Silkie chicken attacked! Please help!

mandsymoo

Hatching
5 Years
Jan 8, 2015
1
0
7
Hello!

One week ago today my 6 month old silkie Gretchen was attacked by a raccoon who managed to break into the coop early one morning. We thought at first that the raccoon had dragged her away but then found her flopped over and huddled up in the corner of the coop (she's black and very tiny). We brought her inside, got a heat lamp on her and wrapped her in a towel in a dark room. She was definitely in shock the first day or so but then became very alert and awake the next day. She is eating and drinking the yogurt, eggs and mash i've been feeding her and pooping just fine. She had no lacerations or cuts from the attack, only missing feathers and fluff :( The issue is that she can sit up, almost like a dog on her butt, but other than that she won't stand or walk. She lays down on her side and then will flap her wings like she wants to get up but never does. She will move both legs and feet, and both wings but just simply won't get up. Her neck appears to be slightly dropped to her right and I'm concerned about what the issue is with her. She's a fighter and hanging on, I don't want her to be suffering and just want to know what the next step is I need to take in her care. Thank you in advance!!
 
Welcome to BYC. Sorry about your silkie. Since she sounds like she could have wry neck, she may have suffered a head injury, or an injury to her spine affecting her legs. I would give her vitamins (B, E, and the mineral selenium) by getting some poultry vitamins or tonic such as Poultry Nutri-Drench, Poultry Cell, or one of the powder vitamins to add to water. Give her some time, and she may recover her ability to stand. You might want to try her in a chicken sling for part of the day, to get her upright and keep her legs from losing tone. Here are some links to read and pictures for you:
http://oureggbasket.blogspot.com/2013/04/wry-neck-or-crook-neck-understanding-it.html
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck/100
LL
TurkeySlingShade.jpg

LL
LL


59765_pp.jpg

 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom