Silkie roo lethargic, panting with watery diarrhea with green chunks in it.

[AuthenticAlyssa]

Did he end up making it?…. My precious boy passed away Friday morning. He had lost too much weight from the molt and I didn’t catch his symptoms in time. I was thinking it was another underlying issue because he always was a bit strange, not mating as much and usually just content sitting around. He had almost the same symptoms as yours and was a male silkie.

 

[Luckyt21]

Did he end up making it?…. My precious boy passed away Friday morning. He had lost too much weight from the molt and I didn’t catch his symptoms in time. I was thinking it was another underlying issue because he always was a bit strange, not mating as much and usually just content sitting around. He had almost the same symptoms as yours and was a male silkie.

Oh NO I am so sorry to hear that your precious boy passed on, this makes me very sad to hear & I cried for the both of you when reading this. It’s so undoubtedly tough to lose any animal. In the last 8 months I have lost 3 growing chickens & 2 baby chicks they all were very tough to go through.
Do you think he lost his feathers from the mites? I watch lots of YouTube chicken videos as my new hobby & one I watched last night said that chickens loosing feathers is a sign of lice/mites & also them picking on each other. I wish the chicken world was easier.
I am happy to say my boy has really improved. He’s still in the house with us & doing much much better. He is still in the house with us & he crowed for us this morning. I think he is ready to rejoin his friends (hopefully they will still be friendly to him). I washed his butt & he is drying off before he goes out. I still don’t know what it was that was wrong with him. I have so much frustration with finding professionals to help with chicken health stuff. I think it should be mandatory that every vet should see chickens, especially with the rising popularity of chicken keeping. I have 1 with Bumblefoot & another one who has been coughing & breathing funny. She may be next to come in. I should start a journal for all the problems I have . I have 3 other silkie roosters in my flock of 15 mixed breeds, I wasn’t lucky enough to end up with a girl out of a total of 5 silkies. I hope you have been doing ok with the loss of your boy. What was his name? Mines name is Andre.

 

[Offshoreorca]

I would be super leery of MG (Mycoplasma gallisepticum) in your flock if the treatment the vet has given you has been working. Not only does it cause those symptoms, but it is highly contagious and the flock will be carriers for life. It can be tested for and is a fairly common problem amongst flocks, causing CRD (chronic respiratory disease). Unfortunately, it can be transmitted through eggs to the offspring, so it would be best to keep a closed flock and not give other people eggs to hatch or chicks if your flock tests positive for it. Chickens and eggs are safe to eat. Often there are no symptoms until chickens are stressed - e.g. the onset of winter with cold.

 

[Tookie]

Did he end up making it?…. My precious boy passed away Friday morning. He had lost too much weight from the molt and I didn’t catch his symptoms in time. I was thinking it was another underlying issue because he always was a bit strange, not mating as much and usually just content sitting around. He had almost the same symptoms as yours and was a male silkie.

I'm so sorry.

Oh NO I am so sorry to hear that your precious boy passed on, this makes me very sad to hear & I cried for the both of you when reading this. It’s so undoubtedly tough to lose any animal. In the last 8 months I have lost 3 growing chickens & 2 baby chicks they all were very tough to go through.
Do you think he lost his feathers from the mites? I watch lots of YouTube chicken videos as my new hobby & one I watched last night said that chickens loosing feathers is a sign of lice/mites & also them picking on each other. I wish the chicken world was easier.
I am happy to say my boy has really improved. He’s still in the house with us & doing much much better. He is still in the house with us & he crowed for us this morning. I think he is ready to rejoin his friends (hopefully they will still be friendly to him). I washed his butt & he is drying off before he goes out. I still don’t know what it was that was wrong with him. I have so much frustration with finding professionals to help with chicken health stuff. I think it should be mandatory that every vet should see chickens, especially with the rising popularity of chicken keeping. I have 1 with Bumblefoot & another one who has been coughing & breathing funny. She may be next to come in. I should start a journal for all the problems I have . I have 3 other silkie roosters in my flock of 15 mixed breeds, I wasn’t lucky enough to end up with a girl out of a total of 5 silkies. I hope you have been doing ok with the loss of your boy. What was his name? Mines name is Andre.

