Silkie walking very squat to the ground with wings hanging down.

[reveriereptile]

I noticed one of my silkies (think it is a hen) walking a little off yesterday but thought it was a leg cramp from where she had just gotten up. Today I went out and she is walking around but is so low to the ground it looks as if she is sitting on the ground while trying to walk. I immediately took her out to get a better look at her.

I sat her in some grass which she didn't even try to eat but my silkies can't really see to well from the feathers. I'm thinking about trimming them around their eyes. She kept walking around low to the ground. Her wings were slightly hung down. I did notice also around one side of her face it had some puss around her eye like mabye she got pecked and looked like some feathers were damaged on her head. Her back also had two spots that the feathers were short and dirty. Her tail feathers curved downward.

They are this years chicks so they might be at mating age by now. She is in a pen with 4 other silkies. I think 2 males and 2 females from just going by looks and size. There is however a big Americana rooster in with them that is around the same age. Could he be trying to breed her and maybe injured her due to his size? I'm afraid my FIL will put her down since he put one of my other silkies down that randomly walked around in circles while I was on vacation. That chick I think had an injury when it was young where it might of gotten pecked in the back of the head.

 

[reveriereptile]

I went out and observed the hen more and one of her legs seem sore. She seems like she is putting more weight on the leg she has bent more so she can keep the other more straight. My FIL looked at her and thought the samething I did about the Americana rooster breeding her. She did eat some grass this time that I took her out.

I'm going to trim their feathers around their eyes and noticed some had hidden dingles under their feet that I'm going to trim out. I'll use antibiotics on her eye. I told the Amish working for my FIL that he can have the Americana to eat since it is a mean rooster anyway. You can't even pet the silkies without it coming over to peck your hand. Even was trying to attack a cat on the other side of the run.

 

[reveriereptile]

My silky looks worse today. Looks like the rooster tried breeding her again. Going to separate her from him. Should I offer vitamin water to her?

 

[wilobrookfarms]

Hello.
I know when I had a sick hen earlier in the year, everyone said isolate her from the others, and offer vitamins and boiled egg, and veggies.(to get her to eat) I brought her in the house, put her in a dog kennel, and had to hand feed her vitamins and water. After a day or so, she perked up and started drinking and eating better. I left her in for a week, and then slowly reintroduced her to the flock. (she was also picked on by bully) Get rid of the bully too!

 

[mysweetgypsy]

One thing you can look for is Cocci or Mareks, tons of threads on those, and they seem very common. One problem is we're all just guessing. I've lost a couple this year and have another sick one now. After talking to the vet it could be so many different things, but I can't spend $150 to diagnose a chicken. So the next one to go gets a necropsy. That should tell me what's been going on. My vet thought Mareks or heavy metal poisoning. Good luck.

 

[Silkie-lover33]

Possibly eggbound?

 

[reveriereptile]

I haven't seen any eggs from any of them yet but it does look like the smaller ones have been getting bred. For all I know it could be a rooster that got into a fight. Hard to tell with them. I'll look up the diseases and see if it sounds like her.

I looked up the diseases and it is hard for me to tell if that is what she has or not. Some of the symptoms sound the same but I don't want to cull my birds unless I have to.

She can move both legs and her wings. Her legs she keeps bent like when she is roosting while she walks. She has been eating and drinking just fine. I'll have to get a good look at her eye though. Whenever my FIL gets back I'll see if he can help me examine her face.

If I got any pictures of her would that help? She looks normal like she is laying down but with an eye that looks like it was pecked. Maybe I could find a way to record a video and upload it of her walking.

Forgot to ask how you sex a silkie since they all look alike but the size?

 

[reveriereptile]

While looking up the diseases I was wondering if maybe my other silkie that my FIL put down might of had a disease. When we first got them one of them would sometimes walk around in circles. A few weeks later I went out and found the chicken on its back twitching and holding its head tilted sideways. I got some vitamin water and later I took my FIL out to show him the chicken. The chicken was normal acting again. A couple weeks went by and the chicken would go on and off with holding its head tilted and start circling.

We did see one a couple weeks ago circling a couple of days and it could be this one I'm having problems with now. We did have a black one that my FIL said got sick while I was on vacation that died.

My silkies won't roost and instead lay on the ground. I'm worrying that if it does have a disease if it could spread to my peafowl.


Update: I just went out to examine the bird and it was flipping around. It kept trying to walk but couldn't. I felt the crop and it was empty, had a bunch of poop stuck to the feathers around the butt area. The chickens had pecked at its other eye. After more examining it was very thin feeling compared to yesterday. We decided it was best to cull her. My FIL said he would put her down for me and we would examine her eyes better to see if it looked like she had a marek's eye and to check the vent for any signs of blood. Looks like she had running poop.

My FIL was wondering if the bird got into a fight and was wondering if maybe it had worms due to how skinny the breast was even though it was eating most of the last two days?