Chick gasping for air and wheezing

[Gallosaurus Pex]

Hi, when I got up this morning, I noticed that one of my five-week-old chicks was gaping and stretching her neck for air, tail drooped (although she does tend to have a fairly low tail normally so I'm not sure if that's relevant). She wheezes occasionally when she breathes in, and when I listened to her breathing, she sounds like she has some congestion in her lungs. No coughing or sneezing, just wheezing. I gave her some VetRX orally and rubbed her face with a bit, and I also dropper fed some water with probiotics. She doesn't show any interest in food or water when in the brooder, but she does still try to escape when I pick her up, as normal, and shows some interest in what the other chicks are doing. I was thinking of feeding some egg yolk to keep her energy up since she doesn't eat anything--does anyone have any other suggestions for care?
From what I've read, it sounds like gapeworm, though none of the other chicks are acting off. Also, I noticed that the chicks had scratched through the puppy pad I lined their brooder with and seem to have eaten some. Could that be related to her condition?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

I know zero about respiratory issues with chickens. But I experienced something similar in a cockerel I have. After searching for hours and hours, decided to run to TS and got oxytetracycline (antibiotic). Gave 1/2 cc subcutaneously and he is now recovering. This was in a panic as he was close to dying. With this said, that doesn’t mean it will fix your birds issue. But I would at least have some antibiotics on hand just Incase someone with more knowledge in respiratory diseases says to administer some. It’s cheap. Spent $30 for Duramycin, syringes and 22 gauge needles.

Absolute best way to handle it is to take it in to a veterinarian for poultry.

 

[ethanjenkins]

I had the same issue with my Austrolorp Chick. I did so much research and found that this is a pretty common thing.
So what I did was isolate her for15-30 minutes everyday and give her her own food and water. But with the water I put 3 drops of GSE in it. She started to become better after about 1 week.
Although with this gasping issue it seemed like she had slimmed down and is small for their age now. I hope this helped!!!

 

[Gallosaurus Pex]

Hey, thank you to everyone who offered advice! In the end, the pad lining the brooder turned out to be the problem. I had the chick separated from the others and was dropper feeding an egg yolk and honey mixture with a few drops of VetRX to keep her strength up, washed down with chick probiotics and ACD. During the third or fourth feeding, I noticed that she had a lump in her throat, just a little behind her beak, and after massaging that for a bit, in the middle of a feed she choked and coughed out a strip of plastic liner about half an inch long, after which the gaping ceased. She's still a tad lethargic and looks a bit thin after her experience, but she started acting lonely for the first time since the start of the ordeal, so I put her back in the main brooder and she seems to be recuperating.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Glad you figured it out!