Silky hen is “off”

[Henhouse Harlot]

Looking for some advice please, Jeremy is a TSC “assorted bantam” bin Silky, who is about 8 months old now. She was laying daily until a few days ago, but something is clearly wrong with her now. When I tossed scratch out this morning, Jeremy didn’t even look at it, and this girl is a snack monster. Then I noticed she seemed to be having trouble with her balance, occasionally using a wing to steady herself. Her crop feels empty, she feels very lightweight, and her poo looks like it’s made of undigested food. Yesterday my son told me he thought there was something wrong with her, so I’m guessing she’s been sick for two days. I use straw and wood pellets for bedding in the coop, and the run is gravel. I feed everyone organic all-flock, oyster shells on the side, live mealworms and an organic scratch mix for treats. I sometimes give them dried soldier fly larva, and dandelion greens. I’m in Roswell, NM.
She isn’t interested in food, but I’m going to make her a scrambled egg anyway. She’s very listless, and she only moves if I move, she clearly wants to be with me. (More than anything that tells me she’s sick!)
Balance issues, poo that looks like wet chicken food, weakness. I’ve brought her inside, I have a hospital cage set up in my kitchen. What else can I do?

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive What do you all think?

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

Her poop has been watery and mealy like the picture every time, it also stinks like rotten eggs.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If she's not laid an egg and you think she should have, then I'd begin giving her Extra calcium daily for 5 days. 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet, right into the beak and let her swallow it.

The balance issues can be a number of things. With Silkies, sometimes they do seem to have more issues. I'd start her on 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. Give her a little treat of egg to help with the uptake of E.

Do check for lice/mites and re-check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight.

Try to get her to focus on eating her normal feed and stay hydrated.

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

If she's not laid an egg and you think she should have, then I'd begin giving her Extra calcium daily for 5 days. 1 Calcium Citrate+D3 tablet, right into the beak and let her swallow it.

The balance issues can be a number of things. With Silkies, sometimes they do seem to have more issues. I'd start her on 400IU Vitamin E and 1/4 tablet B-Complex daily. Give her a little treat of egg to help with the uptake of E.

Do check for lice/mites and re-check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight.

Try to get her to focus on eating her normal feed and stay hydrated.

She won’t eat, but I can put some E in her beak, and give her a dose of B as well. Thank you!

 

[Debbie292d]

She won’t eat, but I can put some E in her beak, and give her a dose of B as well. Thank you!

The E I just put whole in their beak and don't let them spit it out. They'll swallow it. The B has to be B-Complex.

It's imperative you get her to eat though. That's why her poop looks like that. Try making the crumbles into a mash and see if she'll eat that. Mine think it's a treat and they get that usually daily.

If not, you're going to have to try syringe some into her. This shows how to do medicine, just use a bigger needleless syringe.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[CrazyChickenLady123]

Looking for some advice please, Jeremy is a TSC “assorted bantam” bin Silky, who is about 8 months old now. She was laying daily until a few days ago, but something is clearly wrong with her now. When I tossed scratch out this morning, Jeremy didn’t even look at it, and this girl is a snack monster. Then I noticed she seemed to be having trouble with her balance, occasionally using a wing to steady herself. Her crop feels empty, she feels very lightweight, and her poo looks like it’s made of undigested food. Yesterday my son told me he thought there was something wrong with her, so I’m guessing she’s been sick for two days. I use straw and wood pellets for bedding in the coop, and the run is gravel. I feed everyone organic all-flock, oyster shells on the side, live mealworms and an organic scratch mix for treats. I sometimes give them dried soldier fly larva, and dandelion greens. I’m in Roswell, NM.
She isn’t interested in food, but I’m going to make her a scrambled egg anyway. She’s very listless, and she only moves if I move, she clearly wants to be with me. (More than anything that tells me she’s sick!)
Balance issues, poo that looks like wet chicken food, weakness. I’ve brought her inside, I have a hospital cage set up in my kitchen. What else can I do?

Her poop looks green, which means she's not eating. Try getting her to eat some of that egg, even a little bit might help. And if she's not drinking water I would recommend using a siringe to get some down her throat. I've been breeding silkies for a while now and I've noticed that they get sick often. Wishing you good

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She won’t eat, but I can put some E in her beak, and give her a dose of B as well. Thank you!

She won't eat food or just the vitamins? For Vitamins, I just pop them right into the beak and let them swallow them.

If she's not eating her food, then offer some wet feed or tidbits of egg, fish or meat to see if you can entice her.

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

Thank you everybody, she passed away the night of the 7th after seeming to recover somewhat. The evening before she died, she was eating and drinking, and seemed far more alert. Sadly, the next morning I found her with her head bent back over her body, dead. Sigh! Why must it always be my favorites?? Thank you all for the advice and support,

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you everybody, she passed away the night of the 7th after seeming to recover somewhat. The evening before she died, she was eating and drinking, and seemed far more alert. Sadly, the next morning I found her with her head bent back over her body, dead. Sigh! Why must it always be my favorites?? Thank you all for the advice and support,

I'm sorry, you did all you could for her.

You're right, it's usually the favorites we lose