open mouth breathing

[Lindsaym]

I just noticed one of my chicks appears to be panting. I got them yesterday and they were hatched on Wednesday. I do not see discharge from her beak or eyes and they all seem active and eating and drinking well. I turned off the heat lamp. Does this sound like overheating?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

First thing I thought it was. Is the brooder large enough for them to get away from the heat? Try keeping the lamp on one end and you could check temp with any thermometer under lamp, 90F under lamp is all you need for first 4 days. I raise mine before first week out then start to turn it off days at 2 weeks. No heat at 3 weeks and outside at 4.

 

[lazy gardener]

What are you using for a brooder, where is it, how many watts for your heat lamp? Any time a chick is panting, that's a good sign that they are all probably warmer than they need to be. I'd recommend that your brooder be big enough that you can have 90 degrees under the lamp, with enough space that they can get to a 70 degree space during the first week. If it's 90 degrees throughout the brooder, it's too warm.

 

[Lindsaym]

As soon as I turned off the lamp it made a huge difference. So, they got upgraded to a much bigger brooder box. Its a big Rubbermaid (not ideal but will work for this moment) and they are much happier