Help! Sick Rooster, Eats Fine, Balance Trouble

[modenasilkie]

I could really use some help with my Silkie rooster. I can't figure out what is going on with him, and so far nothing I have done seems to be helping him. His issues started a little over a week ago, and have been getting worse. I have been having issues with my Silkies for a while, and this is my last rooster and he's my favorite boy so I hope I can get him some help in time.

He has been eating and drinking fine. Actually, he has been eating more than usual. I check his crop pretty much every hour or so, and the food is in there and empties fairly quickly. I can feel water in there, but it leaves quickly as well. He is kept separate from my main flock, as he comes in the house to sleep. I haven't let his hens out with him, I keep them in the main run away from him since I don't know what is going on with him.

He usually follows me outside in the morning, and then waits by the door to come in when the sun starts to set. For over a week he hasn't been able to do so. He has been having trouble walking, with his feet slipping on the ground and tile floors. For about 5 days, he hasn't been able to stand well. He wobbles backwards. He stays mostly on his bed(which is a small pet bed), which seems to be the only thing that helps him keep his balance.

His droppings were fine last week, looked just like they usually do, but for around 4 days they have started looking bad. First his droppings got a bit runny, and now they have a mostly yellowish color and chalky texture. Sometimes he passes a normal dropping, but most of them are chalky yellow. His rear feathers have some of this on them, and I try to keep his feathers trimmed around his vent to prevent a lot of buildup.

Around 10 days ago all of my birds were dewormed with Wazine, including my roo. I have an area outside for him where I put his bed so he can get some air, and I help him walk into an area where he suns himself and then I make sure he gets back to his bed in the shade. I am feeding him mainly a mixture of grain I feed my pigeons and other chickens, which is a 16% protein mix. I also mix in a little grow mash for all my chickens, but my roo doesn't eat much of it. I also add a grit mixture into the feed with oyster shell in it.

Other than what I have already mentioned, I have checked my roo's keel bone and it doesn't feel right. He has lost a lot of meat and muscle, to the point I can feel his ribs. While my other Silkies have prominent keel bones compared to my other breeds, I have never been able to feel their ribs. I am very worried for my roo, he's going to be 2 years old next month and everyone loves him. I hope I can figure out what is going on and help him, I don't want to lose him. Any ideas and help would be appeciated.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is hard to know exactly what is wrong with him, but a vitamin deficiency or Mareks comes to mind as possibilities. I would stop the pigeon grains, and feed him only grower and give him a little egg and plain yogurt to make it more interesting. Adding a little water would make it into a nice mash, which sometimes gets them eating. Change it daily. Start some poultry vitamins that contain riboflavin on the label. Make sure that he continues to be able to reach his food and water. What other symptoms have you been seeing with the other silkies?

 

[modenasilkie]

Thanks Eggcessive, I will start giving him grower only and add some egg and yogurt and will look for some vitamins at the feed store. Will hard boiled egg be fine?

The silkies that I lost had various symptoms. I had one rooster who was fine one day, and the next he was really weak. He was the first silkie I lost 2 years ago, just a few days after he started showing symptoms. The next 2 were young pullets, and one had the bad droppings and was gone in a few days. The other pullet had symptoms much like my roo I am trying to help now, except she stopped eating and drinking until the last 2 days before she was gone. I had one chick who got rickets, but I read up online and gave her some vitamins and added stuff to her food(I can't remember what, I think yogurt and egg and oyster shell) and she started to improve and walk, but then she passed suddenly. I had several chicks who failed to hatch, and some who died after hatching. My roo had a sister in the same brood, but she got similar symptoms at 4 months old and didn't make it.

I started raising silkies 4 years ago, and the first 2 years everyone did great. I had lots of hatches. After the first lost 2 years ago, the problems have progressively gotten worse. My other breeds have been thriving, it's just the silkies who have had issues.

 

[Eggcessive]

Hard boiled or soft and scrambled is what I use. With your past problems, getting a fecal float on some of his fresh droppings to look for coccidiosis might be a good idea. If you should lose him though, I would definitely get a necropsy done by your state vet or poultry lab, to look for something like Mareks that might affect their immunity. This link gives info on contacting them in your state, and how to refrigerate the body:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[modenasilkie]

Thanks again Eggcessive. I think it could be Mareks, as I haven't vaccinated my flock for that. My faverolles are vaccinated, but that's because they came from a hatchery. I will probably look into starting that if that's what it turns out to be. I do vaccinate all of my birds for New Castle every year.

I did realize that I forgot to mention in my first post that this roo has had coccidiosis before. It was back in March of this year, his droppings were similar to what they are now. He didn't lose any weight at that time, though. He would still follow me out in the morning and wait at the door in the evening, but while he was outside he spent most of his time moping in his favorite shady dust bathing spot and ignoring his girls. For a couple of days he refused to eat or drink, and he wouldn't crow. We treated him with the same meds we use to treat coccidiosis in our pigeons, and within a week after treatment he was back to his usual self. This time his condition is so much worse, I wasn't sure if it could be cocciodiosis. The meds I have used don't seem to be having an effect this time.

I hope I don't lose him, but if that happens I definitely would want to have a necropsy done to find out for sure what this is.

 

[modenasilkie]

An update. My roo Modena took a turn, now he can barely stand and only stands when he goes over to his feed and water dishes. Sometimes he holds one or both wings out to balance himself, and his head droops a lot. I have been doing a lot of reading, and now I am almost certain my silkies problems are all related to Marek's, especially after the past day.

I went out in the morning and fed the chickens and refreshed their waterers. Everyone seemed fine, my sizzle roo was doing his quiet attempts at crowing(he had only started crowing last month). Well, I had to run out to the post office and then the feed store to pick up more feed and when I got back, my sizzle roo was lying on the ground dead. There were no signs of injuries, but I did my own inspection of him and I believe he had a form of Marek's.

I am already familiar with pigeons as I have been raising them for 11 years and can treat and diagnose them quite accurately, but chickens are a new thing for me and quite different from pigeons so it's been a big learning experience. I know Marek's isn't curable, which explains why my med treatments aren't having any effect on my roo this time. And I read that silkies are particularly vulnerable due to their genetics, which also explains why only my silkies and silkie crosses have been having issues. On top of that, we live in the desert and there is plenty of wind almost daily which isn't helping, and we have a lot of wild birds that get into the runs as well as ground squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits. So, a lot of things that are probably contributing to the problem.

I am now planning out a new regimen for my chickens to try and decrease future issues. I am making a removable pan to catch droppings under the coop, so that way it decreases the amount of dust getting into the coop from the wind since right now it is just a wire bottom where dust can blow up inside the coop. I need to get the chickens somewhere else for a while, too, so I can do a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the entire area where their coop and run is. I will vaccinate all my chicks for Marek's from now on, so that way hopefully I will have less losses in the future. As it stands, I only have 3 pure silkies left, and the roo isn't doing well.

 

[modenasilkie]

Modena just passed.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

I'm so sorry. As someone who has Marek's in their flock I recognise most of the symptoms you are describing and know the heart ache. Unfortunately as you are aware, Silkies are particularly prone to it.
Marek's compromises the immune system, so as well as the more usual symptoms of paralysis and muscle wastage, you also get a lot of birds that suffer with coccidiosis, worms and respiratory infections which they should have developed resistance to or be able to fight off. If you do a post mortem exam (necropsy) on him, can you take photos of anything abnormal you find and post them as it helps us learn more and there are several of us who have an interest in improving our diagnostic skills via such means. There are a few threads where we share photos and case histories which I can post a link to if you are interested.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[Eggcessive]

I am very sorry that you have lost the two birds so quickly. When adding any new vaccinated chicks, they need to be in an area where they are away from any of the dust and dander of your flock for at least 2 weeks. That way they can develop full immunity to the virus, although they will have the virus in their bodies. They will be carriers, but hopefully not have any of the symptoms. Rebascora is a much better person to give you info.

 

[modenasilkie]

Hello, sorry for my inactivity. I would be interested in seeing those threads Rebrascora. I have performed necropsies on my pigeons before, but only once on a chicken. In the case of our rooster, Modena, we couldn't bring ourselves to actually do that to him so I don't have any pictures at the moment.

The good news right now is that our other chickens are doing well, as far as I can tell. I check their combs, wattles, crops, vents, keels, weight, etc every day for even the slightest sign that something is up. After reviewing photos I took of Modena for the past 4 months, and considering the ways his behavior changed in that time frame, I can see how Marek's affected him. I am using this as well as what I have read on the disease to help me when checking my other chickens. I want to get blood tests on some of them, though, just to see what they find out.

I do want to get a batch of silkie chicks next year. I will have them in a brooder in our garage, where no wind can blow in dust and dander. I brooded our faverolles in there when I got them earlier this year and they did well. I will have a new coop for the new birds, located well away from our current one.