Randomly Sick Chicken? Please Help

[rebrascora]

Mix her feed to a mushy paste with water and mix the vitamins into it. That way she will be getting enough fluids without needing to drink and they usually enjoy a wet mash like that. Have you tried some scrambled egg as a treat or meaty cat food or slivers of raw liver are full of good nutrients. Only give her moist foods and make sure she has a source of grit available if you are giving her anything that needs grinding up.
I'm afraid my guess would be that she has Marek's as one or two others have suggested but it doesn't mean she won't recover from this attack. Unfortunately if it is Marek's she will always have the virus and be prone to other outbreaks at times of stress. Silkies are unfortunately one of the most vulnerable breeds to this disease.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Alright, she has a healthy appetite, but she refuses to drink. We tried to give her applesauce, but she refuses to touch it. I don't want her to dehydrate, but I can't force her to drink. Any tips for me?

Offer her a wet mash made out of her feed as suggested. I would add the vitamins to her feed as well.

Keep us posted.

 

[Hihamburger]

Hey everyone,

Update on Angel. It's very upsetting, but we may have to euthanize her. She is in a lot of pain, and screams whenever she moves or whenever you touch her. I wish it didn't come to this. But, surely, it is better to put her out of her pain then to allow every movement to hurt? I thank you for your advice, and hope that she will be able to move onto a better place, where pain does not exist. It tore my sister up to think of the possibility. I agree, I think it was Mareks, i hoped it wasn't, but it seems the only logical conclusion, especially how quickly she went from bad to worse. I'm sorry. I wish I could have done more for her.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So sorry.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm so sorry
It's always a difficult decision to make, but if she is in pain, then ending her suffering is the right thing to do.

 

[rebrascora]

I am also very sad that you are having to make this difficult decision for her but it is the responsible and courageous thing to do. I wish you well with the rest of your flock.

 

[Hihamburger]

Thank you everyone. It certainly was not an easy decision. The only thing that remains to boggle my mind, is why she was the only one afflicted. I wonder if we caught it early enough to separate her. I am very glad none of the others are sick, I just thought that if one had it, more than one would as well.

 

[rebrascora]

If it is Marek's and she was at the very lower limit of age range able to get it, it is not really the same as other diseases in that outbreaks are more individual and sporadic. Just like you can fill a room with people who have the Herpes cold sore virus (Marek's is a Herpes virus too) but only one may actually be exhibiting a cold sore at any given time. The nature of the virus is that after infection there is an apparent (symptoms wise anyway) dormant period of at least 3 weeks but can be months or very occasionally more than a year before they actually suffer an outbreak. Stressors are usually the trigger for an outbreak, so things like change of environment, being fledged by a broody hen, being integrated into a new flock, surge of hormones at point of lay, unwanted attentions of an over amorous adolescent cockerel etc are things that can cause stress and trigger an outbreak but perception of stress is an individual response, so one bird might not find something stressful that another does.
If this is in fact Marek's and a necropsy would be a wise move to establish that, this chick displayed symptoms at a very early age and was therefore exposed to the virus within the first week after hatching. That may help you to narrow it down as to where the exposure came from and perhaps limit the exposure or further exposure of the other chicks. It is not often that you can pin down the infection with the virus to a small time frame like that, because of the variable length of that dormancy period. I can't remember if you said where these chicks were from or if you hatched them yourself. If the latter, it would suggest that your existing flock may be carrying the virus. Of course it can come in from other sources but exposure closer to home is more likely.
Just some things to think about.