Owning silkie chickens is great, they are calm, pretty birds who interact well with people, and this is one of the reasons why people like these birds.
Unfortunately, your pet bird may start showing signs of distress like not walking or moving. This article explores why your silkie chicken is not walking or moving.
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Silkie chicken not walking or moving:
Silkies are pretty much like all other chickens but their feathers are different than other chickens. However, these birds are pretty much like other chickens and get sick as other chickens do.
If your silkie chicken is not walking or moving then the bird is likely sick, here is what may be ailing your silkie chicken.
Mareks disease:
While Mareks can affect a variety of chickens, silkies seem to be quite susceptible to this disease. This is a viral disease, one of the most common viral diseases that your birds may suffer from in fact.
One of the major symptoms that this condition can cause is paralysis, and this may be why your bird isn’t able to walk or move for that matter.
Mareks starts off causing paralysis in one leg, which causes the bird to limp, but after this, your bird will develop full-blown paralysis.
Other signs of this condition include droopy wings, blindness, weight loss, skin follicles raised with little bumps under the bird’s feathers, a collapsed crop, chickens developing grey eyes, and irregularly shaped pupils.
It also damages the bird’s immune system causing your bird to become more susceptible to other diseases.
What to do:
Unfortunately, there isn’t a treatment for this condition in chickens. Some birds will have it but not show symptoms, some will recover on their own, and some will die.
If you’re bringing new birds into your flock then it is recommended that you have your healthy birds vaccinated, this vaccination is highly effective in keeping mareks away.
If your bird isn’t moving then you’d need to separate the bird from the rest of the flock.
Sick birds who can’t defend themselves will be picked on and pecked by other birds and because they can’t move, the other birds may peck the sick birds to death.
Only bring the bird back into the flock after it has fully recovered on its own.
In the meantime, you can leave the bird in a pet carrier and give it its own food and water.
Botulism:
Another reason why your silkie may not be walking or moving may be that the bird is suffering from botulism.
If your bird has been exposed to food or drink that contains the botulism toxin then your bird will soon start showing symptoms like sitting or lying on the ground.
This condition causes birds to develop necks that are floppy and weak, birds who have this condition can’t hold their own heads up.
What to do:
Unfortunately, there is no treatment for this condition. The paralysis will continue throughout the bird’s body and start to affect the muscles that the bird uses to breathe.
In the end, affected birds will suddenly die with no sign of a struggle.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Silkie Chicken Walking Backwards, Silkie Chicken Not Walking, Silkie Chicken Not Walking And Shaking, Silkie Not Walking Or Eating