Pullet can't walk, feet curled, walks backwards, eyes closed & flaky scales on face, no response to

SilkieObsessed

Hatching
Dec 1, 2015
2
0
7
Los Angeles
Hi Everyone,
Am infinitely grateful for the BYC community, and for all the knowledge and support. Am the mother of three silkie pullets, who have been mostly indoors for the last 2 months, as they are more pets than chickens to me... They're fed organic layer feed, a daily ration of lettuce and veggies, and are hand-fed treats and fruits...Go outside only on concrete that's regularly washed, as I don't want them to pick up any pests in the grass (bird lice!). Love them to pieces!

Was out for 24 hrs over Thanksgiving, came back to find my splash silkie pullet, Raelle, 14 months old, sitting in a corner. When I brought her to water and food, she started eating, and I noticed the other ones wanting to pick on her. When picking her to put her in a separate box, noticed she's not standing on her feet, toes curled, walking backwards.

Spent a whole day online, reading through BYC threads and forum, listened to a few Chicken Whisperer shows, not sure what else to do, and what it could be, did the following:

-- Her eyes are closed, face a little swollen, and she has white flaky skin scales on her back around eyes, and years. Cleaned it with saline solution, but it comes back every few hours, seems to get worse. She poops solid, green with partial white coating.
-- When she started molting end of October, gave her additional protein on a daily basis (cat food pellets)
-- Fed her with protein powder and B vitamin complex with medicine dropper, put electrolytes in her water over last 3 days. Slightly revived, but no change in walking.
-- She ate and drank well for last three days (fed her layer mash and scratch (she loves it!); fed her protein and b complex vitamins dissolved in water, with a medicine dropper
-- Gave her three doses of Hypericum, as per instructions on one of the BYC posts. No improvement.

Looked at her legs, not sure how she could have broken anything, hasn't been out of the playpen, nowhere she could have fallen from.

If it was a vitamin deficiency, how long does it take for her to respond to added vitamins? I gave her B complex vitamins for 2.5 days by now.

Read the posts where chicks have Marek's disease, and FAQ of symptoms, nothing is mentioned about walking backwards -- is this a symptom of something else or is it Marek's? How long does it take to see a response to Hypericum/St. John's Wort, she's had 3 doses...

The flaky, scaly face and neck -- is that scaly face mites? It seems like this condition got much worse over the last few days...

It's breaking my heart to not be able to help her, is there anything I can do to bring her back to health?
Am grateful for any advice or additional info you all may have.
 
Walking backwards and curled under toes can be signs of vitamin deficiency, or possibly a head injury. Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) deficiency can cause curled toes, while wry neck symptoms like walking backwards is treated with vitamin E and selenium. Flaky skin is very normal with molting.
 
Hi, thank you so much for the reply. I gave her Vitamin B with a medicine dropper, even tried the homeopathic remedy I read about on the Various BYC forum threads. Raelle continued eating and drinking for 1 week, then within 1 day, just stopped eating and passed away. I was very sad to lose her, the first silkie I ever lost...Rita and Riri, the other two, are fine...
Am immensely grateful for the information and BYC community. A very Happy New Year to everyone!
 

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