What am I doing wrong?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Winter1]

Today my beloved silky, Frost, died unexpectedly. Yesterday she was acting a bit lethargic but I thought it was just because it was cold. But this morning she was curled up in a nest box, dead.
We've lost 6 of our original 8. We had to re home one of them. 2 died from coccidiosis, 1 from mericks, now my 2 silkies from unknown causes. We keep their 10x30ft cage and 4x6 coop clean. We got 3 chicks earlier last year and they where vaccinated for mericks and coccidiosis. And about 2 months ago we got a rooster from a family friend. They always have fresh food and water. We sometimes turn on the heat lamp in the coop on really cold nights (our bantam hen always molts early and I want to keep her warm). I just don't know why our chickens keep dying! My chickens are like my children. I cant take all this stress during school. If y'all have any questions or suggestions please say them. Thank you so much.

This is some of the last pics I had taken of my little Frosty

She was so sweet

(this was taken last fall)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[snow5164]

I'm so sorry, I know how hard that is. My first silkie died after looking weak and tired, I fed her with an eye dropper and kept her warm. She died after 3 days , the silkies have their own coop and are spoiled!!

Silkies are a sensitive breed, they can literally have heart attacks easily. Mine was terrified of the silkie rooster, so I gave him away.
My breeder said she's lost so many of them from heart issues, which really are out of our control.

Have you considered trying a different breed? I've have Icelandics and brown sex links and Rhode Island for years without all the drama.


Sorry for your loss

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

So sorry to hear of your loss. I understand how heart breaking it is, especially when you are working hard to keep them clean and healthy and loved.

Unfortunately with Marek's disease, once you have it in your flock, you have it for good and it is the sort of disease that rarely kills just one and that's the end of it. My guess would be that the two that died from Coccidiosis also had Marek's as it weakens the immune system, leaving birds prone to secondary infections from things that would not cause them a problem. Even vaccinated birds can be infected by Marek's and although the vaccine is believed to prevent the development of tumours that so often prove fatal with Marek's it can still cause paralysis and/or weaken the immune system leaving them vulnerable to the likes of coccidiosis and respiratory infection. Silkies do seem to be particularly prone to Marek's, so as the other poster suggested, maybe try another breed and get adult birds rather than chicks which are particularly at risk of contracting Marek's. I'm having success with breeding from those birds in my flock that have not developed Marek's, but it depends on how aggressive the strain is that your flock is infected with.

Good luck going forward.

Regards

Barbara