3 week old gasping chick

[Jazzy_G]

Help! One of my 4 chicks seems to be in distress. They are all 3 weeks old and have been in a rabbit cage together the entire time I’ve had them. It sticks its neck up and opens its beak like it is gasping. It doesn’t make noise when it does it and wasn’t doing this yesterday. I change bedding, and water daily. Does anyone know what could be wrong with it? None of the other chicks are doing this.

 

[azygous]

Have you felt its crop? Is it pooping normal poop or tiny dry turds? This is around the age when chicks can get into trouble from not having grit available, unless you've been providing it. What has the chick eaten other than its crumbles?

Is it straining to poop? Chirping madly while squatting? Then it's constipated and needs a half teaspoon to one teaspoon chilled coconut oil.

 

[Jazzy_G]

This is the first time I’ve ever had chicks. We are doing it through 4 H Chick Chain. I’m not sure what it’s crop should even feel like. It doesn’t make any noise at all and I haven’t observed it poop since discovering the problem today. But in general, there is no dry poop. There has been some diarrhea amongst the 4. I have been giving Corid in the water for the past 2 days and had been adding ACV to the water prior to that. They have had nothing besides crumbles, so I haven’t been giving grit. Yesterday, I discovered that the waterer was faulty and had completely leaked out and wet the bedding (they are on puppy pads), so they had been like that for a little less than 24 hours. I did smell an ammonia smell when I discovered this issue, but I would think they would have all been in distress instead of just one. And of course I changed everything out immediately.

 

[azygous]

Pick up a lively chick that you've observed eating. Educate yourself on what a healthy chick crop feels like. You will see it very visible as a large lump on the right side of the chest wall. If this chick has a much different feeling crop from the others, please describe it.

Even though all you're feeding is chick feed, it's still possible this chick has impacted crop from eating the wood shavings.

 

[Jazzy_G]

I felt their crops and they all feel the same. None feel like they are bulging. I’ve added grit even though they have been on puppy pads the entire time, not shavings, and have only had access to crumbles. I gave it a few drops of egg yolk thinned with water water and it seemed to pep up and started to peck at the feed, but it is still gasping. Hopefully it will pull through.

 

[azygous]

Give it some warm sugar water. It may have fallen a step behind and became weak. That usually occurs in the first week, but this chick could have genetic issues that are just now surfacing. A little Poultry Nutri-drench was formulated for such chicks. A few drops a day for a few days could do it a lot of good.

 

[Jazzy_G]

Thanks for the advice! I’ll try that too.