's 70 degrees today. We had her eating Apple sauce with powdered oats and chick feed. No more tummy problems.

Our silkies are separated from our other chickens because we didn't want any head injuries. Looks like Gidget knocked her he'd on the perch so hard that it knocked it loose.

She's happy in the sun and perks up when she hears the others. She's is out in the run for now but we will bring her in soon to eat again.

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I want her to feel better soon