Illness affecting silkies but not other hens

[Byrnechicken]

Hello, I'm hoping someone here may be able to help because I'm at my wits end. I've been keeping chickens for the past 5 years and for the most part have had very little hiccups along the way. We've spent a fortune building and extending and doing everything we possibly can for our chickens. 3 months ago we decided to extend our flock and got 6 gorgeous silkies. We were absolutely besotted with them but we're now down to 3 . One passed shortly after we got her but we've lost two close together the past week and another is now going downhill. The last one was sent for a postmortem. Initial findings showed slight congestion in the lungs and they thought the liver looked a little "odd" they've sent samples from the chicken for further analysis so we won't know any more for another 10 days. I'm so stressed thinking they're all going to die on us now. My other hens including bantams, bluebells, Marans, legbars and Sussex are all perfectly healthy and some of them I've had from day one. Sorry for the long winding post but has anyone had similar experience?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry for your loss. How old were the silkies, and did they come from a person who breeds them? Did they have any symptoms of illness before they died? Were they eating and drinking normally, active, and passing normal droppings? Did any lay eggs? Was there any lameness or weakness, diarrhea, or lethargy? You were smart to send the last body into the state vet for a necropsy. Hopefully with the tissue studies (histology) and any cultures, they will come up with a diagnosis. There is always a risk of bringing in a contagious disease when you add new started birds to an existing flock.

 

[Byrnechicken]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry for your loss. How old were the silkies, and did they come from a person who breeds them? Did they have any symptoms of illness before they died? Were they eating and drinking normally, active, and passing normal droppings? Did any lay eggs? Was there any lameness or weakness, diarrhea, or lethargy? You were smart to send the last body into the state vet for a necropsy. Hopefully with the tissue studies (histology) and any cultures, they will come up with a diagnosis. There is always a risk of bringing in a contagious disease when you add new started birds to an existing flock.

Thank you for your response, the chickens were at most 8 months old. The lady we bought them from does it on a small scale, beautiful set up and all hers are perfect, so it's something I'm doing wrong I think or something that isn't suiting the silkies. We did the recommended 3 week isolation from our own flock and extended that after the first one died but after another 3 weeks isolation we were happy that all was good.
The first one that died last week developed a head wobble and wasn't eating, the second just stopped eating and had no obvious other symptoms and my vet couldn't see anything obviously wrong either. The one currently sick seems a little wheezy.

 

[Eggcessive]

What did the head wobble look like? Did it look like she was adjusting her crop? I would make sure their crops are filling up during the day, and emptying by morning. Consider treating for possible coccidiosis and worming them. If you get the necropsy results, please post them here if you will.

 

[Byrnechicken]

Just wanted to update this post, now I've finally received the necropsy results and it turns out to be mareks disease. The rest of my flock are vaccinated but obviously are carriers shedding the disease and infecting the poor unvaccinated silkies

 

[Eggcessive]

Just wanted to update this post, now I've finally received the necropsy results and it turns out to be mareks disease. The rest of my flock are vaccinated but obviously are carriers shedding the disease and infecting the poor unvaccinated silkies

Your vaccinated flock did not give the silkies Mareks virus. It doesn’t work that way, even if you read that on a thread somewhere. Mareks is in the environment, either where you live, or they could have brought it with them from the breeder. My chickens were mostly vaccinated for Mareks, but some I got the second year and later ones that hatched here were not vaccinated. I never had a case of Mareks in 12 years. Be aware that since your silkie tested positive for Mareks, your other chickens including the vaccinated ones, could get symptoms, and all should be considered carriers for life now. None should ever be rehomed or sold. The vaccinated ones hopefully will not have symptoms, but it does happen. So sorry you got that report.