Chick sneezing, breathing heavier - Environmental or something else??

CheekiBreekiChick

In the Brooder
Jun 14, 2023
21
45
49
North Central Florida
Hello everyone, very nervous chick mommy here and not sure if I'm overthinking this or if there's something more serious going on that needs to be addressed. I am raising 4 Wyandotte chicks who are now about 2.5 weeks old (2 silver laced, 2 blue laced red). We picked them up from a local hatchery and we know they were vaccinated for Marek's. However about 5 days ago I noticed some sneezing coming from one of the BLR Wyandottes and I've been monitoring her closely. As of today I started getting more concerned when I noticed her breathing a little more heavily than the others. I can tell she's sort of "pumping" her body more, and her throat is pumping as she breathes, but I'm not seeing this behavior with the other chicks. She is the only one exhibiting any symptoms so far. Despite this she is still active and eating/drinking/pooping normally and loves to jump on me. I haven't noticed any lethargy at all. All the others are also active and eating/drinking/pooping normally. There's no discharge or wheezing noted.

They are currently set up indoors in a large dog crate with medicated starter, plain water, Brinsea warmer and pine shavings as bedding. Over the last 3 days I've been bringing them to the outdoor brooder for 2-4 hrs so my 5 pullets can see them, plus we want to slowly get them acclimated to the FL heat. I check on them regularly when they're out there and they seem to enjoy themselves. My initial thought was that the sneezing was environmental due to the fact that both the BLR Wyandottes like to root around in the shavings all the time, and they preen themselves a lot. I assumed it was the dust and dander, plus their feed has been a little dusty. But now I'm not so sure. I tried to upload a video of the breathing and throat movement to my gallery on BYC but I have no clue if I did it properly or not. It's the yellow peep right up front in the video. I don't like using social media but if I have to link the video through pinterest or something I will. Thank you in advance for any advice anyone can give me!

 
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I can tell she's sort of "pumping" her body more, and her throat is pumping as she breathes, but I'm not seeing this behavior with the other chicks. She is the only one exhibiting any symptoms so far. Despite this she is still active and eating/drinking/pooping normally and loves to jump on me. I haven't noticed any lethargy at all. All the others are also active and eating/drinking/pooping normally. There's no discharge or wheezing noted.
Here's a link to the video in the gallery so others can find it easily.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/pxl_20230706_170154439-ts-mp4.7956710/

Can you feel of her body for anything that feels like air under the skin just to make sure there's no leaking air sac.

I do see that she's breathing a bit heavier than the others, but I'm not quite sure if there's cause for concern. I'll tag in @Eggcessive to see what she suggests.

She's active/eating/drinking - not lethargy, etc. so for now I'd monitor her.

Cute chicks!
 
Here's a link to the video in the gallery so others can find it easily.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/pxl_20230706_170154439-ts-mp4.7956710/

Can you feel of her body for anything that feels like air under the skin just to make sure there's no leaking air sac.

I do see that she's breathing a bit heavier than the others, but I'm not quite sure if there's cause for concern. I'll tag in @Eggcessive to see what she suggests.

She's active/eating/drinking - not lethargy, etc. so for now I'd monitor her.

Cute chicks!
Good morning, thank you so much for replying and posting the link properly for me! My anxiety was really getting the better of me yesterday and I couldn't focus or get anything to work right🤦🏼‍♀️

I checked on the peep first thing this morning and didn't feel anything unusual under her skin. Her little crop felt normal as well. She's still perky and acting the same. I will definitely continue to watch for any changes though!
 

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