Lethargic/wheezing/not eating Silkie chicks

[kissofcrimson]

I've only had them for 4 days and last night I noticed the white one was having difficulty breathing. We just switched our heat lamp light bulbs out for better ones (red shatterproof) instead of the ones that put out yellow light and thought maybe they were becoming overheated so we took him out to see if he'd calm down but nothing improved. While holding the white Silkie I noticed the black one sneezing and shortly after that one too was doing the same thing. We put probiotics and electrolytes in thier water and this afternoon went to tsc to get antibiotics. It's been almost 2 hours and they are still the same. I don't expect to see a big improvement right away but the white one has more spunk (fought me when I gave him water/antibiotics in the syringe) then last night. The antibiotic I got it oxytetracycline hcl but is that going to work?

Right now they're lethargic and aren't eating/drinking so I've been giving them water with a syringe. There were with two Cochins but I separated them last night after the others started acting sick. They are acting fine, eating, drinking and peeping like usual.

I'm not sure if there's anything else I should be doing or if there's anything else that I need to buy that would help them?

 

[beetandsteet]

Look on the box of your new shatterproof lightbulb: is it coated with Teflon? Teflon-coated items, when heated, release a gas that is extremely toxic to birds. If it is coated with Teflon, you need to get that lightbulb out right away. Strange however that the cochins weren't affected.

 

[kissofcrimson]

Look on the box of your new shatterproof lightbulb: is it coated with Teflon? Teflon-coated items, when heated, release a gas that is extremely toxic to birds. If it is coated with Teflon, you need to get that lightbulb out right away. Strange however that the cochins weren't affected. 

No, there's no Teflon and that's the first thing we did is to research the bulbs. They're the 250 watt red heat bulbs by Producers Pride, which my fiancé bought at TSC. We also have 7 chicks in a different tub under the same kind of bulb and none of them were affected by it. The silkies were bought together and the Cochins were bought seperatley, we just added them together, so they have been sick before they came home, just didn't know it.

Sadly the black Frizzled Silkie died but the white one is acting better. We bought another antibiotic from a feed store, durvet tetracycline and syringe fed the Silkie 15 ml of the mixture for over a 10 minute period. He's not been eating or drinking today but is more alert and showing interest in his surroundings since we gave him the different antibiotic so hopefully he starts eating and drinking on his own.

 

[beetandsteet]

No, there's no Teflon and that's the first thing we did is to research the bulbs. They're the 250 watt red heat bulbs by Producers Pride, which my fiancé bought at TSC. We also have 7 chicks in a different tub under the same kind of bulb and none of them were affected by it. The silkies were bought together and the Cochins were bought seperatley, we just added them together, so they have been sick before they came home, just didn't know it.

Sadly the black Frizzled Silkie died but the white one is acting better. We bought another antibiotic from a feed store, durvet tetracycline and syringe fed the Silkie 15 ml of the mixture for over a 10 minute period. He's not been eating or drinking today but is more alert and showing interest in his surroundings since we gave him the different antibiotic so hopefully he starts eating and drinking on his own.

Sorry about your loss!!! Glad to hear your other baby is doing better. I'm sorry I can't help you more.
That's good that you researched the bulbs. Have heard quite a few horror stories of people gassing their birds to death with Teflon coated bulbs because they didn't research the bulb.

 

[kissofcrimson]

Sorry about your loss!!! Glad to hear your other baby is doing better. I'm sorry I can't help you more.
That's good that you researched the bulbs. Have heard quite a few horror stories of people gassing their birds to death with Teflon coated bulbs because they didn't research the bulb.

Thanks, I hate losing an animal, esp babies and I'm glad you posted that about the bulb because I had no idea of the gases light bulbs can put off. When I looked it up I found nothing on that particular bulb but when you mentioned Teflon I found a bunch of articles explaining it. The little white one is definitely going to make it, he's acting his usual chirpy little self lol

 

[kissofcrimson]

Guess I posted too soon. He started sounding bad last night and this morning he died. Got attached to the little bugger but learned a valuable lesson: never buy a bird your not sure of.