Wobbly not herself 12 week old Silkie- Please help!!

[WirrelSimpson]

hey!

wondering if anyone can help me with my beautiful little bird,
since coming home from work yesterday he/she was acting a little quiet,
when I tried to pick her up the lil babies balance was off so she wobbled over onto her face after that we took a closer look at her, she can walk fine but she is preferring not to;

1. acting wobbly / drunk.
2. sitting down a lot / pruning feathers
3. not eating a massive amount

she can walk and around, and infront of the other birds yesterday she wouldn't show
any sign of weakness, just a little wobbly / drunkness, she seems off in herself,
she walks very slow, and pronounced as if she's very unsure of her footing, or a little dizzy

she does however have enough balance to stretch out on both legs and prune her wings, (on one leg at a time)
but when we removed her from the others she didn't seem to walk around a whole lot
and wasn't overly concerned that she wasn't near her buddies (which is unusual)

I understand some of these signs may be related to maeriks disease, im asking if anyone would advise to separate her, as we have 7 other 12 week old silkies, and I wouldn't want them all getting sick.. but it might be too late,

this may not be related, but we also found a yellow BB bullet in the coup, which may have been naturally
unearthed but in the back of my mind I think she may have been shot??

also she only really seems to want to eat chick pellets, we usually feed them porridge every morning
which is fairly wet (explaining the wet poo)

I've recently been adding apple cider vinegar & garlic to boost their immune systems too,no other birds seem to be acting this way

on another note, we did also trim her head feathers, is it possible that we damaged her hearing as we did so??? thanks

poo:

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Oh your poor Silkie! Always if one seems sick then seperate from the rest in case it's contagious.
I haven't come across that kind of sickness with my Silkies before but I'll tag a few people that may be able to offer advice..
@LynnaePB
@LadiesAndJane
@PioneerChicks
... or these people might tag others with advice..

 

[LynnaePB]

I'm so sorry to hear your little silkie isn't feeling well!

I've seen something somewhat similar a few times with my silkies.

Unfortunately multiple things can cause those type of symptoms so it can be hard to pin down exactly what it is.

She could be suffering from coccidiosis. That can make them weak/lethargic and although bloody stools is associated with that it doesn't always occur. Too many worms, or external parisites (like lice or mites) can also have that effect.

With silkies often being more prone to head injuries when they are vaulted it could also be from some sort of head trauma.

I'm not very familiar with mereks symptoms so can't comment there.

In two of the cases where I found my silkies weak and lethargic and not able to get around well I believe it was most likely due to coccidia (although head trauma is a possibility). After starting treatment with Corid it only took a few days for them to start improving. Those two cases they were both roosters at the bottom of the pecking order in a bachelor pen. I believe stress may have lowered their immune system and made them more susceptible as the others never showed any symptoms. That or the other roosters were too rough and caused some head trauma which resulted in those symptoms.

The other case was with a little hen. She had a very large vault so I immediately suspected head trauma. I separated her and brought her inside and she recovered in a few days.

In your place I'd probably separate her and look her over very closely for any signs of lice/mites as well as any sign of injury. I bring mine inside and try to keep them in a comfortably warm environment when they have her type of symptoms. If you find nothing I'd probably treat for coccidiosis just to be on the safe side. If you can get her to a vet and get a fecal sample tested (they should be able to look for coccidia and worms) that might be the best way to try to help pinpoint it. I know that isn't always very doable though.

If she doesn't eat/drink for more than a day I'd consider tube feeding.

Good luck, I hope it isn't anything too serious and she will recover soon!

 

[WirrelSimpson]

Oh your poor Silkie! Always if one seems sick then seperate from the rest in case it's contagious.
I haven't come across that kind of sickness with my Silkies before but I'll tag a few people that may be able to offer advice..
@LynnaePB
@LadiesAndJane
@PioneerChicks
... or these people might tag others with advice..

thanks so much

 

[WirrelSimpson]

I'm so sorry to hear your little silkie isn't feeling well!

I've seen something somewhat similar a few times with my silkies.

Unfortunately multiple things can cause those type of symptoms so it can be hard to pin down exactly what it is.

She could be suffering from coccidiosis. That can make them weak/lethargic and although bloody stools is associated with that it doesn't always occur. Too many worms, or external parisites (like lice or mites) can also have that effect.

With silkies often being more prone to head injuries when they are vaulted it could also be from some sort of head trauma.

