Chick with whistle like breathing

[2 many chickens]

I have a 6 week old chick that just recently started having a whistle like breathing. She eats and drinks as far as I can tell. She doesn't mouth breathe. She just whistles with every breath. When standing outside the coop at the door I could hear her. It is kind of loud. Is this a lung issue? She doesn't sneeze that I have noticed. There is no drainage from her eyes or nose. She came from a wonky batch.. two of her siblings have a weird beak. There is a gap in there beaks, they never fully close all the way. Hers close's though, she doesn't have this problem. Is it something contagious? The others are okay. Maybe something wrong with her nose holes? I don't know. It does sound pitiful.

 

[XanderWiFi]

Possible air sac rupture. Look for chicken respiratory system on youtube for a better understanding of the system in whole. But an air sac rupture can make their breathing sound a big like a whoopy cushion. Mine had one after a hawk attack and we thought she was "trilling" all night long when it was just the way she was breathing. What you want to observe for is subcutaneous emphysema-basically, ensure her chest and body are not puffing up like a balloon which will require needle decompression if so. But if it is an air sac, it will eventually heal! Sounds like she is doing well otherwise. Let us know if when you palpate her, if her chest,neck, back feel "balloony."

 

[Saaniya]

Agree with @XanderWiFi seems like air sac ,
Aid sac secondary infection walks with E.Coli
Carbon dioxide levels in the shed appeared to make little difference to airsacculitis levels.

 

[2 many chickens]

Agree with @XanderWiFi seems like air sac ,
Aid sac secondary infection walks with E.Coli
Carbon dioxide levels in the shed appeared to make little difference to airsacculitis levels.

Geez.. so what do I do?
how did this happen? No signs of injuries or anything.. just noticed a whistle one day...

 

[2 many chickens]

So she has an air sac problem and ecoli??????
Or it can lead to it??
Still don't understand how this happened overnight

 

[XanderWiFi]

Trauma possibly. Romping around with the siblings. Tripping and falling, etc. They are not creatures designed for physical impacts.

I think saaniya was hinting at observing for infection from e. coli as defenses will be reduced if the sac is ruptured.

As I mentioned, observe for the ballooning and if it does occur, let us know and I will walk you through needle decompression.

 

[mjpierson22]

I have a 6 week old chick that just recently started having a whistle like breathing. She eats and drinks as far as I can tell. She doesn't mouth breathe. She just whistles with every breath. When standing outside the coop at the door I could hear her. It is kind of loud. Is this a lung issue? She doesn't sneeze that I have noticed. There is no drainage from her eyes or nose. She came from a wonky batch.. two of her siblings have a weird beak. There is a gap in there beaks, they never fully close all the way. Hers close's though, she doesn't have this problem. Is it something contagious? The others are okay. Maybe something wrong with her nose holes? I don't know. It does sound pitiful.

I’m not sure if you’ll see this but I was wondering how your chick did? I’ve got 4 week old chicks and one started sounding whistley a few days ago. He seems to breathe hard as well. No mucus from nose or eyes like infection.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’m not sure if you’ll see this but I was wondering how your chick did? I’ve got 4 week old chicks and one started sounding whistley a few days ago. He seems to breathe hard as well. No mucus from nose or eyes like infection.

Welcome To BYC

The poster has not been on in a few years, so it's unlikely they will reply to you.

Can you please post a video of the chick? Upload video to youtube and provide link.

Photos of where the chicks are kept, along with what you feed may be helpful as well.

 

[Saaniya]

any clicking sound while breathing is a respiratory distress recently one of my cockateil chick had this issue there’s click click sound with every breath i tried baytril (not helped)
then i tried Azithromycin with doxycycline suspension 10 days and it clears it up
azithromycin is very good for chicks it’s not way too strong

 

[curiousheart3]

I’m not sure if you’ll see this but I was wondering how your chick did? I’ve got 4 week old chicks and one started sounding whistley a few days ago. He seems to breathe hard as well. No mucus from nose or eyes like infection.

I was hoping an update as well. I have a 2.5 week old chick that started whistling while breathing but not all the time. She wasn't growing as quickly with her hatched group and I kept her in with the next group hatched group but then they were getting bigger than her within 3 to 5 days. I have a much smaller brooder that they go in for the first few days sometimes up to a week and then they go into a larger brooder. The water had leaked and soaked their bedding twice. Not sure why. I'm constantly checking on them throughout the day so I was able to change it out quickly. Shortly after that she started sneezing. She seemed to be breathing quickly but no open mouth breathing. No rattling it clicking noises when I listen to her chest. She's eating, drinking, pooping, grooming and feathering normal. There's no puffy areas on her and no discharge from eyes or nose. I checked her crop and messaged the area but there wasn't anything in her crop. She also seems not to whistle while breathing when sleeping. I haven't experienced this before. Based off what I'm finding is that it's most likely a respiratory infection and I've ordered vetRx. It's arriving today. In the meantime, I've given her poultry cell. She hasn't been sneezing since I have her 1cc of the poultry cell.
I will definitely update how she's doing in a couple days.