Please help!

[Jacobt]

I have a 10 week old silkie who has always been the smallest of my chicks (smaller than my other silkie too) but now at 10 weeks she is much much smaller. She also doesn’t really do “chicken” things. I don’t see her pecking much, she won’t eat treats (all my other chicks eat treats like crazy) and she honestly just kind of stands there. She does move to eat and drink, and she’ll explore a little bit, but mostly just stands in the sun. She likes to be held, and will just stand and be pet. She seems kind of lethargic, but always has been like this. Is she malnourished, or not eating enough, or maybe being bullied away from the food from other chicks? Not sure why she’s way smaller than the other chicks, and doesn’t exert much energy. Thank you for your help!

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Awwww, she’s awful sweet! You say she’s always been like this (not necessarily smaller than the others, but always sluggish)? I’m not sure what it could be, but if she is eating and drinking, there’s that at least.

Maybe you could try supplementing what she’s already eating and drinking (add NutriDrench or electrolytes to her water and try getting her to eat scrambled/hard boiled eggs).

I’m afraid I’m not much help, so hopefully someone with more expertise will have some good advice. Good luck!

 

[Banana01]

Have you checked her crop at night compared to the others? If the crop is mostly watery, it could indicate worms which would explain the lack of growth. But I doubt you have a worm problem, just needs more development time.

To be honest your chicken seems fairly okay if she eats. Maybe just give her some vitamins with an eyedropper at night. Whether she is eating or malnourished only you can answer, but the fact she has survived 10 weeks and looks healthy I would say yes. She just needs to develop more and you can always put her aside at night in a seperate crate to sleep, and put her with the others during they day. I have several chickens that were sick as chicks and now as adults function like this, but they are as healthy as they can be.

Also she probably needs a companion or friend, but the other chickens don't want to hang out with her. If you have any others that need special care, seperate them together at night and they may form a bond. I'm just throwing out observations from my flock, I hope something helps, but she is similar to somw of my former rescues that still haven't grown up, but are doing well.

 

[Aapomp831]

Have you checked her crop at night compared to the others? If the crop is mostly watery, it could indicate worms which would explain the lack of growth. But I doubt you have a worm problem, just needs more development time.

To be honest your chicken seems fairly okay if she eats. Maybe just give her some vitamins with an eyedropper at night. Whether she is eating or malnourished only you can answer, but the fact she has survived 10 weeks and looks healthy I would say yes. She just needs to develop more and you can always put her aside at night in a seperate crate to sleep, and put her with the others during they day. I have several chickens that were sick as chicks and now as adults function like this, but they are as healthy as they can be.

Also she probably needs a companion or friend, but the other chickens don't want to hang out with her. If you have any others that need special care, seperate them together at night and they may form a bond. I'm just throwing out observations from my flock, I hope something helps, but she is similar to somw of my former rescues that still haven't grown up, but are doing well.

You don’t check the crop at night, you check it first thing in the morning to make sure the food has going down to the gizzard. An impacted crop can be a secondary issue if there is a worm overload, but an impacted crop doesn’t indicate worms necessarily. For this you would want to perform a fecal float test.

I would get some Corid and treat for cocciadosis - judging by its stance and age, this would be my approach. And I would treat the whole flock n

 

[Banana01]

You don’t check the crop at night, you check it first thing in the morning to make sure the food has going down to the gizzard. An impacted crop can be a secondary issue if there is a worm overload, but an impacted crop doesn’t indicate worms necessarily. For this you would want to perform a fecal float test.

I would get some Corid and treat for cocciadosis - judging by its stance and age, this would be my approach. And I would treat the whole flock n

OP should listen to this advice. I agree she is looking at a parasite and as I said I doubt it is worms, so cocciadosis is an excellent candidate and somethimg I need to learn more about for my flock too. And I am sure I have lost many to cocciadosis and never realized it.

I was saying to check the crop at night to see if the chick is consuming mostly water and not any food, which is something that has caused me concern with my underdeveloped babies, and ivermecrin cleared it up a few times. But a fecal float test is even better to check for worms, although it has to find eggs. I hope to learn to do fecal float test myself since I don't have vets.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Her stance is definitely indicative of a bird that is unwell. Could be failure to thrive, could be coccidiosis (though if she's been like this for a while, I think that's less likely as it probably would've killed her already).

 

[Banana01]

Would you see overgrown feathers as an indication of failure to thrive? I do not know about this condition if anyone can explain.

I also do not know the silkie breed, but those feathers look quite well developed if not enlarged, and that indicates parasite to some of my chicks. I see overgrown feathers unfortunately often and it usually doesn't end well, but it's like a 50-50 because I have never treated for coccidosis. Are the feathers like this in failure to thrive?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Would you see overgrown feathers as an indication of failure to thrive? I do not know about this condition if anyone can explain.

I also do not know the silkie breed, but those feathers look quite well developed if not enlarged, and that indicates parasite to some of my chicks. I see overgrown feathers unfortunately often and it usually doesn't end well, but it's like a 50-50 because I have never treated for coccidosis. Are the feathers like this in failure to thrive?

Generally the indicators of FTT is the size and lack of development (as there's something internally wrong which is stunting growth).

I have zero experience with Silkies, unfortunately.

 

[argosnikki]

Any time I see something that looks like failure to thrive I put the bird in a kennel in our living room and constantly observe her / his behavior. We have a quiet home without other animals at this point so this might not be for everyone. I like to see how often the bird moves, how often it eats and any odd behaviors it might exhibit. We have a bird who absolutely cannot stand any kind of combative behavior and simply curls up in a corner without eating or drinking until she almost starves. She did well in her own run after recovering in the house for a few weeks and now has a companion who lost a wing and is very subservient. I suspect that this is the most she'll ever be able to handle. It could very well be a physical issue but just wanted to introduce the mental issue possibility as well.

 

[Jacobt]

Her stance is definitely indicative of a bird that is unwell. Could be failure to thrive, could be coccidiosis (though if she's been like this for a while, I think that's less likely as it probably would've killed her already).

If I treat her for coccidiosis, and she ends up not having it, can that harm her? Or is treating her regardless of diagnosis a good idea? Thank you!