Very sick Silkie! Please help me diagnose.

[Sgtrueblood]

My 7 month old Silkie had one swollen eye 6 days ago. I separated her and moved her inside. I took her to an avian vet the next day who said she had an eye infection and he put her on antibiotic eye drops and an oral antibiotic (SMZ). He didn’t find any signs of respiratory problems but gave an oral antibiotic “just in case”. Her eye looked slightly better the next day but she became lethargic and stopped eating. I started feeding her by hand. She has been getting steadily worse. Her wry neck has returned yesterday. So I started vitamin e and selenium. Ive given her egg yolk and vitamin water by syringe today. But her crop is soft and full of liquid. Now she on her side, neck twisted and struggling to breathe. One question I have is could the oral antibiotics have stopped her from absorbing nutrients? Are the antibiotics to blame? When I first got her she had coccidia (2 months ago) so I treated her with antibiotics and she developed wry neck. It took about 2 weeks but she recovered. And now it’s back. Has anyone heard of antibiotics causing these types of issues? I’m hoping she makes it through the night but I’m not sure if she will. I don’t know what else I can do.

 

[Eggcessive]

SMZ-TMP is a good antibiotic that can treat coryza, coccidiosis, E.coli infections, and fowl cholera. It is not the antibiotic that would treat MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum.) Wry neck is a neurological symptom, and can be common in silkies, head injury, vitamin E or B1 thiamine deficiency, and is seen in certain diseases, such as Mareks and some others. Do you know if she was vaccinated for Mareks? Does she have any sour or bad odor from her beak that might be aour crop? Can you check her crop early in the morning before she has taken food or water? Her crop may be slow from her illness. I doubt if the antibiotic has caused it, but I would give her some plain yogurt with a little moistened chicken feed for probiotics. Here is a good article about crop disorders:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Sgtrueblood]

She was not vaccinated against Mareks but has no other Mareks symptoms. No odors at all. I gave a bit of yogurt today and will check her crop and try again tomorrow. Could the antibiotic have made her tummy upset to the point of not eating? And then her nutrient deficiency kicked in? I know wry neck tends to come back and I’m hoping we can treat it like we did last time. But I’m super worried about her not eating. I can barely get her the take water and a bit of egg yolk now. I guess it could be another virus too but the symptoms don’t line up with anything that I can find. Again, eye closed (no goop), no respiratory symptoms, no drainage, slowly lost appetite over a couple days and became more still and hunched, then developed wry neck (2nd time). Can barely eat now, fill liquid in crop, and has labored breathing. She’s barely hanging on.

 

[Eggcessive]

I suppose the sulfa drug might have upset her appetite, but hard to know for sure. You could try tube feeding her for a bit if you want to learn. She needs a balanced feed, either wet chicken feed, ground up feed tube fed, or baby bird feed such as Kay Tee which good for tube feeding. With the labored breathing, not wanting to eat, and wry neck, I hope she can get better. If you should lose her, I would get a necropsy to look for a possible cause of death. Here is a link that lists most state vets to contact and how to keep the body cold, but not frozen:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry-labs.html

Here is some reading about tube feeding:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/go-team-tube-feeding-updated-12-29-2019.805728/

 

[Sgtrueblood]

Her crop cleared over night but she’s weak and barely breathing. The wry neck makes feeding quite difficult and delicate.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that she is not doing well. I have done some tube feeding with a piece of aquarium air tubing or oxygen tubing connected to a 35 ml regular syringe from a feed store. It works with water, and raw egg or yogurt. With chicken feed it may need to be larger. Adding some thiamine or 1/4 tablet daily of human B complex could help.

Here is a good video of feeding a siilkie with wry neck:

 

[Sgtrueblood]

Thank you so much. She seemed very close to death last night but this morning is standing and at least trying to peck at some mash I made for her. I used pellet feed mixed with a bit of water that has a bit of garlic, ginger, and acv in it. Her breathing is much better and she’s standing on her own. Fingers crossed that she’s starting to recover.