Please help my Silkie Showgirl. She can’t walk.

[dialuann]

How old is she?

Can you get a photo of her left eye?

What are you feeding - looks to be fairly young - I'd make sure she's eating a nutritionally balanced chick starter or an all flock feed.

Do start her on vitamin therapy - give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily along with some egg to help with the uptake of E. You can find the vitamins at Walmart, CVS, etc. Just pop the pills into her beak.

The shaking of the leg is worrisome, that sounds neurological. It very well could be Marek's disease you are dealing with. The disease is complex and a lot of the time birds will eat/drink very well but are not able to move about. There are 4 different forms of Marek's and each one affects a different system of the body.

If she's unable to get up, she's going to become soiled, so keep her clean. She may benefit from being placed in a sling for monitored periods of time throughout the day.






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Her legs look strange to me.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She is four months old, being born in August. She still has a baby chick chirp.
We feed them 6 Grain Poultry Scratch feed.

Yes, it looks like that! We have chick starter grower. Do we use that?

Here’s the picture of her left eye!

I agree, I would only feed her the grower feed (what percentage protein is it?) and cut out the scratch completely.

Thank you for the photos, it's still hard to see her left eye. She's a cute chick, I'm sorry she's struggling, hopefully with getting the grower feed into her and vitamin therapy see will improve.

Just a note, I see you offering raw egg, that's fine, but I've found that some of mine just won't sip it up like others do. If she's not eating the egg, then try scrambling it and see if she eats it that way.

 

[dialuann]

I agree, I would only feed her the grower feed (what percentage protein is it?) and cut out the scratch completely.

Thank you for the photos, it's still hard to see her left eye. She's a cute chick, I'm sorry she's struggling, hopefully with getting the grower feed into her and vitamin therapy see will improve.

Just a note, I see you offering raw egg, that's fine, but I've found that some of mine just won't sip it up like others do. If she's not eating the egg, then try scrambling it and see if she eats it that way.

Okay, thank you!

 

[dialuann]

Here’s a video of her trying to walk to-day. It hasn’t gotten any better. :/ She keeps using her wings as balance.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Poor sweet girl!

See if she improves with nutritionally balanced feed and vitamins. Keep up posted on how she gets along.

 

[dialuann]

Poor sweet girl!

See if she improves with nutritionally balanced feed and vitamins. Keep up posted on how she gets along.

I will!
To-day, her walking/sitting seems somewhat better. She is still wobbling around and balancing through her wings, but the way she sits is different—in a good way. She seems more upright than laying on her side through her balanced wings. She’s getting around better, but, like I said, the wobbling persists. Maybe the vitamins and eggs are working! She ate two eggs to-day!

 

[dialuann]

She tried standing recently, and it was a little success!! She was able to balance herself on her feet for a few seconds. Although for a short time and not fully off of the ground, it was the first time she has really tried something like that since she couldn’t walk! She seems to be doing some improvement. She’s sitting a lot more upright and sort of walking. She’s been using her feet more, not just her wings. She’s wobbly still, but has been getting around more.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad she's improving a little!

Have you tried making a sling for her?

 

[dialuann]

Here’s some updates on her!
She is not getting worse, which is a good thing! There are tiny improvements, so I think maybe the vitamins are working (Poultry Cell Vitamins). Her wings are not paralysed and her legs aren’t either. She walks around on her hocks and mostly backwards.
To-day I was looking at her feet, and, on her left foot, I noticed that the toes don’t look the same as on the right. I took two Silkie-Turken-Showgirls (one of them I took a photo of) from the coop and looked at their feet to see if it was maybe just a weird thing with their breed, but it seems as if only she has this.
The first photo is of her right foot, the foot that is normal. The second photo is of her left foot, the foot that doesn’t look normal. It appears as if two of her toes are conjoined and don’t splay out properly? It is only two toes, though, not the whole foot.
The third photo is of our Silkie-Turken-Showgirl rooster’s feet.
The fourth photo is how she is sitting now. More upright than how it was a couple of days ago.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do start her on vitamin therapy - give her 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily along with some egg to help with the uptake of E. You can find the vitamins at Walmart, CVS, etc. Just pop the pills into her beak.

There are tiny improvements, so I think maybe the vitamins are working (Poultry Cell Vitamins).

How much poultry cell are you giving her daily?

I'm glad you are seeing a little improvement. Are you placing her in a sling to help keep her upright and take pressure off her joints?