Nevadans?

[candicemarie]

Hey everyone! New to Back Yard Chicken, living ing Ely, NV with silkie chicks
I have tried getting input/advice/opinions in other medical threads but am having no luck :/ I have 7 chicks, 1-6wk old, 6-4wk olds.. Saturday night we moved everyone into the coop in the garage (they were outgrowing the brooder) on Monday I noticed the 6wk old limping.. First though, she injured her leg jumping in and out of the nesting boxes.. Then after some research I feel like it's Mareks.. Can move legs, doesn't put much pressure on the left, when she does she leans to the right and puts a wing out to keep from falling over. Up until tonight, she has been sitting still sleeping each time i check on her. Tonight she is eating and drinking well and holding her head/heck up more. Also being more vocal and alert. I'm still very worried it is marecks.. Breeder did not vaccinate, and I have not had then anywhere but my living room the last 3 weeks.. Feeding medicated feed,baling with crumbled up oats (they all had bad pasty butt, read oats helped) gave her electrolytes in her water.. What else should I do? Any comparable stories to share?
I would LOVE any advice and also to know if any of you are in my area thanks!

 

[Lacy Blues]

First of all, welcome!

It sounds like Mareks. I know there is a cure... if you have a health food store nearby, get some hypericum. There is a thread on here about it and how to use it. I'll try to give you the gist of it from memory - which is becoming more and more faulty the older I get!

The cap on the hypericum container is used to turn the dispenser just under the cap. You turn it so that one little tablet falls into the cap. It is very important you don't touch the tablet with your hands. Have a teaspoon of water sitting on your counter waiting for the tablet. Take the cap off the container and drop the pill into your waiting water. Allow the table to dissolve.

If you have an eye dropper, or one of the eye droppers that has a curve at the tip, take up a little of the liquid (or all of it) into the dropper. Have someone open your chicken's mouth and you need to make sure that 5 drops (I think) go directly into the groove on the roof of the mouth of your bird. It would probably be easiest to have your helper hold the bird on its back on their lap and hold the beak open for you to administer the drops.

I'm not sure of the duration of treatment, perhaps until you see improvement. I think also, that you do this once daily.

I know there is a thread on Mareks and Hypericum on BYC somewhere. Do a search for it and you can get the most accurate details.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Sorry about kitty, Elizabeth. I hope he gets better!

Welcome Candice, I'm certain these guys will be able to get your chick right as rain

 

[candicemarie]

Thanks for the advice LacyBlues! The chick is still not wanting to walk. There is now some green flecks in the clear stool. It's I'd eating vigorously after reminding it there was food.
If it is Mareks, then the other 6 chicks will start showing signs soon, correct? If that's the case, I can accept that nature does what it wants. If I do end up loosing them, do any of you near by breed silkies? I know I would definitely try again if they were vaccinated. Not planning to have them shipped again :/

 

[wolftracks]

Welcome Candace.

I've never had mericks here so can't help other that tell you there was a time I had caught u with almost every single thread on here and then couldn't retain diddly! I do however know what it's like to take care of a sick chick and Silkies can be very fragile. There are breeders with great stock, but then you have the ones that figure like with dog breeds, that if it's the right breed, breed it and a lot of times the the parent stock isn't healthy enough to produce healthy chicks. So one of the things I use is Polyvisol without Iron. I use this whenever I see a chick that seems maybe tired compared to the others, chicks that were stuck in the shell and I've given it to a broody that refused to ever move off her nest. She was weak once she finally hatched those chicks out. Helps a weak chick gain strength and you only need a drop here and there and maybe a few drops in water as well. Won't hurt the others if they all drink it.I helped a neighbor a while back with some of her Silkie chicks. The first one had wry neck and was so wristed I thouhgt it was deformed. It got better within minutes of the first drop and continued over 2 weeks. Two others acted the way your's did, but she took them to the Ag office and they told her there was also a vitamin deficiance, same as wry neck. We gave the Polyvisol to them and they were walking the next day. We gave at least 3 drops a day for 2 weeks for all of the chicks, even though they didn't seem to need it, we just wanted to make sure.

I've taken Hypericum to help with nerve damage. That's the reason they suggest it for Mericks. It causes nerve damage along with other things and the hypericum helps the keep their balance and be able to function normally in order to be able to eat and drink , which is neccessary for pulling through the illness. It's great stuff! It's also supoosed to heal whats wrong in the nerve.

I hope someone else comes in and has more to offer and that you are able to save your birds. If you do lose them, remember that Mericks will remain. I swear by Oxine and even now while you're trying to help them, it's not a bad idea to order some and keep everything sanitary. It's much stronger than bleach and it's killed every virus that it's been tested on. Love that stuff!! I even spray it in the house when we're sick, to kee the germs at bay and hopefully kill them off. So it's safe for humans too.

 

[candicemarie]

Welcome Candace.

