I purchased four silkie birds from a breeder. Two of them were 8 weeks old and two of them were day-old.
On the first day it was apparent that one of the 8 week old birds had a brain injury (pecked by the other 8 week old bird in the box on the way home), did the prednisone thing etc, lost the bird to pneumonia on day 7.
On day 8, the other 8 week old bird started walking around with its eyes closed but otherwise normal eating drinking...Separated the bird out, started tetracycline in water as well as terramycin eye gel. Seems to be a bit better on day 10.
Of the two day old chicks...one has toes that probably could be splinted, it's walking on 3 of 5 toes, the other two are bent under.
The other day old chick has now developed sneezing and gurgling on day 10. I have separated it, started on Tylan for respiratory, Polyvisol, and extra warmth.
I did not actually pick these birds out myself. A friend was going to the breeder to purchase some other poultry and is very knowledgeable about chickens as well so I sent the money along and she picked out and transported the birds.
At this point my teenager is totally burned out on the idea of having silkies as pets since these birds have been no fun since they arrived and a whole pile of vet and medicine bills, way more than we payed for the birds. And she is picturing the worst case scenario of these 4 birds infecting our egglayer chicks with something and losing the whole lot of this year's chicks. There have been times when we moved the day-old chicks in with our egglayer chicks...yikes, I've learned my lesson about quarrantine!
So she asked me tonight if we could return the birds to the breeder this weekend. I'm all for it as we have 20 other chicks to raise and this constant nursing duty (and the euthanasia was painful for all of us) is turning our schedules upside down. We have limited room to keep brooders in the house, a spare bedroom that now has 4 brooding boxes in it due to the need to keep everyone quarrantined, and each of these 3 remaining birds in their own space since they each have something different going on.
I don't blame the breeder, I think this could happen to anyone, and I don't think we're cut out for this fragile breed. But I think the best place for these birds is back where they came from if they are to have any real chance at survival. I don't see how my daughter can integrate tehm into our friendly little flock and I certainly can't sell them as they are. They are draining our resources big time.
I did not spend a mountain of money for the birds, certainly not the $100's I've seen many silkies go for. My daughter does not want any replacements as she feels she is not a silkie person anymore. And the breeder does not have any other breeds that we are interested in. I'm willing just to make the trip to return the birds and call it a loss.
Opinions???
Edit to add...I have emailed the breeder about the brain damaged bird and the closed eye bird to get her help and she was very supportive. And since the little one just started sneezing today I haven't told her about that one. And up until now I saw no reason to mention the toe curled bird to her.
On the first day it was apparent that one of the 8 week old birds had a brain injury (pecked by the other 8 week old bird in the box on the way home), did the prednisone thing etc, lost the bird to pneumonia on day 7.
On day 8, the other 8 week old bird started walking around with its eyes closed but otherwise normal eating drinking...Separated the bird out, started tetracycline in water as well as terramycin eye gel. Seems to be a bit better on day 10.
Of the two day old chicks...one has toes that probably could be splinted, it's walking on 3 of 5 toes, the other two are bent under.
The other day old chick has now developed sneezing and gurgling on day 10. I have separated it, started on Tylan for respiratory, Polyvisol, and extra warmth.
I did not actually pick these birds out myself. A friend was going to the breeder to purchase some other poultry and is very knowledgeable about chickens as well so I sent the money along and she picked out and transported the birds.
At this point my teenager is totally burned out on the idea of having silkies as pets since these birds have been no fun since they arrived and a whole pile of vet and medicine bills, way more than we payed for the birds. And she is picturing the worst case scenario of these 4 birds infecting our egglayer chicks with something and losing the whole lot of this year's chicks. There have been times when we moved the day-old chicks in with our egglayer chicks...yikes, I've learned my lesson about quarrantine!
So she asked me tonight if we could return the birds to the breeder this weekend. I'm all for it as we have 20 other chicks to raise and this constant nursing duty (and the euthanasia was painful for all of us) is turning our schedules upside down. We have limited room to keep brooders in the house, a spare bedroom that now has 4 brooding boxes in it due to the need to keep everyone quarrantined, and each of these 3 remaining birds in their own space since they each have something different going on.
I don't blame the breeder, I think this could happen to anyone, and I don't think we're cut out for this fragile breed. But I think the best place for these birds is back where they came from if they are to have any real chance at survival. I don't see how my daughter can integrate tehm into our friendly little flock and I certainly can't sell them as they are. They are draining our resources big time.
I did not spend a mountain of money for the birds, certainly not the $100's I've seen many silkies go for. My daughter does not want any replacements as she feels she is not a silkie person anymore. And the breeder does not have any other breeds that we are interested in. I'm willing just to make the trip to return the birds and call it a loss.
Opinions???
Edit to add...I have emailed the breeder about the brain damaged bird and the closed eye bird to get her help and she was very supportive. And since the little one just started sneezing today I haven't told her about that one. And up until now I saw no reason to mention the toe curled bird to her.
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