Sneezing week-old chick

[TheDens]

I just skimmed all of the threads that seemed like they might apply to this, but in most, the question seemed to come down to a sensitivity to the bedding, and mine are just on layers of paper towels, changed twice daily. I have four chicks, all a week old, and only one easter egger is sneezing, several times a minute. There's no discharge from the eyes. I can feel a slight watery moisture when she sneezes on me, but there's no visible discharge and nothing around her nares. She's not acting sick (in fact, she's kind of aggressive, definitely the boldest of the four), she's eating, drinking, and growing normally. She's developing feathers faster than the others, if that matters. Her droppings appear normal. I first noticed the sneezing about two days ago, just occasionally, but it's gotten a lot more frequent since yesterday. They're on medicated chick crumbles, haven't given them grit or any treats yet. Any ideas?

 

[Tricoglossus]

There's lots of respiratory diseases that chickens can suffer from. I have found that almost every chick I have had seems to have a transient stage of sneezing as it is growing up. I have one chick at the moment that is just getting over it's sneezing "phase", and it has been growing and eating and thriving besides this. Last year I had 4 silkie chicks with the same issue, however these also had respiratory crackles (you could hear the crackling when they were breathing) and I ended up treating those ones with doxycycline. They were absolutely fine after that, and they may have recovered without the drugs anyway (though I didn't want to take any chances). With your chick it really depends on how far you want to go with just monitoring it, or if you want to take no chances and get treatment for it. Can you hear and crackles and wheezes when it breathes? (You may need to hold it to your ear and have a listen).

 

[TheDens]

Okay, I just checked. There is a very faint crackling sound, not audible unless she's near my ear. I hear it every few breaths, not on every breath.

 

[Tricoglossus]

It sounds a lot like what happened to me with my 4 silkie chicks. The one most affected was the biggest and fastest growing. He got the crackles first, I waited to see if it would clear up on it's own then all of them got it. That's why I ended up treating them. You could err on the side of caution now and start treating them all now, or keep monitoring them. If the others start to show the same signs I would probably treat them.

 

[TheDens]

Okay, I'll run by the farm store today and pick up some meds. Thanks for your help.

 

[Tricoglossus]

No worries, good luck with them.

 

[dawg53]

Since the others arnt sneezing and your EE chick is sneezing several times a minute, I suspect she may have somehow inhaled feed dust or a small feed crumble to cause the sneezing.

 

[TheDens]

Three of the four are now sneezing.

 

[Eggcessive]

What is the history of the chicks? Did they come from a hatchery, feed store, or a breeder? More than likely it is the dust in the feed or environment, but if they came from a breeder they could brought something contagious with them. It would be unusual for chicks to have a respiratory disease at that age if they have always been in a brooder away from older chickens.

 

[TheDens]

They were originally from Cackle Hatchery, though I ordered them through a local feed store. They spent one day at the feed store before I was able to pick them up. There are adult chickens in the store, though there's no physical contact between them and the chicks.