Glad he's improving!

 

[Luckyt21]

I would be super leery of MG (Mycoplasma gallisepticum) in your flock if the treatment the vet has given you has been working. Not only does it cause those symptoms, but it is highly contagious and the flock will be carriers for life. It can be tested for and is a fairly common problem amongst flocks, causing CRD (chronic respiratory disease). Unfortunately, it can be transmitted through eggs to the offspring, so it would be best to keep a closed flock and not give other people eggs to hatch or chicks if your flock tests positive for it. Often there are no symptoms until chickens are stressed - e.g. the onset of winter with cold.

That is exactly what I was thinking after researching endlessly! It is going to be a little bit warmer today (35 degrees) so the flock can stay out in the run today. My plan is to shut down & completely clean out & spray the coop first & then scoop out the run & spray each one with something to disinfect against any bacteria, lice, mites etc. Any suggestions on what to use? I bought a gallon pump sprayer, Tek-trol concentrate, Pi-Quat & Synergize (not to use all at once of course, they were on clearance for $5 per gallon so I bought them all). I also have poultry protector concentrate for when I might need it. Also tomorrow is the last day of the antibiotics my vet put them on so do you think I should treat them for parasites just in case? We now have a TSC 8 miles from us so I have access to much needed sullies now.

 

[Offshoreorca]

That is exactly what I was thinking after researching endlessly! It is going to be a little bit warmer today (35 degrees) so the flock can stay out in the run today. My plan is to shut down & completely clean out & spray the coop first & then scoop out the run & spray each one with something to disinfect against any bacteria, lice, mites etc. Any suggestions on what to use? I bought a gallon pump sprayer, Tek-trol concentrate, Pi-Quat & Synergize (not to use all at once of course, they were on clearance for $5 per gallon so I bought them all). I also have poultry protector concentrate for when I might need it. Also tomorrow is the last day of the antibiotics my vet put them on so do you think I should treat them for parasites just in case? We now have a TSC 8 miles from us so I have access to much needed sullies now.

It would be worth it to make sure they are treated for parasites, as parasites cause stress and stress leads to illness. I would suggest treating for worms and externals - I'm in Canada so I have access to different medications from you, but we use Debantic 50 for externals and Aquasol for worms. Neither have an egg withdrawal period. The antibiotics are good for short-term use (so if you notice birds getting sick again), but long term there are some other solutions. You can get a vaccination for your birds. They will always be carriers, but it will keep them from getting sick. You'd have to first confirm that MG (or MS) is what you are dealing with - there should be a way to test where you live.

You sound like you have handle on the need to keep them healthy and in a good environment. I know someone who recently went through MG with her flock and has decided to keep them (but as a closed flock). If you have Instagram, you can check her out @may_blooms_acreage and look for the Mycoplasma highlight.

 

[Luckyt21]

Thanks so much! I love you guys/gals on this forum!!!! It has been so very helpful. My chickens are now 8 months old & let’s just say they have taking me for quite a wild ride… there seems to always be something I’m watching or dealing with!

Have you ever heard of using Ivermectin’s pour on for both internal & external parasites? How soon after the antibiotics can I treat them for parasites? Their last day on abx will be tomorrow.

Yes I am keeping them all as they are our pets with benefits so I will keep the flock closed as much as I’d LOVE to get a Silkie hen. Was hoping to find one or 2 in the spring .
I will find out if my vet can tell me how to test for MG & then find the vaccination for them to keep them from getting sick.

 

[Offshoreorca]

Thanks so much! I love you guys/gals on this forum!!!! It has been so very helpful. My chickens are now 8 months old & let’s just say they have taking me for quite a wild ride… there seems to always be something I’m watching or dealing with!

Have you ever heard of using Ivermectin’s pour on for both internal & external parasites? How soon after the antibiotics can I treat them for parasites? Their last day on abx will be tomorrow.

