Silkie hen ill and we have no idea what with

[Envatta]

Hello everyone,

Our Silkie hen (Thelma) is ill with something but unfortunately, we have no idea what with. She's about a year old and this started 2 days ago. She's moving very sluggishly and slowly, with frequent rests, however she prefers to stay still. On the first day, her bowel movements were extremely watery and green but thankfully, they are no longer green and have become less watery. She hasn't ate since this began and was wondering if anyone could recommend something. I've heard that liquid scrambled eggs and sugar water can be good but I'm not sure. She has been drinking at least, but earlier she had a drink that lasted 10-20 minutes. Is this simply because she isn't well and is trying to replace lost electrolytes, or is it something else? I noticed a little watery discharge around her beak, this however, is probably down to the drinking.

She's incredibly listless at the moment and last night, I could hear a slight clicking noise when she breathed. Last night, we were sure she wouldn't last the night, so we took her in, put her in a little box full of towels and kept her in my mother's room. Today however, she is looking quite a bit better, although still pretty sick, she's moving now and makes the odd chirp. Since that helped, we've put her in a bigger box with some food and water.

The vets here have no way of dealing with chickens. We did take her though and she was checked over for mites and seen if she might've been egg bound, luckily that seems to be all okay. I'm sorry for the long post, but we truly have no idea what's wrong and we're pretty worried. My mum would be truly upset if something happened to her. Hopefully, someone here can give us given a clue what's wrong.

Many thanks.

 

[Whittni]

Long posts are good because they provide more information, no need to be sorry--you're getting help for your animal!

Its sounds like an upper respiratory infection. Keep her isolated from other birds and practice good sanitation techniques. Go ahead and keep her in that box with food and water. You can use Terramycin and/or Duramycin, but the user RooRidgeFarm said this in another post,


"You should probably bypass the Terramycin and Duramycin-those versions are less strong, less effective than the Tylan 50-your goal right now is to subdue the symptoms so no secondary illness can take hold also
.
Tylan 50 will help your birds heal/recover from the cough, sneezing etc. BUT it will not cure it. Bottom line is your entire flock has been exposed now even though only some are showing outward signs of the illness. Chickens don't get 'colds', they get viruses and bacterial infections etc. MS and MG are the biggest offenders of respiratory issues. But you will only be guessing at what your birds have unless you take some live birds and dead birds to be necropsied by your local agricultural vet or exchange.

The best you can do besides testing for illness is to disinfect your waterers, feeders DAILY, and clean your roosts etc. and keep bedding as clean as possible. Give Tylan 50 injections (which work quickest & are more effective than oral doses) at a rate of 1/2cc subcutaneously into the breast for full size chickens & 1/4cc for bantam size (switching breast sides each injection) or to inject behind the neck between the shoulder blades subcutaneously 2x's per day for a duration of 5 days. The reason you inject 2x's a day is that Tylan 50 is effective in the system for a period of only about 8 hours. In more severe cases where your bird is struggling to breathe or is very very lethargic, you can give Tylan 50 every 3x's daily.

Injections can be intimidating. Google how to give a chicken an injection and you should find the exact step by step instructions. Tractor supply carries tylan 50, syringes, and you should use about a 22 gauge needle.

Isolating your sick from the 'healthy' ones while under treatment (even though they have all been exposed now) is recommended in order to reduce the airborne and direct swapping of fluids. Isolating will help control the spread of the symptoms, but your birds will always be carriers-there is no cure-no vaccinations to cure what disease they may have. "Vaccinations", only help control and reduce the symptoms of the illnesses=they do not eradicate the disease. You can reduce illness outbreaks by minimizing stress, practicing cleanliness, good nutrition, and antibiotics to reduce the chance of any secondary issues occurring."


You can also check out the thread where that info came from here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/755483/treating-upper-respiratory-infections

 

[SilkiesnFrizzle]

I am going to agree with the repository diagnosis, but green poop indicates starvation. The bird needs to be hydrated and given nutrition ASAP. The best way is to tube feed the bird.....there is a good link about it here....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...h-my-bird-pics-for-visuals-very-detailed-post

Castportony is usually really good with explaining tube feeding.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Your silkie's symptoms could be from any number of things. The clicking is something I haven't seen, but many describe that. Some say it could be a heart problem, but I can't say for sure if it is heart, respiratory, or what else. Most chickens will eat soft chopped scrambled eggs unless they are very ill. The green diarrhea could mean that she has not eaten, or be a symptom like a blocked gizzard, enteritis, or something else. Does she have any problem standing, walking, or with balance? I would look at her skin for lice or mites, think about worming with Flubenvet or whatever is used in your area, watch her stools, and give her a probiotic or a small amount of buttermilk or plain yogurt. Listen for any rattles or sneezing. If she doesn't start to improve soon, I would think about treating for coccidiosis with Coxoid, the amprollium or Corid equivalent in the UK, or treat for enteritis with penicillin or erythromycin. Here is some info about those 2 diseases:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/12/coccidiosis-what-backyard-chicken.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis