Help! Two Silkies Sick(Respiratory)

[erinolivia19]

I don’t know much about chicken crops, all I know is that it’s in the front of their body. The videoed chicken was/is not on any antibiotics as well.
Tomorrow I will check her breath and her crop. If it’s empty it should be squishy right, if not what should it feel like? I will also upload pictures of her poop, although we did just give her blueberries, so I will see about that tomorrow

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree with @Isaac 0 the neck movement looks like crop adjusting.
I would check her crop first thing in the morning before she eats/drinks - it should be empty, if it's not then I would read over the article linked below and determine which treatment she needs. I usually always start with giving coconut oil, gently manipulate the crop to see how it feels (hard, soft, squishy, fluid or air filled, doughy, etc.) then go from there. Smell her breath and check inside the beak again really well for lesions, yellow or white pasty material.

The sneezing may be from respiratory disease are her eyes watery too?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[SweetLittleChicks]

Hi did you hatch ur eggs by ur self or did u buy them from a local feed store or hatchery. If you hatched on your own or if you from a friend or a local farm probaly not vaccinated for marek disease you can not treat when hen are over 5 days old it’s all you can do is separate the hen because it is very Contiguous and let it live out it’s life. BUT she can also have cocoidous virus probably spelled it wrong but whatever it’s it is treatable just but Corid V poweder you can find it at tractor supply co. The Symtoms for cocideous is bloody diarrhea and slow growth or egg production. The Symtoms for marks is a very weak chicken than can’t walk sneezing and Bactria poop CAN NOT be treated if MaREks. ALSO TRY to FEED ur chickens meat et: ham beef you can also try scrambled eggs which Is more recommended meat is to it is high in portion also get electro lights from tractor supply co

 

[erinolivia19]

I do not think it is Mareks disease or the other thing you mentioned as she doesn’t appear abnormally weak and there is no blood in her droppings. We bought our chickens as day old chicks from a small buisness farm. I will feed her some scrambled eggs as well because I have heard it’s good for their health and immune system.

I will make sure to check her crop in the morning and her breath. Although is it safe to smell her breath? I wouldn’t want anything to transfer and affect my health(just being causcious). I will look inside her beak too.

She does not have runny nose or eyes. Also, if the crop is empty how should it feel?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I do not think it is Mareks disease or the other thing you mentioned as she doesn’t appear abnormally weak and there is no blood in her droppings. We bought our chickens as day old chicks from a small buisness farm. I will feed her some scrambled eggs as well because I have heard it’s good for their health and immune system.

I will make sure to check her crop in the morning and her breath. Although is it safe to smell her breath? I wouldn’t want anything to transfer and affect my health(just being causcious). I will look inside her beak too.

She does not have runny nose or eyes. Also, if the crop is empty how should it feel?

The crop would feel flat with nothing in it. If it's still squishy this morning and she's not had access to food/water overnight then treating for crop issues would be one step to take.

You should be able to detect an odor without having to really get in her face. If the crop is fluid filled in the morning, then treating for sour crop is the route I would take even if you don't smell anything.

 

[erinolivia19]

Ok, so her crop was not flat in the morning. It felt somewhat squishy inn one area and flat in the rest but there was no smell whatsoeverever. The only thing is that food was left in her box but she was covered. So I don’t know if I should play it safe until tomorrow and check again. I think we will go ahead and follow the treatment for crop issues, you provided a link to.

I will keep posting updates as well.

 

[erinolivia19]

Hello! Thought I would post an update, 2 days ago I took the time to massage her crop for about an hour. It felt hard in the morning but I got all the blockage out. It has been flat ever since and she has not sneezed once when she used to sneeze all the time. She also is not wiggling her neck either, both of which I am taking as good signs The only thing is that she is a bit wobbly on her feet now, I don’t know if that’s connected or not to the crop issue. I also don’t know if any of you would be able to help, but i thought I would ask just in case! Thanks for all the help and advice!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello! Thought I would post an update, 2 days ago I took the time to massage her crop for about an hour. It felt hard in the morning but I got all the blockage out. It has been flat ever since and she has not sneezed once when she used to sneeze all the time. She also is not wiggling her neck either, both of which I am taking as good signs The only thing is that she is a bit wobbly on her feet now, I don’t know if that’s connected or not to the crop issue. I also don’t know if any of you would be able to help, but i thought I would ask just in case! Thanks for all the help and advice!!

Great! I'm glad to hear she's improving since you have the crop emptying and she's no longer having issues with sneezing.

I may have missed where you said what you feed?
Balance issues may be a deficiency or neurological, but I would try vitamin therapy. Give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex once a day. Give her some scrambled egg for a treat, this will help with the uptake of E and of course it's tasty too!

Watch that she's drinking well and eating her feed. Also make sure she's seeing well - in the video it looks like she does, but some folks find they need to keep the fluff around the eyes trimmed or their birds start having difficulties (don't eat/drink well so they become dehydrated).

One other thing I thought of too - she's not got any issues with her feet that might be causing her to be unsteady - no Scaly Leg Mites (raised scales that are crusty) or signs of bumblefoot.

 

[erinolivia19]

We feed her, as well as our other hens purina layer pellets and fresh scraps of assorted fruits and veggies. I will definitely try out the vitamin suggestion. Although how would you administer it? Squeeze it in her mouth or put in it a syringe?

We have tried giving her scrambled eggs but she doesn’t seem to take interest. I will try again though because that was when her crop was imlpacted.

She does not have any scaly leg mites and I just cleaned her feet this morning in case something was bothering her. No signs of bumble foot either.

Funny thing is that I just trimmed her feathers today before you responded and we trim them annually to make sure she can see, so I don’t think that’s the problem.

She is wobbly on her feet and sits down. She is eating regularly and I am trying to see if she is drinking water, we gave her a bit though a syringe just to make sure she got some. I will let you know if the vitamins help

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We feed her, as well as our other hens purina layer pellets and fresh scraps of assorted fruits and veggies. I will definitely try out the vitamin suggestion. Although how would you administer it? Squeeze it in her mouth or put in it a syringe?

We have tried giving her scrambled eggs but she doesn’t seem to take interest. I will try again though because that was when her crop was imlpacted.

She does not have any scaly leg mites and I just cleaned her feet this morning in case something was bothering her. No signs of bumble foot either.

Funny thing is that I just trimmed her feathers today before you responded and we trim them annually to make sure she can see, so I don’t think that’s the problem.

She is wobbly on her feet and sits down. She is eating regularly and I am trying to see if she is drinking water, we gave her a bit though a syringe just to make sure she got some. I will let you know if the vitamins help

You can squeeze the oil into a little feed or yogurt or just pop the capsule into her beak, same with the B-complex.
If she doesn't like egg, you can give a bit of tuna or sunflower seeds.

Hopefully you will start to see improvement with her balance too.