HELP, I rescued a silkie and it is very very sick!

[weegarden]

Please help, I rescued a silkie about 3 weeks ago and it looks awful. I know this is a beautiful bird, but right now it looks so bad that I am even afraid to get too close.
It started with watery eyes, where the mucous membrane was even covering a tiny bit of the corner of the eye. Now the eyes are all wet, watery, and pussy, and


the nostril part of the beak has a thick chunk of what looks like dirt on it, the pom pom on the top was beautiful and is now turning into dreadlocks that can not be washed off. Any ideas what this is and how to deal with it? I have her isolated and am afraid this will spread to my other chickens. But, I want to get her better.
Please help.

 

[ten chicks]

This will probably spread to your other birds,was bird ill when you purchased or became ill after? look up Mycoplasma Gallisepticum(MG) and Coryza. This bird is very ill,please do not take this the wrong way,but you should not have waited this long to ask for help.

With most respiratory diseases in poultry they can never be cured,you can treat symptoms,but birds will remain carriers for life and can infect your entire flock.

Clean this bird up,keep it away from all your other birds and change your clothes,wash really good before going near any other birds. Look after healthy birds first,then deal with ill bird. There are antibiotics that can be given to treat symptoms,but many will cull for this issue.

 

[weegarden]

That's what I was afraid of and why I didn't write to ask for help last week. I wanted to give it a try at getting her better first. No, I definitely got her this way, and she has gotten a little worse over the last week, but pretty much looked like this when I took her on. I have had her in isolation far from my other chickens and take all of the precautions you mentioned except changing my clothes. I have not been picking her up at all, and she is not on the floor for me to walk near. I do feel like culling is probably what will need to happen, but I really wanted to get some opinions first. In my opinion, she is too sick to bring to a vet. She does seem happy in her little coop, she is eating and drinking. Is it possible that this is some type of mite or something other than a respiratory infection? I certainly do not want my other birds sick. I have beautiful birds of my own and I love them to bits!

 

[ten chicks]

First never,ever purchase ill birds. Second never be afraid to ask for help. I'm going with respiratory disease,but like i said you can treat,but bird will remain a carrier for life. Poor little girl,why would this breeder sell this bird to you. Call breeder and tell them they have respiratory disease in flock,see if they will admit to what it might be,this may help you in narrowing down what it is.

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! If you want to keep her and treat her you could get some Tylan 50 from Tractor Supply and see if that helps. Another drug that might work better would be Baytril or Cipro, but those you would have to order online.

http://www.allbirdproducts.com/newproductpages/baytril.html
http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/product_baytril.php
http://www.allivet.com/p-5530-fish-...-500-mg.aspx?gclid=COa-meHRzL8CFUhufgodoEQAyw

If she's not drinking and eating she should be tube fed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

Like @ten chicks said, it could be something like mycoplasma. What you should do is contact a vet and find a way to identify the bacteria.

-Kathy

 

[weegarden]

Thanks for the welcome. I've been wanting to join this group for 6 years now, and this is the way I have to join. That stinks. My chickens are all such beautiful birds and I would much rather be showing you pictures of them. I don't show or anything, and I would love to someday, as my chickens have really gotten beautiful (in my humble opinion.) For the last 8 years, I have been just trying to learn as much as I can and breed mine to be the nicest birds that I can. I look forward to learning a lot more.

As of right now, my focus is on making some decisions about this chicken.:-( I took her in because I figured that I could give her a good chance at success, rather than just watching her die. I have tried dusting her for mites, giving her some Vet RX, giving her electrolytes, and treating her with Tetracycline powder. The last treatment seems to be making a mild difference, but it really isn't improving enough.

I appreciate any opinions. I guess if it is was one of my personal chickens, I would probably send it for necropsy just to see, but because I had this one isolated, and it isn't from my place originally, I don't think it is worth sending out. Can you tell that I am trying to desensitize myself from this chicken? I hate culling, but really don't want my birds sick and don't want to risk a carrier infecting my other birds. I would love to call the lady that I got it from, but I just don't have the courage and if she had any ethics, she would have already been trying to treat it or at the very least isolate it from her birds. I have never culled a silkie before, and I really don't want to have to do it. I don't want my other birds sick though.

 

[casportpony]

This is a great group with lots of helpful, knowledgeable people, glad you joined. It is possible that your hen has a simple bacterial infection, but you won't know unless you have tests done. Culling is probably the best thing to do.

Read this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/888717/respiratory-problem

And check it later as I think he's going to post more info. Not sure if his problems started when he got a new bird or not, but he's still losing birds from it. Which you can read about here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/906933/tube-feeding

-Kathy