Is my Silkie Chick Lame?

[anag]

I have a roughly 3 week old Silkie. When I brought her back from the farmstand she was walking fine. Around a day or two later she stopped walking and became very ill. It took a week or nursing and hand feeding her for her to get her strength back but still no signs of life in her legs. She will move them a bit if I turn her upside down but they have no strength. She is eating really well and seems to be back to normal as a chick but will not and cant seem to walk. I have her in two different sling chairs but I am not sure they are doing anything to help. I havent seen any sign of improvement in the last 3 days. I am feeding her nutritional yeast and nutri drench with her feed which at this point is still a mash. I've been trying to get a good picture of her legs. The attached is the best I can do.

 

[Blue Raptor]

@WVduckchick @Pyxis @Everose
Not sure, maybe these people can help.
Give her strengthening vitamins and let her work her legs out.
If it is a sickness, I don't know what to do.
Hope she gets better!

 

[Blue Raptor]

I have a roughly 3 week old Silkie. When I brought her back from the farmstand she was walking fine. Around a day or two later she stopped walking and became very ill. It took a week or nursing and hand feeding her for her to get her strength back but still no signs of life in her legs. She will move them a bit if I turn her upside down but they have no strength. She is eating really well and seems to be back to normal as a chick but will not and cant seem to walk. I have her in two different sling chairs but I am not sure they are doing anything to help. I havent seen any sign of improvement in the last 3 days. I am feeding her nutritional yeast and nutri drench with her feed which at this point is still a mash. I've been trying to get a good picture of her legs. The attached is the best I can do.View attachment 2676677View attachment 2676678

Try not to turn her upside down, it could hurt her internally.

 

[Everose]

Does she cry when you move her legs?

 

[Everose]

Does she have a friend and does she have to get up to eat and drink?
I had a silkie get super sick and after nursing her back to health she wouldn't walk. I put her with other silkies and she popped right up and started fighting her way towards the food. Sometimes they get lazy or depressed, kinda like humans.

 

[anag]

She doesnt cry when I move her legs. She uses her wings to get around. She is in the same room as the other chicks and can hear them. I sometimes bring her close to them but they are now much bigger than her so I feel I have to closely supervise their togetherness. I have been hand feeding her because she cannot hold her chest up. I have her and the other chicks in my home office where I am working all day so I offer food to her every time I hear her chirping loudly probably every half and hour to an hour.

Sorry I didnt mean upside down, I meant on her back.

 

[Everose]

Well if it were me I would try some physical therapy. Just move her legs gently within a normal range of motion and see if they start to relax or If she might want to start moving them. Helping her to hold her own weight would probably help as well, just slide your hand underneath her and pick her up into a normal stance and return to a starting position, a couple reps a day would probably help her regain strength in those lower limbs.

I've never had a silkie with this kind of illness and I'm no vet so anything I recommend is based off of research and assumption. Going to an avian vet is always the best option (I do understand that it's not always an available option), but hopefully someone with a similar experience can help. Your little silkie will be in my prayers.
-Eve

 

[anag]

Thank You Eve. I will try that. Unfortunately the only bird specialist in my area is not taking new patients. I have put out feelers to some of my fellow chicken keepers to see if they know of anyone else. I have had chickens for many years now but never been in a situation like this. Its just such a mystery to me why she cant seem to use her legs and I am worried she might be past the point of getting them back?


I am thinking I will keep the other chicks in the same room for longer than necessary just to keep her company as she heals. I am grateful she has her heath back after multiple days of being afraid of what I was going to find in the morning.Thank you again for your advice.

 

[Everose]

I am worried she might be past the point of getting them back?

Muscle loss probably plays a big part in her condition. I've had to do some level of PT myself, and I'll tell ya using atrophied muscles isn't easy! Muscle can be rebuilt and she isn't beyond help as long as she has someone willing to work through it with her.

If it's got more to do with bones or nutrition than muscle then she'll need a different kind of care. I recommend starting with the easy stuff before you get into the scary stuff though.

 

[Karlawark1]

Just had the exact situation with our 6 week old crele legbar chicks. The cockerel developed problems at 3 weeks. We thought he had sprained or strained his leg. We gave him some stress aid and he rebounded, but it started again two days ago and he died this morning. His legs were basically paralyzed by the time he died.

Today his sisters started having leg malfunctions as well. We found one of the girls lying on her back in the brooder, and one of the other chickens was walking on top of her! We took them straight to our vet and he thinks it is a vitamin deficiency. We’re giving all the chicks electrolytes plus in their water, and he recommended adding a human multi vitamin to the legbar food. Our vet thinks the problem may be reversible. We’ll see how they both do.

The vet suggested we try a better quality feed. Any suggestions? I live in Canada.