Chicken bald back

[debbiedoobs]

I have a poorly silkie and i really dont know what else to do. She has always had a Barking noise or cough since we got her, she is now 2. We took her to the vets and nothing could be found, the vet thought that she may have once had some kind of illness. She said the noise was coming from her throat not from her chest, but was overall healthy. As she has always had it the vet thought it was unlikely to be contagious as the other girls showed no signs.These past 2 weeks her noise has gotten a lot worse, at one point her eyes were foaming! We brought her inside and as we already had some baytril we gave her that, we spoke to the vet and agreed to take her to be checked out if she was no better. So, 10 days of anti biotics didnt help so we went to the vets. She had a very high temperature of 107 so we were given Metacam to try bring down her temp. Over the past week she hasnt had a full crop and would only reluctantly eat soft food, i.e sweetcorn, scrambled egg and food softened with warm water. Today she has wanted to go out with the other girls in the sun, but is constantly barking. She is acting pretty normal, pecking, scratching and having a dust bath! I'm getting a little worried as some of the other girls are starting to make the same noise. Most of them have a light green poop too, Online research it says that it may be worms. So we are treating them all with Flubenvet. I am waiting to hear back from the vet as to what else we can do but she admittedly says she doesnt know much about chickens. Can anyone help??? Thanks in advance, Debbie x

[Patricia W]

Has she got something stuck in her throat? Presumably the vet checked this? If she's otherwise well and doing chickeny things, I'd be inclined to ignore it. But others who have Silkies may have a better idea.

[Chickabee]

Do you think it might be worth trying to find a vet that knows more about chickens? Silkies do make funny noises, as you will be well aware. My little white one lost her voice after a fox attack, where she managed to hide. I've got my fingers crossed for you, sounds like you have a lovely flock there. Have you used ground sanitizing powder? Also antibacterial spray in the coop. Good luck

[Chickabee]

Have you joined the online silkie club? Might be worth a try

[jimnpaula]

Foaming eyes sounds like Mycoplasma and can also manifest as a chest infection. It is usually treated with Tylan antibiotic which can be given in water or injection.

[debbiedoobs]

Hi everyone, after a long drive and very long night we are back from another vets visit that are specialists. After i posted on here i spoke to my vet and she referred us on as she had no idea what else to try. I actually feel so relieved after speaking to them, straight away he started to respond with different ideas etc. After a full examination he said that the next step is to xray her and give her a tracheosomy. He thinks it can either be something stuck in her throat/airway or a parasite. He said it sounds like she is trying to cough something up. So after a little cry from me we left her there to be investigated on tomorrow morning. Will keep you all informed. Thanks again!

[Luvachicken]

Awww, poor little thing.

Do you know how she is doing today ?

It sounds like you have found an excellent chicken vet

I hope she is alright xx

[paulad]

oooh fingers crossed it gets sorted xxx

[debbiedoobs]

Hi, BB is home and back in with the other girls cuddled up! The vet found a large amount of mucus in her trachea and she had a inflammed windpipe. He thinks that it could be infectious laryngitis tracheitis so we are treating them all with a course of tylan. Unless we sent blood for testing we wont know exactly what it is, but this is the most likely cause. I'll keep my eye on her and bring her back inside the minute i see her any worse. She was so happy to be back with the girls the poor thing. Fingers crossed she starts to feel better soon, cant bear to see any of them poorly. I'm such a soft "Ooops, word censored!"!

[Luvachicken]

I am glad she is home

Hopefully what the vet has done will make her feel a lot better and maybe the antibiotics will knock out any remaining bugs.

Wishing her a speedy recovery xx