Silkie chick not walking and weak for the past 5 days

[anag]

I have a Silkie chick that must be at least two weeks old. She was at least a week old when I got her at the farm stand. She and another chick in my group of 4 chicks had a bit of pasty butt that I remedied as soon as I saw it. The other chick is doing fine but the silkie took a turn for the worse and stopped walking. I moved her to a separate brooder - she is under a Brinsea Ecoglow. I have been offering her a mixture of cooked egg yolk mixed with water, a bit of nutridrench and pediatric electrolyte on a spoon every 1-2 hours roughly for the past 5 days. Today I mixed some nutritional yeast and ground up starter feed to the mix as well. She seems still weak but stable and eats when offered but wont really drink despite my offering water at every feeding. I am hoping there is enough liquid in my mash. The thing is despite 5 days of this I dont see any improvement in the strength of her legs. She uses her wings to push away from the food when she has had enough. She doesnt seem to react when I move her legs so I dont think she is in pain when I move them.

Any thoughts? Any suggestions on my treatments?

 

[MadamContrary]

That is a really difficult situation you are in. Seems like you are doing everything within your power to get her back on her feet, literally. Have you considered contacting a rescue organization or an avian veterinarian? Perhaps they would have further advice or be willing to take her in? Unfortunately this is the situation on the farm were we consider euthanasia due to quality of life. I personally, always look for an alternative before culling, but if it's necessary I will. If she can't live without assistance that is very difficult on her an you. You have to decide what is fair to both of you. You can continue to try and rehabilitate, honestly it sounds like you have been given great advice and have been doing an excellent job for her to be improving after having issues for this long! However, you have to look at it realistically, how long can you keep up this level of care with no improvement?

 

[anag]

Yes thats what I am grappling with. The only vet in the area that sees chickens is not taking any more patients but I think I will try and see if I can get them to reconsider. Though I dont hold much hope for him to know what to do - this is not a farming area. I guess I will see how she does this week then make a decision. Thank You.

 

[Chickeria]

How is your little one doing in the meanwhile?
I don't know if your vitamins already include vitamin E, if not, perhaps it could be helpful to add some.

 

[anag]

She is still at it fortunately. I have been mixing a tiny bit of nutridrench into the water that I then mix with her mash and egg yolk. There is vitamin E in that. Should I add a bit more?

 

[anag]

Thank you I will try that.

 

[anag]

Thank you so much. She seems to very very slowly be doing better. She still cant stand on her legs but I fell her pushing a bit with them. She is really tiny compared to her sibling chicks granted they are not silkies but I am hoping she will grow a bit faster. I am worried about when the time comes to integrate her back to the group (fingers crossed) that it will be problematic.

She wont drink which worries me that she is not getting enough liquids. I make sure to add a lot of liquid to her mash but does anyone know if that is enough?

 

[anag]

So she is getting stronger every day. She is eating well and has regular looking poops but she still isnt walking and while she seems to be able to move her legs she wont bear her weight on them. Its hard to tell if there is any swelling because her legs are so tiny. Any suggestions on what I can do to help her walk?

 

[Chickeria]

That's such good news she is getting stronger and eating well
Perhaps you could try a chicken sling or chicken chair, just for a few moments a day so she can get the feeling of putting weight on her legs and standing. So she could build up some muscles like in a physiotherapy.
I searched a bit for threads showing pictures of slings and chairs and sharing advices and experiences, here is an example:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/use-of-sling-for-broken-leg.1415244/
But there are many more threads regarding this theme.
From how I understand it it is important she can stand on her footsoles but her weight is carried by the sling/chair. I think when she gains strenght in her legs you can lower it stepwise till she can put full weight on it.

You perhaps additional could try to hold her in your hand and let her little legs hang relaxed. Then with your other hand you stroke gently her footsoles and then let her footsoles let touch the ground, still holding her. This will activate the nerves and the related brain regions. I know from humans it is importand to stimulate the nerves in such cases, so perhaps it works for chickens as well.

 

[anag]

Thank You! I will try that.