Chicks sound congested?

[lrobb88]

Hello,
I have 25 cornish cross chicks, about 1.5 weeks old. They are in a draft-free enclosed room within a barn, in a large stock tank with plenty of room. The temps here in Western NC have been swinging from lows of 22 at night to into the upper 70s during the day, so it's been difficult to keep the brooder at exactly 90-95F at all times, though I've been erring on the side of warmer rather than colder.

Today I cleaned the brooder and replaced all substrate with fresh pine shavings. I'd been adding pine shavings all along, so they were on dry clean shavings most of the time if not at all times. After cleaning, I noticed some of the chicks making a sort of gurgly / congested noise. It seems to be about half of them. All of them are still active and eating and drinking fine, and this is the first time I've noticed it.

I'm wondering if this is a respiratory infection / ailment or if they are just temporarily reacting to the dust from pine shavings after cleaning and replacing?

Any help is much appreciated! Thank you

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The temps here in Western NC have been swinging from lows of 22 at night to into the upper 70s during the day, so it's been difficult to keep the brooder at exactly 90-95F at all times, though I've been erring on the side of warmer rather than colder.

After cleaning, I noticed some of the chicks making a sort of gurgly / congested noise. It seems to be about half of them. All of them are still active and eating and drinking fine, and this is the first time I've noticed it.

I'm wondering if this is a respiratory infection / ailment or if they are just temporarily reacting to the dust from pine shavings after cleaning and replacing?

Are you trying to keep the whole brooder at 90-95F or just one end and they have room to get away from heat.

Did you clean the brooder with some type of cleaner or you just changed out the bedding?
Could be the congested sounds were from dust of changing out, but I would go just listen to see if you notice any more of that. Observe to see if there are any runny noses/mucous, watery or bubbly looking eyes.

 

[lrobb88]

Thanks for your reply -- just one end of the brooder is kept hot, they have plenty of space to regulate temp my moving to the other side. For cleaning I just shoveled out the old shavings and replaced with new. I watched them for a long time yesterday and this morning. It seems to be less prevalent this morning but some are still sneezing. I picked several up who were making the noise and their eyes look very clear and not runny, and I haven't seen any nasal discharge. I noticed that one I picked up I could feel a sort of vibration when he was breathing in and out, which makes me worried that it is something more than just congestion from dust.

Are you trying to keep the whole brooder at 90-95F or just one end and they have room to get away from heat.

Did you clean the brooder with some type of cleaner or you just changed out the bedding?
Could be the congested sounds were from dust of changing out, but I would go just listen to see if you notice any more of that. Observe to see if there are any runny noses/mucous, watery or bubbly looking eyes.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for your reply -- just one end of the brooder is kept hot, they have plenty of space to regulate temp my moving to the other side. For cleaning I just shoveled out the old shavings and replaced with new. I watched them for a long time yesterday and this morning. It seems to be less prevalent this morning but some are still sneezing. I picked several up who were making the noise and their eyes look very clear and not runny, and I haven't seen any nasal discharge. I noticed that one I picked up I could feel a sort of vibration when he was breathing in and out, which makes me worried that it is something more than just congestion from dust.

Where did they come from?
What are you feeding?
They have plenty of ventilation(?)

 

[lrobb88]

They came from Meyer Hatchery, I'm feeding nonmedicated chick starter from Tractor Supply (I believe it's Nutrena Meatbird Starter), they have plenty of ventilation in that it's fairly large room and the brooder is open. The door is closed, but it's in a barn so not airtight and I come in and out several times a day. When it gets very hot out I've been running a fan on low for air circulation.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would monitor them for a few days, if the sneezing increases or you see other symptoms, they may have respiratory illness. With them coming from a hatchery I would be less inclined to think that, but it's something to consider.

With these being meat birds if treatment is needed, I would use Tylan50 which is good for treatment of bacterial respiratory disease like Mycoplasma. It also has a 1 day withdrawal period so by the time yours are ready to process, you "shouldn't" have to worry about drug residue.