sick silkie!!!!

[loversday002]

Hi everyone i have a 3 year old silkie from cackle hachery and she has crook neck.... i noticed it when she became really skinny when she was 4 months old and rolled around on the floor with her head underneath her. it took me 3 months to nurse her back to health and putting her food one piece at a time in her moth and giving her water from an eye dropper... she was fine up till now! she will only drink but will not eat. i brought her inside and this has been going on for a week of two!

i dont know what to do i felt her crop area and shes keeping a lot of water
does anyone have advise? ive been giving her Save a Chick formula but i dont believe its helping...

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Silkies are prone to wry neck (crookneck) and it can be from injury, vitamin deficiency, illness/infection, etc.

Here is a nice thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck

and a link:
http://browneggblueegg.com/Article.html
click on left column where it says silkie skull for graphic pic of skull and
also click on crookneck

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/218/vitamin-e-deficiency
vitamin e and selenium along with some other vitamins may help some cases of wry neck

If a chicken is undergoing a vitamin deficiency from an illness or some other cause (bad feed) then hopefully it will help to give vitamins.

I hope these links help.
There have been a lot of silkies with this problem on BYC where people give Poly vi sol without iron (baby vitamins) and it helps.

Check her crop in the morning to see if it is empty as it should be. If she has sour crop (squishy crop that doesn't empty) or impacted crop she could have a fungal infection of the crop or something....

At three years of age also consider if she has worms (check poo for diarrhea or visible worms -or bring poo to vet for fecal float - false negatives are possible-and see if she is skinny).

Also check for mites/lice as they can also drain the life out of a chicken.

Has she been pecked hard on the head? Any signs of infection?

 

[loversday002]

thanks ill check out the links you left and i believe she has sour crop it would make sense... i plan to bring her to the vet tomorrow thanks for the help! if youd like ill keep you updated on what he problem is when i find out

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

thanks ill check out the links you left and i believe she has sour crop it would make sense... i plan to bring her to the vet tomorrow thanks for the help! if youd like ill keep you updated on what he problem is when i find out

Yes, I would like to hear the update!

I hope she gets better soon!

 

[loversday002]

hi again... i just got nancy back from the vet they ran some tests and when she got there she was dehydrated! they have no idea what is wrong with her and that makes me feel sad my local vet said that her crop was fine and while she was there she started to walk stiff legged and they suggested giving her yolks from my eggs since my chickens are free ranged. he believes that the yolks will give her the vitamins she is lacking... i was giving nutracal and that will supply calories that she needs :/ she came up negative with all her worm tests

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

hi again... i just got nancy back from the vet they ran some tests and when she got there she was dehydrated! they have no idea what is wrong with her and that makes me feel sad my local vet said that her crop was fine and while she was there she started to walk stiff legged and they suggested giving her yolks from my eggs since my chickens are free ranged. he believes that the yolks will give her the vitamins she is lacking... i was giving nutracal and that will supply calories that she needs :/ she came up negative with all her worm tests

Scrambled or chopped boiled eggs are very good for chickens. I'd give her the whites too as those are protein, if it were me.

That is good that she doesn't have worms at least!

 

[loversday002]

yeah it could be worse! the vet didnt seem to be very educated with birds since he never seemed to hear about sour crop :/ i was worried to leave her there over night because of that reason