BABY CHICKS GASPING FOR AIR "HELP"

[emfroth]

One of ours did this at 15 days old, gasping non-stop as if she was screaming, but no sound. I'm brand-new to raising chicks, so please do your own research, but this is what we did, and she seems to have recovered. Hope it works the same for a 4-day old, but I really don't know. Mostly they die, apparently. Not sure if it's gape worms or coccidiosis or something else, but here goes.

We made sure our sick chick was extra warm, than gave her the following mixture:

A small clove of garlic, crushed and placed in
About a 1/2 c of water
About a tsp of organic plain yogurt (below the cream layer--chickens are not great with milk products)
Almost a 1/4 cup of organic sugar

Obviously I'm not totally sure about those cup measurements, didn't actually measure. It tasted sweet and garlicky-- but not so garlicky that it burned, when I tasted it (at first it did, but I added a bit more water).

Used an eyedropper which I would press gently to the side of her beak and then barely squeeze-- she would swallow a bit, then rest. It took ages but I got a dropper-full in her, then let her sleep for a couple hours, then repeated. Did this 4-5 times the first day.

The second day, made up some without the yogurt (couldn't put it in the fridge between doses, because it was too cold for her, so omitted the yogurt just because I wasn't sure....)

Today is day #3, and she hasn't gasped at all today, but I put a clove of garlic in the water of all the chicks just to be on the safe side.

Got the garlic idea from a couple of books. It boosts their immune system, and the sulfur helps them get rid of gape worms (which lodge in their throats and basically suffocate them) Apparently gape worms don't like sulfur!

I've also ready that pumpkin seeds are a good natural de-wormer, but our little chick was way too sick to eat pumpkin seeds.

She's eating now, though, and drinking and sitting with her companions. Still seems weak, but we'll dose her again if she gets worse.

Best of luck with yours!! And please don't feel like you did anything wrong if they die-- everything I've read says that some just do. It's very sad for those of us newbies.

 

[Chick Homestead]

One of my 4 day old chicks is doing this now! I use hay as bedding though.

 

[Knox Chick Inn]

One of my chicks is doing this now, i feel helpless! The other 9 are fine but 1 is lifting her head and opening her beak like shes trying to get air. We use pine shavings for bedding, haven't had a problem using that with our first set of hens so i cant imagine its that. Its almost like something is stuck in her throat and she can swallow.... i dont know what to do.

 

[Maikan]

I've got a 2 day old Maran chick doing something similar, all the rest are fine but this one was sleepy , quiet n standing up earlier. Now its sleepy n laying down. Its cheeping but when I tried to get some honey n water into it a it did was regurgitated what it swallowed. Its weaker but still alive. these guys are in a specially built brooder in my room, its got clean pine shavings on the floor covered in a towel. They all have chick crumb n tepid water. This was my strongest most active chick when hatched and was fine until this morning. Any helpful advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated. This isn't my first hatch that has been brooded this way as I've done this a lot. The temp in the brooder is perfect for them as well as they have a brooder they can go under in the brood box.

 

[Knox Chick Inn]

My chick made it thru the night. She had stopped but when my husband gave them water she started doing it again. We're keeping an eye on her but cant seem to figure it out.

 

[Smorz]

Watch your heat! This happened to me and I changed the lightbulb to lower the heat. Fixed it almost immediately.

 

[Maikan]

I have an Brinsea Eco Glow 20 Chick brooder so no light bulb and consistent temp I also have a temp gage on my brooder box which is large and has perspex sliding doors. So heat's perfect for chicks and it has good air flow as well so not to humid etc or drafts.

My chick unfortunately died a short while ago, i think it had problems from the beginning because it didn't seem to be digesting food and had no weight on it unlike all the others. All the others are very active and eating and drinking very well as well as pooping, even so I'm keeping a very close eye on them.
There food is a good quality chick crumb which is fine as I have my older chicks on it and they are all well. I've checked the sack and there is no mites in the sack and no smell of them. ( I also checked the feed under my kids microscope). They have a very small clove of garlic in there water, I've also wiped the brooder and the brood box down with some disinfectant that's safe for chicks n came with the brooder, changed the clean shavings and put in a new clean towel for them.

That's about all I can do bar keeping a very close eye on them. Fingers crossed the rest all stay healthy.

 

[emfroth]

I believe this is Coccidiosis. It's very common when they're young and easily chilled. Sugar water with crushed garlic in it seems to help. I combined sugar, water, and as much crushed garlic juice as I found palatable and then used an eyedropper to put it down our chick's throat. It seemed to work, our chick got better for several days, then had a recurrence and died but NOT from the coccidiosis: I had gotten tired of having to give ALL the chicks the sugar water (once they figured out what it was, they all wanted some) so had the bright idea of moving the sick chick away from the others this time, before giving her the sugar water. She panicked and died in about 10 seconds, before I realized what was happening. Morale: give them all sugar water with garlic, because it will boost all of their immune systems (the garlic) and don't separate them. Sick chicks need their mamas, or at least their brothers and sisters. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[emfroth]

Make sure you give WARM water, with sugar and crushed garlic in it. Temperature is really important--as with any sick baby.

 

[Maikan]

Thanks Emfroth, I did both, kept them with company so they don't panic and the warm water with Garlic n honey in it. All other chicks are perfectly well n healthy, there currently asleep under the brooder as its early evening here. Though the way this chick went in the end I do think that he wasn't digesting food properly because of what came out of him. Aah well that's life but I sure hate to see any chick go that way especially as this guy was my fave one.