Chick making strange squeaky like a cuckoo clock noise

[sigmachigirl]

Hi there,
We recently (2 weeks ago) gave one of our silkies a few babies from a well respected feed store (who got them from a hatchery). They had not been exposed to any adult birds prior to ours, and no one but adult employees handled them. One of the babies was fine yesterday, but is now making this crazy cuckoo clock/childrens toy noise whenever it is breathing. I heard a kerfuffle this morning in the run, prior to going to let them out, so I don't know if she's scared, or injured, or getting sick. We have no currently ill birds, ( no illness for the last year) she shows zero sign of runny nose, no crackling sound in her breathing or lungs, and she is running around eating and drinking like everyone else. Anyone experienced this before? I just don't know what to make of it! And we do have experience with respiratory illnesses, as we were exposed a year and a half ago, and her symptoms don't look anything like what we had then.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

I don't have a lot of experience but could it be pasty butt? One of the chicks from my first brood started cheeping continuously and noisily and when I watched him it was obvious that he was straining to poop when he was doing it. Then running around as normal and then standing cheeping and straining again. He was still pooping but it was just a trickle of liquid and it started gumming up his butt feathers after a while. I gave him daily warm salt baths and used a cotton bud to clean his vent and gave him natural bio yogurt with scrambled egg and chick crumb and he was better in a week.
Apologies if I'm totally off the mark but just sounded like it might be similar.

Good luck

Barbara

 

[sigmachigirl]

Hey, thanks for the response. . No pasty bum going on, was definitely a respiratory thing of some kind. Brought her in and she sneezed several times, but nothing coming out the nose... So bizarre. As she calmed down, so did the noise. Almost sounded like someone having an asthma attack. :-/. Put her in our dog crate in our house, where we keep our sick girls or those under observation and started her on duramyacin. Checked on her a few hours later and she is gone... I have no idea where the baby went!!!! This was a 3 week old chick, who to my knowledge couldn't fit through the openings, and I had it covered all around the edges in a towel!! We have a kitten, and I am wondering if he got it. Hope I find it or the remains... Before my house smells!! Ugh!

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes kittens and baby chicks don't go together. I hope you are still looking for the chick in case it is hiding and cold. What you heard may have been stridor, which is a high pitched noise when something is partially blocking the airway. It can be something they have swallowed that has stuck, or it could be a mucus plug or tissue.

 

[sigmachigirl]

I am guessing you are right. Definitely sounded like a partially blocked airway. She spent the day kinda panicking I think. :-(. We finally found her (kitten, actually) Hidden in our closer. He didn't hurt her, just let us know where she was. She showed zero interest in eating or drinking, just lots of squeaks. :-(. She finally just passed away. Poor little thing.