Sick/Dying Silkie?

[Hazelbunny]

Morning/afternoon,

I have a question and have been doing research. But I’m not sure why my chick isn’t able to balance himself. He has all the energy now and won’t sit still and I’m hand feeding him food and water. He peeps and still doesn’t open his left eye.

Is he never going to be able to walk? I’m not sure what to think about how he is healing but I am concerned and nervous....

If he's the smallest maybe he is disabled in some way and the other Chicks noticed and started to bully him about it.

 

[Krystallite17]

I think its a type of Wry Neck. Read this article from someone else going through the same thing and this is what they did to help it. think ima try and post results later.





We had the same issue, laid on its side for three days, we put its beak in water and it drank a little but would not eat, we then tried band-aiding its legs together but it was unable to get up so that was no solution. after three days we decided to make a sling out of a woman's nylon hose, we cut 5 holes for it head, wings and legs and then suspended it while letting it feet touch flat footed on the floor. We now were able to hand feed and water it. In the sling it kicked and spun, everyday we let it down to see if it could stand, on the 4th day it was standing but wobbling and falling over, we then let the sling down to put more weight on its legs, after another day it was standing. We took the sling off next day and it would stumble and fall forward and get back up again. After a week it was walking with a halt, now 2 weeks later it has made a full recovery.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

It is very hard to say the exact reason is for your little chick to exhibit these symptoms. It could be that it was pecked. It could also be deficient in one or more vitamins due to whether the parents were lacking something. Or this chick could be slightly more predisposed to a deficiency as compared to the rest. It's a delicate balance of everything working properly in the body to keep it going. One small thing that may be off can cause a cascade of events.

I have a few different lines of Silkies; Silkie crossed EEs, a line of purebred Silkie roosters and a line of Buff Silkie cross siblings. The Buff crossed Silkies have been prone to wry neck. They first exhibited symptoms when they were chicks. I administered a course of poultry vitamins which helped a lot. But one rooster had to be put down. I don't breed them because of this, but I'm aware a few Silkie eggs have been incubated by accident. One of the chicks I suspect was theirs did show deficiency at a few days old. One of the original roosters exhibited slight wry neck symptoms while we were experiences a prolonged cold snap this winter...but he seems fine now.

Here's a bit on deficiencies from a couple of good sources. I do want to note that the second link does have some graphic images. A lack of certain vitamins can cause encephalomalacia. Vitamin E is one vitamin that is important. However, I prefer to give chick vitamins that cover a broad spectrum of vitamins to cover all the bases for a chick having a difficult time.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...ement-poultry/vitamin-deficiencies-in-poultry

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/218/vitamin-e-deficiency/