sick birds help?!

[sydney13]

i bought two silkies from alive meat market to keep as pets. One of them is doing very well and wandering around the yard for the first time and the other is doing fine but looking a little droopy. I ordered some vitamin and mite stuff for hem but it is coming in a few days, so is their any thing i can give them right now to get them moving a bit more. They keep closing their eyes like the are sleeping but its the middle of the day, is this normal. Ive heard you can give them gatorade to give them a boost is this true, and what about adding some sugar to their water it this also true. Their wing feathers are all tattered and they are not able to fly on the roost when the molt will they be able to? And their poop is brown and soft with a bit of white around it, what does this mean? They have not been vaccinated for any thing, should i give them some vaccines and of what?

 

[Hennyhandler]

I'll try to do my best helping you with what I know and think. The poop with the white is normal. They will do that every so many poops. It is like their urine if I am not mistaken. I have heard of gatorade being given. I don't know how much though. I haven't heard of sugar but that doesn't mean anything. You might want to go to a grocery store to the baby section and buy electrolytes to give to them. I have some in my fridge that I give when needed or on occasion just to keep up on things.
I would think whether their feathers were tattered or not they would be able to fly up to the roost. They may have not had access to a roost and don't quite know what to do. You might try placing them on a low roost so they can learn what to do and not injure themselves in the process like you would chicks.
Lots of chickens aren't vaccinated so I wouldn't personally until you find out what or if there is something wrong with them? I don't think them sleeping and such in the middle of the day is considered normal but it may not be anything serious so don't worry too much till you know for sure.
I also would post this in the disease and emergency section. More may give you advice. Good luck!!

 

[cobrien]

I think you should post under Emergencies / Injuries / Sickenss & cures for better & more feedback. I agree with the last poster, the poop sounds normal and it is normal that they don't roost, this is something that takes them time to learn. You might have to teach them. Sometimes they just prefer not to roost. I think this is pretty common with Silkies but it varies from bird to bird.

What are you feeding them and are they eating okay? Have you examined the eyes, mouth, vent? I am not an expert but there are many experts on BYC that will hopefully give more advice.

Sometimes closing their eyes during the day is normal, like when they sit in the sun for a dust bath/sun bathing / nap. But for the most part they should be alert during the day. My main concern is the 'droopiness'. This is definitely not normal. Unfortunately birds do not show symptoms of being ill until they are very ill because as a survival tactic they have evolved to hide their illnesses, so any time they appear lethargic it could be serious. If these are pet chickens and you are concerned for their health, I would take the droopy one to the vet, and take a few poop samples with you (one from each bird to check for parasites). Unfortunately it is not uncommon to see a lethargic bird on one day and then find it dead a day or two later. On the other hand with supportive care they might do fine and you can get lots of advice here on what to do.

I would not give sugar. Chickens are so small that a small amount of sugar would be like us eating pounds of sugar. A little is not a problem.

I would offer them scrambled eggs, vitamins in the water, yogurt and high protein chicken food, I guess layer mash since they are close to the age of laying. I would not worry about vaccines right now, as they would need to be healthy and not stressed for a vaccine to work anyway. You could reconsider this after they are settled and hopefully healthy.