Labored breathing

[subgirl77]

We have 2 week old chicks and they were all doing fine until last night, one of them started squeeking and gasping for air. It was shaking it's head like it was trying to clear it's nose. We are feeding them medicated chick starter and little bits of yogurt and egg. I put 2-3 drops of Organic Apple cider vinegar in their water. We just got probiotics from feed store and are going to try that in their water. We moved the heat lamp up a foot because I thought maybe it was getting to warm and we also separated it from the other chicks. It's poop is wetter than I have seen before, brown only in color and somewhat still in solid form. Any advice?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Could it have gotten any food stuck in it's nostrils? Have the chicks been exposed to older chickens maybe indirectly from your clothes or shoes? Is there any ammonia smell in their brooder?

 

[subgirl77]

We put her down, she was really struggling. I didn't see anything in her nostrils or anything, she was just gasping and stretching her neck out to try to get air and breathing out of her mouth. She was using her whole body and breathing really fast. So far the other chicks seem fine and we changed out the bedding in the brooder (natural pine pellets). We also put probiotics in their water. No other chickens or anything tracked in on our shoes, or at least no way to get into the brooder and no ammonia smell. Hopefully the others are ok.