4 dead chicks..

[jrbeck]

I have 1 week old chicks. We lost 4 this past week. I thought at first I may have over heated them =(. But now I know they are not over heated or distressed they still seem to be breathing heavily and maybe panting. Every so often they look like they may be yawning. It's hard to tell if I'm paranoid or if they are sick. Can you normally see baby chicks breathing heavily? How much do they sleep?

 

[MySweetChickens]

they may have gapeworm


Gapeworm is a type of roundworm that attaches itself to the host's trachea and sometimes travels to the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing, and often times death by suffocation. It is a danger to chickens who eat an earthworm, slug or snail infected with the gapeworm larvae. Often an affected hen will seem to have a respiratory problem, 'gaping' her mouth open when she breathes, coughing and making gurgling noises.Pullets under eight weeks old are the most susceptible, but chickens of any age can contract gapeworm. However, adding apple cider vinegar, food-grade Diatomaceous Earth and fresh minced garlic to your flock's diet can help guard against worm infestations and the natural wormer Verm-X can be used to treat gapeworm if your hens do contract them.Gapeworm, while scary-sounding and potentially life-threatening if not treated, is actually not very common in backyard flocks. It is only contracted from infected worms, slugs and snails, and I don't believe that the slight risk should deter you from feeding your chickens (or allowing them access to) earthworms and other nutritious wiggling, squirming, squishy treats.

 

[jrbeck]

could this be something 1 week old baby chicks could get that have only had starter food?

 

[MySweetChickens]

that depends on if they have been outside to forage

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Since you mention possible overheating - what was the temperature they were exposed to, for how long and how long ago was it?

 

[jrbeck]

they've never been outside =/

 

[jrbeck]

I'm not sure of the temp, they were in a smaller brooder box for about three days then one died. So I moved them to a larger box, took the temped it at 90 when another one was looking ill, panting and wet looking and then it died. So I moved them to an good sized box with room and two more started to look sickly and died.. I thought they all looked good but today I feel they may look lethargic and breathing heavily.. so it been 3 days in a large brooder and I've kept all pple away from them tying not to distress them... I'm going to try to upload a video of one chick breathing to see if the breathing is normal...

 

[jrbeck]

This is how all the chicks are breathing. Am I being paranoid or is this abnormally heavy?

 

[jrbeck]

this is another video of our chicks. towards the end you can see the breathing pretty well.. thanks for watching...