Sick Chick

[moodlymoo]

I dont know what to do. I have never had a sick chick or bird yet. I have a 2mo old black cochin in the brooder with 3 other birds we got a few weeks ago. She seems completely fine until you put her up to your ear. She sounds crackly when she breathes. I dont know what to do. All I have is Sulmet and I cant afford anything else since I am now a single parent of 4 on a very fixed income. Please help. I am very worried for this little gal, her 3 brooder mates and now for the 17 other girls I have in the coop outside. They are in my garage in a giant well ventilated topless dog crate. It has pine shavings, they are on medicated crumble, they have a heat light, and all seem happy, healthy, and very active.

What else can I do for her. All of them I am sure have been exposed so I plan on having to treat the other 3 in the brooder too.

 

[crawfordmama]

How long has she been like this?

Keep the four isolated as they are. I did some brief research on Sulmet, and it seems that you could use it if it were bacterial pneumonia, but I don't know if it would work in this case.

Perhaps in the meantime you could feed them probiotics to help their immune systems? Maybe there's a BYC member near you who has some extra antibiotic to share?

 

[moodlymoo]

They are staying in the garage. I did fine a sav-a-chick packet and was thinking of mixing up a gallon of water with the vit/electrolytes and a dose of sulmet just to be safe. She has no discharge, no sneezing, no nothing but the crackly breathing. I checked on her this morning and it is a bit louder than last night. I cant loose her my kids will have a melt down considering their messed up emotional state currently.

The heat lamp is lower to keep them warmer since the garage is pretty cold. Its about 70 in the brooder. 3 of the 4 are feathered out pretty well, they sleep on the edge of light in the box. These are my 5th batch of chicks so I dont know what I did wrong.

 

[moodlymoo]

I just noticed it yesterday. I forgot to check them the day before with everything going on so maybe 2 or 3 days? Really I have had so much going on since last thursday when my life fell apart I have been sending my kids out to feed and water them.

 

[crawfordmama]

I would go ahead with the Sav-a-Chick for good measure.

I don't think you did anything wrong. These things happen. Could it be possible that her voice is just changing a bit? Where she doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, I might be inclined to think so. I have on hen in particular that sounded very honky (like a sneezing donkey or something) when her voice started to change. I also have a couple two-months old now that even sound a bit congested, but I have no doubt that it's just their voices changing and their bodies growing.

I would keep an eye on her, and try not to worry too much (even though that's darn tough when you're a mom!).

Also, I'm very sorry you're going through a tough time. It may not seem like it, but it will get better.

 

[moodlymoo]

No it is not the voice change I went through that with my other girls. When you put her to your ear she sounds crackly wet goopy when she is breathing. You can hear it inside her.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

I would isolate her inside the house if you can where the temperature is a little more constant. Chickens really don't get colds, but back and forth temperature swings can cause upper/lower respiratory infections. Is she eating and drinking at all? I would consider placing her on antibiotics as a safe measure. Injectable Tylan 50 would be my first recommendation, if you are ok with giving injections because it is better on them. It would be easy to accidentally aspirate a chick if you tried to give it orally. Use the Sav-a-Chick or pedialyte to supplement the water, but let her drink on her own if you can. If she's not drinking on her own then I would try to use a syringe to drop water next to her closed mouth. She needs to drink more before you work on the eating if she's not.

 

[moodlymoo]

Quote:
She is totally normal except for the crackly sound when she is breathing. She is inside the garage with heat lamp and 3 other chicks in the brooder. They are about 8-10 weeks old