i lost one last night

[zumachicks]

so i posted about one six day old breathing funny...she did not make it through the night and now two of my americanas are breathing funny...beaks open and short breaths. two others are thriving....i'm beginning to get a complex....any ideas...are they too warm??? they seem to almost be gasping for air, but are not chirping like they are in pain...please help!!!!

 

[rockyroo]

hi

Have u got them on medicated chick crumb as this may help with viruses i think....hope they get better

 

[zumachicks]

they are on quick gro kracketts...is this correct?

 

[Chirpy]

I have never heard of kracketts.. is that a brand name?

They should be on either starter chick feed or start and grow chick feed. You can use either medicated or not - that's a personal decision.

If they are fighting a virus the medicated might help.

Let us know how it goes and if their symptoms change.

I'm editing this to ask - what type of flooring/bedding are they on?

 

[Slike]

Before I say anything else, do you know where they were purchased from? Or did you hatch them yourself? Were they your eggs? Also, please look at their little legs and tell me if they look weird and dehydrated (their skin seeming loose) and anything else of note. It may not be that they are too warm - as long as they have one spot of their brooder around 95-100 at that age, but room to move from that hot spot if need be to a cooler area, that likely isn't the problem. Best wishes,

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[Cetawin]

What type of bedding on they are? If you have them on cedar...that is the problem most likely. If you do have cedar, remove it pronto and replace it with Pine shavings.

Good luck with the babies and sorry you lost the other one.

 

[zumachicks]

so, now i've lost two out of the five. i got them at a feed barn in malibu, they seemed like they knew what they were doing...the three left look spunky and alert. i'm using "premium softwood shavings" - it does not say anything about cedar and i don't smell any cedar...so, i'll be watching the remaining three like a hawk - a horrible pun....and let you know if they start to act funny. thank you so much for your input...

 

[Cetawin]

awwww I will keep my fingers crossed that you do not lose any more.

I watched my 6 like a hawk too...still do and they are going on 7 weeks old. hahahaha

 

[Slike]

Was it Malibu Feed where Topanga meets PCH? If you can tell me the specific feedstore I can call them up for you and find out if they were buying from some bad hatcheries I was made aware of recently. I call them bad because they were selling chicks infected with Ecoli... I hope very much this is not the case for you, but it would be a good idea to find out. If it is, then you can at least know what to treat for.
I am very sorry to hear that you lost another

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[Davaroo]

I dont know much about these things, but I'm sorry to hear about the loss, and the other little chickies having the "grippe," too.

I always hatch my own or get them from a known source. Then I get them on medicated feed right off. My brooder is cleaned with bleach prior to any new hatches going in and I dont mix broods, if at all possible.

I'm thinking along the same lines as Slike...
It does sound like some sort of bacterial affliction, probably one they came with. Some antibiotics probably oughta be gieven right away.