I'm not very familiar with mereks symptoms so can't comment there.

In two of the cases where I found my silkies weak and lethargic and not able to get around well I believe it was most likely due to coccidia (although head trauma is a possibility). After starting treatment with Corid it only took a few days for them to start improving. Those two cases they were both roosters at the bottom of the pecking order in a bachelor pen. I believe stress may have lowered their immune system and made them more susceptible as the others never showed any symptoms. That or the other roosters were too rough and caused some head trauma which resulted in those symptoms.

The other case was with a little hen. She had a very large vault so I immediately suspected head trauma. I separated her and brought her inside and she recovered in a few days.

In your place I'd probably separate her and look her over very closely for any signs of lice/mites as well as any sign of injury. I bring mine inside and try to keep them in a comfortably warm environment when they have her type of symptoms. If you find nothing I'd probably treat for coccidiosis just to be on the safe side. If you can get her to a vet and get a fecal sample tested (they should be able to look for coccidia and worms) that might be the best way to try to help pinpoint it. I know that isn't always very doable though.

If she doesn't eat/drink for more than a day I'd consider tube feeding.

Good luck, I hope it isn't anything too serious and she will recover soon!

Thank you so much for your response. ill look into the Corid. xx

 

[PioneerChicks]

I can't help much here, but I hope she gets better! Looks like you've got some great advice already!

 

[WirrelSimpson]

Thank you very much everyone for your help and support. She still isn't well. We have started her on a course for the coccidiosis. Hoping things will improve with her in a few days. xx

 

[LynnaePB]

Thank you very much everyone for your help and support. She still isn't well. We have started her on a course for the coccidiosis. Hoping things will improve with her in a few days. xx

Good luck, I hope the coccidiosis treatment helps!

 

[WirrelSimpson]

hey!

wondering if anyone can help me with my beautiful little bird,
since coming home from work yesterday he/she was acting a little quiet,
when I tried to pick her up the lil babies balance was off so she wobbled over onto her face after that we took a closer look at her, she can walk fine but she is preferring not to;

1. acting wobbly / drunk.
2. sitting down a lot / pruning feathers
3. not eating a massive amount

she can walk and around, and infront of the other birds yesterday she wouldn't show
any sign of weakness, just a little wobbly / drunkness, she seems off in herself,
she walks very slow, and pronounced as if she's very unsure of her footing, or a little dizzy

she does however have enough balance to stretch out on both legs and prune her wings, (on one leg at a time)
but when we removed her from the others she didn't seem to walk around a whole lot
and wasn't overly concerned that she wasn't near her buddies (which is unusual)

I understand some of these signs may be related to maeriks disease, im asking if anyone would advise to separate her, as we have 7 other 12 week old silkies, and I wouldn't want them all getting sick.. but it might be too late,

this may not be related, but we also found a yellow BB bullet in the coup, which may have been naturally
unearthed but in the back of my mind I think she may have been shot??

also she only really seems to want to eat chick pellets, we usually feed them porridge every morning
which is fairly wet (explaining the wet poo)

I've recently been adding apple cider vinegar & garlic to boost their immune systems too,no other birds seem to be acting this way

on another note, we did also trim her head feathers, is it possible that we damaged her hearing as we did so??? thanks

poo:

OK so to anybody who may have a similar issue, here's an update

We separated our baby mellow (marshmallow) and kept her indoors wrapped in a warm blanket in the day where for I'd say around 5ish days she did little more than sit, go for the occasional wonder around the living room, but mainly ate and drank where she sat.

For the days she was in the house we still put her in the coop at night with the other chicks and removed here every morning as we had fears of re-integration, but it seemed more like all the other birds where happy to see her,

The general replies we got where most likely: worms, lacking vitamins or (very unlikely maeriks)

We treated for all the above using medicated chick feed with flubenvet, we added apple cidre vinegar drops and mashed garlic and vitamin drops to their water and gave them a more varied diet with sunflower and chia seeds, corn, pellets and treats such as mealworms

We also got medicine for cocordiceps, which can be added to the water, I want to say I doubt this was required but we wanted to cover the whole spectrum!

She's been back outside for atleast a week now, playing happly a with everyone, she is a bit quiter than she always was and still wobbly here and there but she's about 85% back to strength and seems to be mending well,

Thanks to everyone on here for advice, suggestions and just the general welcoming! I love this community!

If this thread helps atleast one other person then I'm a happy bunny