Yes I am keeping them all as they are our pets with benefits so I will keep the flock closed as much as I’d LOVE to get a Silkie hen. Was hoping to find one or 2 in the spring .
I will find out if my vet can tell me how to test for MG & then find the vaccination for them to keep them from getting sick.

I have also treated with Ivermectin, but you need to do two treatments about 10-14 days apart and then you can't eat eggs for two weeks after each of the two treatments (so just about a month). It is effective too!

If birds look healthy, you should be able to treat for parasites right away as it doesn't effect them much as long as the dosage is right. The important thing is that the whole flock is treated at once if they are living together, or it will allow the parasites to hide on untreated individuals

And good luck! MG is definitely manageable in a closed flock if that's what it turns out to be. You can introduce more chickens to your own flock if you would like (just make sure they are vaccinated beforehand if you get positive confirmation on the MG). It's more important that you don't sell hatching eggs or chicks I'm sure the vet will have suggestions on how to test. If not, look up your State vets as they will have ways to test for this (or suggestions of where to go) too.

 

[AuthenticAlyssa]

Oh NO I am so sorry to hear that your precious boy passed on, this makes me very sad to hear & I cried for the both of you when reading this. It’s so undoubtedly tough to lose any animal. In the last 8 months I have lost 3 growing chickens & 2 baby chicks they all were very tough to go through.
Do you think he lost his feathers from the mites? I watch lots of YouTube chicken videos as my new hobby & one I watched last night said that chickens loosing feathers is a sign of lice/mites & also them picking on each other. I wish the chicken world was easier.
I am happy to say my boy has really improved. He’s still in the house with us & doing much much better. He is still in the house with us & he crowed for us this morning. I think he is ready to rejoin his friends (hopefully they will still be friendly to him). I washed his butt & he is drying off before he goes out. I still don’t know what it was that was wrong with him. I have so much frustration with finding professionals to help with chicken health stuff. I think it should be mandatory that every vet should see chickens, especially with the rising popularity of chicken keeping. I have 1 with Bumblefoot & another one who has been coughing & breathing funny. She may be next to come in. I should start a journal for all the problems I have . I have 3 other silkie roosters in my flock of 15 mixed breeds, I wasn’t lucky enough to end up with a girl out of a total of 5 silkies. I hope you have been doing ok with the loss of your boy. What was his name? Mines name is Andre.

Thank you Lucky, I appreciate the love… This chicken deserved to be in the best place possible anyways and so I am very happy for him and grateful for the time I had. It’s a huge lesson for the future that I need to be really paying more attention to body signs. He hid them so well that by the time I found out he was too light weight for him to recover. Glad to hear you guys are good.

 

[Luckyt21]

Oh NO I am so sorry to hear that your precious boy passed on, this makes me very sad to hear & I cried for the both of you when reading this. It’s so undoubtedly tough to lose any animal. In the last 8 months I have lost 3 growing chickens & 2 baby chicks they all were very tough to go through.
Do you think he lost his feathers from the mites? I watch lots of YouTube chicken videos as my new hobby & one I watched last night said that chickens loosing feathers is a sign of lice/mites & also them picking on each other. I wish the chicken world was easier.
I am happy to say my boy has really improved. He’s still in the house with us & doing much much better. He is still in the house with us & he crowed for us this morning. I think he is ready to rejoin his friends (hopefully they will still be friendly to him). I washed his butt & he is drying off before he goes out. I still don’t know what it was that was wrong with him. I have so much frustration with finding professionals to help with chicken health stuff. I think it should be mandatory that every vet should see chickens, especially with the rising popularity of chicken keeping. I have 1 with Bumblefoot & another one who has been coughing & breathing funny. She may be next to come in. I should start a journal for all the problems I have . I have 3 other silkie roosters in my flock of 15 mixed breeds, I wasn’t lucky enough to end up with a girl out of a total of 5 silkies. I hope you have been doing ok with the loss of your boy. What was his name? Mines name is Andre.

Late update on Andre my Silkie roo…. He made a full recovery & has completely returned to normal status & loving life, well besides the fact that he lost his dominant rooster status & he is now afraid of my feisty Silkie rooster (who also picks on me).

Thank you again for everyone’s help!!