Silkie seriously ill. Please respond.

Most of my birds are on sand, but I still provide grit for them. Do you have her quarantined? You should separate her from all other birds, in case she has something that they could get.

You could try gently massaging her crop. You might want to research sour crop. But, I am pretty sure you can smell sour crop. I haven't ever had that issue, but have heard it is not a mistakable smell.

You might try and give her some Tylan50 for 3 days. I don't see what it is going to hurt at this point. Get some probiotics in paste form and scrap some under her beak.

Birds hide their illness unless it's almost too late sometimes. She doesn't seem to have any symptoms other than being listless.
 
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She is separated from the flock except for one other silkie female for company. She is still alert enough that I was afraid she would be too stressed out if she were alone. The room is dark except for a red bulb for warmth.

I have never owned chickens before but I do have an African Grey. I was afraid when I first noticed her behavior that she might not make it but there are no chicken doctors in my area so I have to do what I can and hope for a miracle.

Right now she is pecking at a mound of yogurt I gave her. That's a probiotic, right ? That's the longest period of time I've seen her eat in a few days. Well, she finished eating and went back to her droopy position....

I have a small bowl of grit in the run for the silkies but I have never noticed if she ate any or not.

I have some Tylan on order but right now all I have is wazine for a wormer and LS-50 for an antibiotic. The closest town is nearly 25 miles away. Would something like I already have help ?
 
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I would guess its not impacted if its soft, right? And YES sour crop smells like rotten droppings (like droppings could smell worse LOL)...it is unmistakable. I only have two silkies, and have experienced it. The vinegar is a miracle cure for it tho. Could it hurt to try a little cider vinegar?? that also helps with worms. In case thats the issue.
 
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I have her on an antibiotic now. I don't know if it will help. I've kept all my chickens on ACV since they arrived from the hatchery so I don't know if this problem could be worms.

I hope this post goes through because we're in the middle of a horrible thunderstorm and I have a satellite internet connection that goes out when it rains.
 
OK, I'm thinking she may have had a bad reaction to the Sevin dust. Was she listless before you treated her with it? If that is the problem, I don't have a cure.

I know you can use Sevin on dogs (but was told not to use it on one of my dogs who is a self-bather -- like a cat) but it isn't recommended for cats because they lick it off and ingest it. Could she have swallowed some of it when she was preening herself? I don't know much about silkies. My girls seem to preen themselves periodically and have since they were 3-4 weeks old.
 
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She was already listless when I used the Sevin.

Many of the long time posters on here have recommended Sevin 5% for mite and lice on chickens so i was just going by the information I had.

The problem I'm seeing with this silkie is no appetite and droopy acting. i just tried some chopped up squash to see if she might try it. She nibbled at it then walked away. If I could just find anything she'd eat it would help her tremendously.

She's standing in the corner of the pen clicking her beak with her head held down. This is so depressing...
 
I just had a bird act very similar... she is a 2-3 mo old polish.

is there enough draft in the coop? narrowed my problem down to that and a day later she is acting much better....i think even 70 was to warm for her in her stagnant coop...just thinking out loud
 
Is her face pale? Has she lost weight -- feel light as a feather? I had a young pullet hold her wings out like you described, listless, rarely eating, but her face was pale and she had lost weight. I wormed her and she got better within 2 days.
Good luck,
Dale-Ann
 
First, it is incorrect that blood always appears in the stools of birds infected with cocci. In adults, cocci often presents without bloody stools but the bird will be fluffed up and listless (which is a general sign of illness, so I know it doesn't eliminate many disease processes)...

Second, corid, which is the same active ingredient as amprol, which is also amprollprium (spelling). acts by limiting the cocci's access to a B vitamin they use a lot of. By giving vitamins you are making the medicine ineffective, so, when treating for cocci with Corid or Amprol, DO NOT give vitamins.
Good luck
 

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