Hubby and I got some silkie chicks from Crackle Hatchery and they’re about a week old. One of our chicks was acting a little funny after arrival and upon doing some research we found that she was dealing with wry neck, something I’ve discovered to learn that’s very common in silkies. We did the selenium and vitamin E and on day 3, she seemed great. By day 5 she’s gotten worse! It was mild and now she’s head tucking, walking backwards and just not the best at coordination. It’s actually a very sad sight to see. But now I’m learning of selenium toxicity! This terrible! I’m not sure what to do other than obviously stopping the selenium but we’ve also been giving Poltry Cell in her water, which also has selenium in it. I could absolutely bawl right about now. I’m now not sure how to help her. She drinks, eats, and goes to bathroom fine, but I’m so worried that if this is selenium toxicity, there’s no helping her. My hubby is the one who’s been administering the supplements, so I’m not sure how much he’s been giving to her. We’ve been giving humans grade supplements. Vitamin E gel tablets and a little bit of selenium mixed put in a non needle syringe and just giving her drops. Is there any good news for her?
PS. Idk her gender but assume she’s female due to her small size.
Hi,
Your silkie
could also be having a neurological issue, which I've seen in a few of mine through the years.
A small amount of scrambled egg provides enough selenium, so I wouldn't give her any of the supplement.
Continue with the E, egg, and B-complex like
@Wyorp Rock explained and showed above, for a couple of weeks. She could start showing improvement in a couple of days, but this is slow going. If she's still having issues in a couple of weeks, you can continue with the same treatment.
Of the five or so of mine that exhibited similar symptoms, four recovered. One that didn't, did improve, but she still has head shakes. She's 3 years old now and is fine otherwise.
I would note that none of the five that I hatched with issues came from my own silkies; they were from purchased hatching eggs. I believe nutrition of the parents is paramount to them starting out life not deficient of any vitamins or nutrients, which is especially important to silkies. Not that what we do is gospel, but seems to work, is having them on a high protein feed with very little outside food. These are on Kalmbach's Flock Maker (20% protein). We have oyster shell in separate dishes for the hens. For "scratch," they get Kalmbach's Henhouse Reserve a few times a week. That is a nutritionally complete layer feed, and they act like it's a treat. About once a week, they get scrambled eggs, but other than that, or a few things from the garden, I don't want them filling up on anything that will cause them to eat less of their feed.
For extra vitamins, as an insurance, we mix in about 1/4 dose of Rooster Booster granules in the bulk feed bins, so rarely give any vitamins outside of them just eating their feed.
I wish you the best with your silkie! Please let us know how its doing in a few days.
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