Silkie chick sick, help with diagnosis.

[amos58]

Hello,
I have a 3 week old silkie chick, she started this past weekend sitting around with eyes closed. Doesn't move around. I have hand fed her water with antibiotics and give her vitamins. Sometimes she perks up a little but sits under the lights. Sometimes she eats a little but not much. I have noticed her crop is a little bit hard in one spot and also today noticed a very soft puffy spot in the front(crop area) and after I give her water and pick her up sometimes some of the water comes up as saliva (thicker and bubbly). Does she have sour crop? Or any suggestions on how to help this little thing? The other chicks are fine.

 

[artsyrobin]

Try giving her some yogurt mixed with hard boiled egg, or an oatmeal gruel, to get some energy into her- also i would isolate her until you can figure out what is going on- what has she been eating?

 

[amos58]

Hi,
She has been eating medicated chick food and every other day a mix of feed, hardboiled eggs and olive all ground up, I am wondering if she did not ingest some shavings. I pushed on the crop a little bit this morning and some clear fluid(water) came up, but I had to leave.

 

[artsyrobin]

how is she this morning?? it is possible she ate some shavings, can you tell if the crop is hard or squishy?? what kind of vitamins are you giving her and how often?

 

[amos58]

She is the same this morning, her crop seemed smaller, but it has some hard areas, I gave her some fluids this morning and now the crop is squishy, I massaged a little and put her back. I gave some poly visol in the water, I am afraid of putting it in the beak. She stays huddle under the light, isn't very steady on her feet but managing. ALso her right eye is closed almost all the time. I tried putting a little water on it, she doesn't like that. I don't know what else to do with her. I read give yogust then read yogurt could sour in the crop, I gave her some flat coke, don't know what that will do, I will try almost anything.
Thank you for trying to help, I appreciate it very much

 

[artsyrobin]

ok, here is what i have done with sour crop- isolate them, in this case since she is a baby, you could just fence her off so the others won't trample her- then i put them bread soaked in olive oil to help get things moving through the crop- massage the crop area gently- now, can you feel anything in there? if it is impacted, you might be able to feel it- i'll check around and see what i can dig up-

 

[amos58]

Thank you for helping,
I can feel some hard areas near the top front and squishy in the front of her. They feel small. I tried giving her olive oil on a spoon mixed with water, she is not too fond of it, I did massage the area a little bit.

 

[artsyrobin]

try soaking a little of the bread with the oil, it might be a way to get it down her- i'll check in a bit and see how it worked for you