Silkie with weird disease/condition, please help.

[pitbullmomma]

So my Silkie, Big Bird, is 6 and a half. She is vaccinated for Marek's, and I've had her since she was a day old.

A few months ago, she started doing this occasionally. At night I would find her outside in the run, laying on her back, unable to get up. I would pick her up, put her in the coop, and in the morning she would be OK. She started getting a bit light.

It progressed to where it started happening more frequently, and then she wouldn't be able to, stand/walk. I would give her food and treats and she would eat voraciously. I'd give her water, put her to bed, and in the morning she'd be fine.

A couple-few weeks ago, it got really bad. She was shockingly light. I put her in the house with me for a week, shot NutriDrench down her crop daily, cooked her eggs (still eating like a champ), fed her, lots of treats, actually did PT with her, bathed her...lots of TLC. She went from completely not being able to stand, to standing with help, staggering and flopping over, to eventually stagger walking, and then walking. She gained weight, got spunky, and after a week was able to go out in the coop and run with the others. I've been making sure she gets plenty of food and the girls aren't bullying her. She's been fine.

Last night she couldn't get up in the coop. Now I'm feeding her again separately in the coop. I am totally stumped. What could this be? No poultry vets near me.

TLDR: My 6 year old Silkie seems to have some weird-ass neuro muscular degenerative disease that waxes and wanes, and causes her to become semiparalytic. It responds somewhat to feeding and NutriDrench and TLC, but it always comes back.

 

[nuthatched]

Silkies are prone to vitamin deficiency and neurological issues. What's her diet?
Cut out the treats for now, that can compound issues.
Give her 400i.u vitamin E capsule and about a third of a B complex tablet every day for a few weeks. Any brand from the grocery store, pull down on her wattle and pop it in her beak.

 

[pitbullmomma]

Starter/grower (I had a rooster so that's what I fed them all) with supplemental oyster shells and grit. Occasional scratch. I've only been giving her more scratch and mealworms during the times this happens.

I've been giving her Nutridrench once a week since she got better.

 

[ksbkeys]

So my Silkie, Big Bird, is 6 and a half. She is vaccinated for Marek's, and I've had her since she was a day old.

A few months ago, she started doing this occasionally. At night I would find her outside in the run, laying on her back, unable to get up. I would pick her up, put her in the coop, and in the morning she would be OK. She started getting a bit light.

It progressed to where it started happening more frequently, and then she wouldn't be able to, stand/walk. I would give her food and treats and she would eat voraciously. I'd give her water, put her to bed, and in the morning she'd be fine.

A couple-few weeks ago, it got really bad. She was shockingly light. I put her in the house with me for a week, shot NutriDrench down her crop daily, cooked her eggs (still eating like a champ), fed her, lots of treats, actually did PT with her, bathed her...lots of TLC. She went from completely not being able to stand, to standing with help, staggering and flopping over, to eventually stagger walking, and then walking. She gained weight, got spunky, and after a week was able to go out in the coop and run with the others. I've been making sure she gets plenty of food and the girls aren't bullying her. She's been fine.

Last night she couldn't get up in the coop. Now I'm feeding her again separately in the coop. I am totally stumped. What could this be? No poultry vets near me.

TLDR: My 6 year old Silkie seems to have some weird-ass neuro muscular degenerative disease that waxes and wanes, and causes her to become semiparalytic. It responds somewhat to feeding and NutriDrench and TLC, but it always comes back.

While not likely the issue, I thought I would mention this just in case: While my chickens were free ranging, I had a chicken who would eat mushrooms and become temporarily paralyzed, unable to walk or stand. I would think she was dying. Then she would be fine in an hour. The others would get into the same mushrooms and have no effect!

So sorry she is ill.

 

[pitbullmomma]

While not likely the issue, I thought I would mention this just in case: While my chickens were free ranging, I had a chicken who would eat mushrooms and become temporarily paralyzed, unable to walk or stand. I would think she was dying. Then she would be fine in an hour. The others would get into the same mushrooms and have no effect!

So sorry she is ill.

No mushrooms. My girls don't free range. I do have an enclosed area that I will let then out of the runs occasionally, but there are definately no mushrooms there.

What's weird is that it happens at night.

 

[nuthatched]

Starter/grower (I had a rooster so that's what I fed them all) with supplemental oyster shells and grit. Occasional scratch. I've only been giving her more scratch and mealworms during the times this happens.

I've been giving her Nutridrench once a week since she got better.

She needs high doses of direct vitamins to fix the vitamin deficiency and then maintaining vitamins like the nutridrench. Keep up the good work.

 

[pitbullmomma]

She needs high doses of direct vitamins to fix the vitamin deficiency and then maintaining vitamins like the nutridrench. Keep up the good work.

Thank you very much! I just ordered some vitamins. It seems to be nutritionally related. So weird that it worsens at night. I've never given a pill to a chicken, aren't those Vit E pills huge?

 

[nuthatched]

Thank you very much! I just ordered some vitamins. It seems to be nutritionally related. So weird that it worsens at night. I've never given a pill to a chicken, aren't those Vit E pills huge?

Not the gel caps, very small. About the size of a pea.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thank you very much! I just ordered some vitamins. It seems to be nutritionally related. So weird that it worsens at night. I've never given a pill to a chicken, aren't those Vit E pills huge?

Vitamin gel capsules are fine. I've used them.

 

[Eggcessive]

Make sure to get 400 IU soft gels for the E. Give a little scrambled egg for selenium daily. I would add some b complex if possible, but she needs to be taking some of the grower starter instead of scratch. You can add a little water to make it moist.