My Partridge Silkie pullet, Allison, has been sick for about two weeks. She is about 23-24 weeks old and I bought her two months ago at the Newnan poultry show along with a Partridge cockerel and White cockerel. She started showing signs of sickness on the 15th, wings drooping, staggering around, not being able to eat dry food much. I was talking to her breeder via email and we decided it may be Coccidiosis, so I bought some liquid Corid and added that to her water(the two cockerels were not showing signs of sickness, but I dosed their water with Corid as well to be on the safe side). She lost a lot of weight in the following 3 days and by 21st I thought she was a goner. That night I gave her a wet mash of her regular food (Purina Gamebird Starter) and the medicated water. I don't know why I hadn't given it to her sooner, but she gobbled that stuff up. Anyway, this past Wednesday marked the day she had been on Corid for a week, so I took her off it and gave her electrolyte water. During this time her mobility has gone way down. Up until 3-4 days ago she was able to walk around a little with her wings drooping out and to the sides a bit. Since then she has been able to walk less and less, I often find her lying on her side with one foot up near her head and the other way out backwards near her tail. I have tried propping her up on towels and that works okay. I'm giving her the wet mash solely now (with water available, of course), and I add a raw egg and 2 tsp of yogurt to it once a day. I'm not sure if I should give her more yogurt than that or not, I was afraid it might give her runny poos. I have also been mixing in 2-3 drops of Poly-Vi-Sol once or twice a day with her food. Yesterday she did not get up and walk around at all, but stayed in the same spot all day except for when I moved her. I used to have to tap a spoon in the bowl of food to get her to eat, but in the past 2-3 days her appetite has gone up and now I can usually leave the bowl in there by itself and she'll eat well. I can feel her crop after feedings, which makes me feel good because for the first 5-7 days of her being sick I could never feel anything in her crop. I believe overall she's improved, except for her legs. Most of the time she lays like this:
Wings kind of flopped out (at least one), legs out front. Or, more commonly, she lays like this:
She does this sometimes when I'm feeding her. She'll wiggle, push her legs out front like that and crane her neck forward towards the ground. Poor baby, she always looks and sounds so helpless. I have read (here on BYC) that this "leg paralysis" or weak legs can follow treatment with Corid or be from a vitamin B deficiency (which Corid causes). Tomorrow I am going to start giving her Poly-Vi-Sol drops straight into her beak, hope that will help. I don't think I have any vitamin E capsules or I'd give her that too, I'll have to check. Do you think this is just a vitamin B deficiency following the Cocci infection? She can move her toes. Is there anything else I should be doing for her? Should I give her "therapy"? If this is just a vitamin B deficiency, how soon should I see results and will she hopefully fully recover and be able to walk normally again? I'm so worried that her legs and feet will get used to being like that and will get stuck in that position. She is such a sweet girl, I want her to be able to walk again..
Wings kind of flopped out (at least one), legs out front. Or, more commonly, she lays like this:
She does this sometimes when I'm feeding her. She'll wiggle, push her legs out front like that and crane her neck forward towards the ground. Poor baby, she always looks and sounds so helpless. I have read (here on BYC) that this "leg paralysis" or weak legs can follow treatment with Corid or be from a vitamin B deficiency (which Corid causes). Tomorrow I am going to start giving her Poly-Vi-Sol drops straight into her beak, hope that will help. I don't think I have any vitamin E capsules or I'd give her that too, I'll have to check. Do you think this is just a vitamin B deficiency following the Cocci infection? She can move her toes. Is there anything else I should be doing for her? Should I give her "therapy"? If this is just a vitamin B deficiency, how soon should I see results and will she hopefully fully recover and be able to walk normally again? I'm so worried that her legs and feet will get used to being like that and will get stuck in that position. She is such a sweet girl, I want her to be able to walk again..
