Are my chicks sick? Some sneezing and mouth breathing!

[JenMT]

I am a brand new chick mom and new to BYC today! I have 4 buffs, 5 rir, and 4 barred Rocks. I heard/saw one of my buffs sneeze yesterday and my daughter heard someone sneeze the day before. I don't have any watery eyes, nasal discharge, runny poo, or raspy breathing. I think that have seen 2 of the girls "mouth breathe" in the last 2 days just before they were falling asleep and thier little heads were going down (so cute). Does that mean respiratory probs? Or are they panting? I'm sure that they aren't too hot. They are 24 days old and we have them housed in my laundry room in a water trough with pine shavings and a red lamp. They eat and drink ALOT and seem very active, talkative and playful. I'm feeding them Purina non-medicated Start and Grow because I had them vaccinated for Cocci and Mareks. I'm still giving them the electrolyte/vitamin water I ordered when I got them and I have given each of them a little bit of plain yogurt and a bit of apple cider vinegar water.

 

[birdsofparadise]

Sometimes a sneeze is just a sneeze and a yawn (mouth breathing) is just a yawn. If they continue to eat, drink and be active, my guess is that they are fine. But put a thermometer in your brooders and check your temps. At this age, they may be ready to cool off a little in anticipation to being let out. So see how they are doing and begin to raise the heat lamp if you are still in the 90ʻs or high 80ʻs. The first couple of weeks they should be at 95 and then the temp should be reduced 5 degrees a week or 10 days until they reach 70 or so.

 

[JenMT]

Okay thanks, I have a thermometer in there with them now....they all think its a toy. It's about 90 directly under the lamp with one or two girls who hang out in the heat. I'd say its about 80 on the other end of the water trough and most everyone else is on that end with the baby roost bar. I have a window open inside the laundry room for fresh air so the room temp is about 60-65 degrees overall. The water trough is cool to the touch but maybe they are too hot. I will raise the heat to see what they think.

 

[speckledhen]

At 24 days old, they really need little heat if they're in the house. A 40 watt bulb would probably give them enough heat. They could be a bit warm, certainly.