[Hania41806]

I have 5 3-week old silkies being taken care of their by their silkie mother. They free roam the pen with all the other chickens and have been left alone for the most part. 1 of these silkies is acting a bit lethargic. Nothing super alarming, but she wants to be under mother hen a lot more than the others and has a little less fight when picked up.

i checked her butt and it looks fine. I don’t have electrolytes on hand I do have probiotics that I gave her some of. They have added minerals so I thought it’d give her a bit of a boost.

she’s now inside with my 4 other chicks who are a week younger. What could be causing this and what else can I do?

 

[robin416]

Make sure she's eating and drinking on her own. It's possible she was being bullied away from getting to them.

 

[Hania41806]

Now I’m really worried. I put her back with her mom a few hours ago and I just found her dead. She really wasn’t acting all that strange just a little lethargic. I’m worried it’s The bird flu going around. She was perfect a few days ago and just barely showed any sign of being Ill yesterday and today.

 

[robin416]

I don't blame you for being concerned since it is in the state.

Young peeps die and we never know why. They're just too small to be able to deal effectively with whatever their issue is. All you can do is watch the rest. From what I understand this flu is respiratory, if you're not seeing any of that then the likelihood it's the flu are very low.

 

[Hania41806]

Well, that’s a little reassuring. If it is the flu though, there’s nothing I can do, Is there?

 

[robin416]

No, nothing. A few might recover but this particular flu is pretty lethal.