PLEASE HELP!!! Chicks gasping for air

[azygous]

Coccidiosis usually causes diarrhea. Have you seen any runny poop?

Are the chicks eating any red fruit or berries?

Have you checked the crop of the chick with the gaping beak?

How long have the chicks been outside on the soil? Incubation for coccidiosis is five to seven days. If in doubt, start them all on Corid. Five days on, seven days off, five more days on. Your medicated feed will not treat coccidiosis. The dose is far too low. If you have any very sick birds, you can do the drench dose for three days in addition to the Corid water.

 

[Chik697]

A video of the chick's "gasping" would help. Also, how old are these chicks?

What you might mistake as gaping could be a chick with an uncomfortable crop. Have you felt the crop and massaged it gently to see if that relieves its symptoms?

It would also help to see a photo of its poop.

Is it just this one chick that is having these symptoms or are there others?

What are the chicks being fed, including treats? Are they getting access to grit?

Please post photos of the chicks and their poop.

Do you have Chick Grit (crushed granite) available for them?

Do they have clean fresh plain water available in addition to the hydro hen? If not, provide 2 drinkers - one with the electrolytes, the other with plain water.

How old are they?

Could they have been adjusting their crop?

Video of actions are always helpful - upload to YouTube and provide a link.

Btw this it was more repetitive yesterday but the video is just to see what I mean by “gasping”. Of course it’s not severe but I’ve seen birds with it worse just drop dead so I want to get ahead of the issue.

 

[Chik697]

Coccidiosis usually causes diarrhea. Have you seen any runny poop?

Are the chicks eating any red fruit or berries?

Have you checked the crop of the chick with the gaping beak?

How long have the chicks been outside on the soil? Incubation for coccidiosis is five to seven days. If in doubt, start them all on Corid. Five days on, seven days off, five more days on. Your medicated feed will not treat coccidiosis. The dose is far too low. If you have any very sick birds, you can do the drench dose for three days in addition to the Corid water.

they Been on soil for maybe only 3 days. No red fruit or berries just grass and feed. The poop is not runny most of the time. The thing is I’m not really sure they have it. I think the symptoms are too minor for me to go full on with treatment. I also am not very educated on it in general so I don’t know where it comes from or even what to look for. Like what happens if you give corid and they don’t have it?

 

[azygous]

They probably do not have coccidiosis, which is a microscopic parasite in the soil. The treatment blocks thiamine, a B-vitamin that these parasites feed on by leaching it out of the intestines. At its worst, it erodes the intestinal lining and can cause blood clots to show up in the diarrhea, but not always. Depending on the load, it can kill.

The best way to prevent new chicks from getting it is to introduce them to the local soil in the first two weeks, either by letting them go outside for brief periods when it's nice weather or by putting a clump of sod with soil attached into their brooder to play with.

Now that your chicks are what appear to be six weeks old, you can get them to develop resistance by continuing the medicated feed for a few more weeks and letting them spend time outside as you've been doing. The medicated feed should help prevent them getting sick while they become resistant.

I suspect the chick you were concerned about had a crop issue or a bout of constipation. You said this chick was skinnier than the rest? Is it smaller, as well? Have you checked its vent to be sure it's not clogged with poop? Does it chirp loudly when pooping? If so, it may be constipated.

If you think it may be constipated, give it a teaspoon of coconut oil broken into small bits and frozen to make it solid and easy to push into the beak. The entire amount should be given even if you may think it seems like too much. This will cause the chick to poop out the clog.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Btw this it was more repetitive yesterday but the video is just to see what I mean by “gasping”. Of course it’s not severe but I’ve seen birds with it worse just drop dead so I want to get ahead of the issue.

The gasping you see is crop adjusting. I would check the crop to make sure it's emptying overnight.

 

[TyRi]

Just had a freshly shipped baby chick doing this when I got them this evening! I freaked out because at the beginning of the year i had some mail order chicks acting similar that passed. It has subsided within 10 minutes or so but definitely gave me a scare! First drink and crumble after the trip must have went in a little goofy!