I've never had mericks here so can't help other that tell you there was a time I had caught u with almost every single thread on here and then couldn't retain diddly! I do however know what it's like to take care of a sick chick and Silkies can be very fragile. There are breeders with great stock, but then you have the ones that figure like with dog breeds, that if it's the right breed, breed it and a lot of times the the parent stock isn't healthy enough to produce healthy chicks. So one of the things I use is Polyvisol without Iron. I use this whenever I see a chick that seems maybe tired compared to the others, chicks that were stuck in the shell and I've given it to a broody that refused to ever move off her nest. She was weak once she finally hatched those chicks out. Helps a weak chick gain strength and you only need a drop here and there and maybe a few drops in water as well. Won't hurt the others if they all drink it.I helped a neighbor a while back with some of her Silkie chicks. The first one had wry neck and was so wristed I thouhgt it was deformed. It got better within minutes of the first drop and continued over 2 weeks. Two others acted the way your's did, but she took them to the Ag office and they told her there was also a vitamin deficiance, same as wry neck. We gave the Polyvisol to them and they were walking the next day. We gave at least 3 drops a day for 2 weeks for all of the chicks, even though they didn't seem to need it, we just wanted to make sure.

I've taken Hypericum to help with nerve damage. That's the reason they suggest it for Mericks. It causes nerve damage along with other things and the hypericum helps the keep their balance and be able to function normally in order to be able to eat and drink , which is neccessary for pulling through the illness. It's great stuff! It's also supoosed to heal whats wrong in the nerve.

I hope someone else comes in and has more to offer and that you are able to save your birds. If you do lose them, remember that Mericks will remain. I swear by Oxine and even now while you're trying to help them, it's not a bad idea to order some and keep everything sanitary. It's much stronger than bleach and it's killed every virus that it's been tested on. Love that stuff!! I even spray it in the house when we're sick, to kee the germs at bay and hopefully kill them off. So it's safe for

Thanks for the advice, any is helpful! I'm trying to order these things online, as we are very limited with what we can buy in town. With the Oxine, is it just the gallon jug? I keep seeing citric acid powder sold with it? Want to order the right thing
luckily we haven't moved the chicks outside, they have been in the garage, which I can sanatize and if need be, I can keep any new chicks in our basement. I've been waiting a year to get these silkies, so I'm hoping I don't lose them all.

it has been getting up and walking (hobbling) to food and water about every once every hour, but then returns to laying down and sleeping.

 

[wolftracks]

Thanks for the advice, any is helpful! I'm trying to order these things online, as we are very limited with what we can buy in town. With the Oxine, is it just the gallon jug? I keep seeing citric acid powder sold with it? Want to order the right thing
luckily we haven't moved the chicks outside, they have been in the garage, which I can sanatize and if need be, I can keep any new chicks in our basement. I've been waiting a year to get these silkies, so I'm hoping I don't lose them all.

it has been getting up and walking (hobbling) to food and water about every once every hour, but then returns to laying down and sleeping.

Don't bother with the citric acid unless you use a mask and resperator. Sometimes they add it for free, so I use it elsewhere and don't mix it since the combination is toxic. But citric acid is great for other things. Mine came together, so it was like getting an extra cleaner. LOL It does come quart sized too. I buy the gallons, but I have a lot of brds and I've even used it in my house, so to me it made since. Besides, I only am able to afford it occassionally and I also look for free shipping. I got a great deal.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thanks for the advice LacyBlues! The chick is still not wanting to walk. There is now some green flecks in the clear stool. It's I'd eating vigorously after reminding it there was food.
If it is Mareks, then the other 6 chicks will start showing signs soon, correct? If that's the case, I can accept that nature does what it wants. If I do end up loosing them, do any of you near by breed silkies? I know I would definitely try again if they were vaccinated. Not planning to have them shipped again :/

Get some plain, unsweetened yogurt with lots of beneficial bacteria in it. Mountain High makes a really good plain yogurt. Do whatever it takes to get your bird to eat some... mix it into her food. This will help with the green stuff.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Welcome, Candace!

Silkies can be very fragile. There are breeders with great stock, but then you have the ones that figure like with dog breeds, that if it's the right breed, breed it and a lot of times the the parent stock isn't healthy enough to produce healthy chicks. So one of the things I use is Polyvisol without Iron.

I'm pretty sure that's what happened with Nugget. I got a pair of silkie chicks from a friend who got them from a hatchery. Before long, I noticed that one of the chicks did a Bob Marley impression very well. His neck was just jiggly and bobbed up and down all the time. I tried the Polyvisol, and it did help a little, but not completely. I figure it was something with the breed, the vaulted skull and the empty space around the brain. Maybe he hit his head while he was shipped, and it did damage that didn't heal.

I also had another silkie chick that flapped out of my hands when it was about 1.5 weeks old. It didn't fall far... 18 inches at the most. I was sitting down and leaning over. Another chick would probably have been just fine, but this short fall killed the silkie. I think it just hit its little head just right.

So there's a very good possibility that you don't have to worry about Marek's. You just have to worry about one little baby.

Get some plain, unsweetened yogurt with lots of beneficial bacteria in it. Mountain High makes a really good plain yogurt. Do whatever it takes to get your bird to eat some... mix it into her food. This will help with the green stuff.

My chickens LOOOOVE yogurt! When they all came down with bronchitis, I started giving it to them. At first I mixed it in with their feed to make a very thick mush. Now I give it to them straight. Actually, I culture my own by the gallon, and lately the family has gotten a little tired of yogurt. So when the yogurt gets a little too old but isn't actually spoiled, I take it out and dump it in a dog dish outside. The dogs don't care for it, but the chickens eat it up!

 

[candicemarie]

He is devouring the yogurt the power went off for about 20 minutes before giving yogurt and he was holding his neck up normal pecking at the side of the tub, wanted the lamp back on! It really seems like his leg is hurt..