Silkie in shock

[chicken4prez]

I made a thread a little while back about a Silkie that I had who wasn’t growing properly. Well she did grow a bit more so I put her in the big pen. It’s the next day and I went down to check on her and she was sitting in the corner of the pen with her head tucked under her wing and a patch of feathers missing on her head.

I thought she was dead because she didn’t respond when I touched her. I picked her up and carried her to the house and put her with her best friend who also got feathers pecked out last night. I put her in a tiny pen with her friend and she’s just sitting there. I gave her some electrolytes.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How is she doing today?

If you are having cool weather, place her where she can be warm (75-80F).
Apply some triple antibiotic ointment or vetericyn to her wounds.

Silkies can suffer severe trauma if pecked in the head, so keep a close watch on her. Get her drinking - the electrolytes are good. If you have poultry vitamins like Poultry Nutri-Drench that contains Vitamin E and Selenium, those may be helpful as well.

What do you feed her - how old is she? Once she is drinking well, see if she will eat something for you - her normal feed, a wet mash or some egg would be good.

Sometimes Silkies can get picked on by other breeds because the may be meeker or look different. Do you have separate housing where she and her friend can live long term if needed?

 

[chicken4prez]

She's a bit better. She is talking and eating fine. We still have her separated with her friend.

Well I could place her under my heat lamp... I read that honey helps with wounds. Would the work for her? I put some quick stop to stop the bleeding.

I'll go and give her some more electrolytes then. I don't think I have any vitamins.... I'm quite new to all this medication stuff.

I feed her pellets from my local feed store. I've been using them for 8 years. She is 12 weeks.

She came in a batch of 5 Silkies and her and her friend bonded very quickly. They both we kind of the loners of the group so that's how they got so close. My other three Silkies are in the big pen with no trouble at all. I did put them in before her and her friend because of her growing problems. Before her incident she lived with a few EE chicks, a D'Uccle rooster and D'Uccle pullet. The rooster doesn't try mating them at all and he is very nice so that's why I let him be with the younger ones. Well the housing would be in our shed in a big cage for the winter.


She is acting better like I said before but do you think she might be hiding it? Is there something going on underneath?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Are the pellets that you feed an "all flock" type feed or is it layer pellets?

Honey can be used to help heal wounds, so if you have that instead of something like plain Neosporin, that would be fine.
Chickens are very good at hiding illness, it's possible she may have an underlying condition since you mentioned she seemed like she was not growing properly. Sometimes it can be due to genetics. Some are just a little slower and take off as they get older - only time will tell.

Eating is good, so I would think she will drink fine. If you see that she doesn't like the electrolytes, then plain fresh water is good too

"Most" roosters tolerate pullets fairly well, it's the girls that do most of the bullying and pecking. She is young so usually a rooster can tell they are not ready to mate. Once she comes into lay, he will want to though.

Just keep a watch on her - I hope she gets better.

 

[Eggcessive]

They should be on a chick grower feed, not layer pellets. Most electrolytes have vitamins in them--that may be why the water is yellow. Just read the package ingredients. I would also put a small bowl of plain water in in case they don't like the flavored water. When they are drinking well and eating, they can be stopped.

Honey is considered good, but I would rather use plain triple antibiotic/neosporin on a wound twice a day, since most of us have that at home, or Vetericyn which can be expensive.

When she is feeling better and healing, you may want to try again more slowly at integrating them into the flock. It is best done in a large dog crate with food and water for a fews days to a week, in the coop with the others so they can get used to each other. Then some supervised free ranging about an hour before they normally go to roost works. Hopefully, these two hens will fit in, but at least they will be together. Good luck.

 

[chicken4prez]

They are layer pellets.

I guess I'll use that then.

Yes she is pretty tiny. She looks bigger than she is because of her fluff but when she's wet she is she same size as a 6 week old or around that. I haven't seen her normal size in a while.

She didn't mind the electrolytes yesterday.

Ok. I have one rooster that's almost 13 weeks I think and he's trying to mate everyone. I I'm going to get rid of him soon because he's challenging me to fight and I'm afraid for my toddler brother who loves the chickens. I suspect he might be part of the problem. He's in the main pen though.

 

[chicken4prez]

Most electrolytes have vitamins in them--that may be why the water is yellow. Just read the package ingredients. I would also put a small bowl of plain water in in case they don't like the flavored water. When they are drinking well and eating, they can be stopped.

Honey is considered good, but I would rather use plain triple antibiotic/neosporin on a wound twice a day, since most of us have that at home, or Vetericyn which can be expensive.

When she is feeling better and healing, you may want to try again more slowly at integrating them into the flock. It is best done in a large dog crate with food and water for a fews days to a week, in the coop with the others so they can get used to each other. Then some supervised free ranging about an hour before they normally go to roost works. Hopefully, these two hens will fit in, but at least they will be together. Good luck.

That's good to know. My chickens don't really care. I think they actually liked it.

I can look again. I am in Canada too though and most vitamins we can't get here unless we order online and that takes forever and it's very expensive.

Okay I'll try that. I have never had to do that but this time I might have to. Thanks so much! I really hope they will accept her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They are layer pellets.

She is only 12weeks old, so you need to feed her either chick starter or a grower feed. Layer feed has to much calcium (and most of the time not enough protein) for growing chicks.

A good rule of thumb is to feed layer to actively laying birds. Since you have a mix of ages (?) it may be best to feed an all flock/flock raiser formula all the time and offer oyster shells free choice for your layers.

 

[chicken4prez]

She is only 12weeks old, so you need to feed her either chick starter or a grower feed. Layer feed has to much calcium (and most of the time not enough protein) for growing chicks.

A good rule of thumb is to feed layer to actively laying birds. Since you have a mix of ages (?) it may be best to feed an all flock/flock raiser formula all the time and offer oyster shells free choice for your layers.

I made a mistake. We're giving them grower feed.

Yes we do have a huge mix. My oldest in the main flock is 7 and the youngest is 13 weeks. I'm pretty sure we have oyster crumbs hiding somewhere. Would the feed just be called all flock feed?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I made a mistake. We're giving them grower feed.

Yes we do have a huge mix. My oldest in the main flock is 7 and the youngest is 13 weeks. I'm pretty sure we have oyster crumbs hiding somewhere. Would the feed just be called all flock feed?

Oh good - grower feed should be fine.

Oyster shell put out in a dish or container free choice for your laying hens is always a good idea, they will take what they need for extra calcium.

Since you are in Canada, it depends on how feed is labeled and where you source your feed from - In the US, I use Purina Flock Raiser, but some feed mills may call "all flock" or some type of wording like that. These feeds are formulated with more protein and less calcium than layer feed and can be fed to all ages.