# Sneezing/congested chicks



## COchickengirl

I have 7 baby chicks that we got from the feed store on Thursday. They vary from about a week & a half old to a couple days. They're in the house under a heat lamp on newspaper. A couple of them are sneezing a lot & have a raspy sound when breathing. Any suggestions for anything that can be done for them? They're precious & I don't want to loose any of the cuties  They're acting fine, eating, drinking & very active. Please help!


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## robin416

Can you do a pic of their brooder set up? I'm not a fan of newspaper. I've always used shavings in mine. Keeps them cleaner and provides more traction.

I do have concerns that they've picked up a bug but I don't want to jump to that until more is known.


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## COchickengirl

I'll get a picture  

This is the one I'm most concerned about...she acts perfectly fine, eats, drinks, hops around etc. The others aren't nearly as bad.


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## COchickengirl

Let's try this again..

Edit ~ the video won't load..I'll try to get another one.


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## robin416

A simple pic is fine.


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## COchickengirl

Nothing fancy, just a little homemade cage in the laundry room


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## robin416

Anything in the laundry room that has a lot of perfume or chemical smells? Is any of the wood pressure treated or very fresh? Chickens can be very reactive to things we don't notice. I hesitate to blame an actual illness on what is going on with them. You should see a serious decline in the peeps if it was any kind of virus or bacteria after this length of time.


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## COchickengirl

No, nothing like that..The one that concerns me the most keeps looking at the ceiling & opens her break, almost gasping for air. She doesn't do it all the time, but she does it often.


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## robin416

Its hard for me to do this but I'm going to suggest you put it on Tylan water soluble if you can find it. Seems that TSC carried it, if I remember right. If the others seem to be OK don't give it to them. You might experiment and try moistening food with it for that peep alone.


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## TheChickenGuy

COchickengirl said:


> No, nothing like that..The one that concerns me the most keeps looking at the ceiling & opens her break, almost gasping for air. She doesn't do it all the time, but she does it often.


That looks like gape worm. Deworm them.


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## COchickengirl

Does ivermectin work? After reading up on it it does sound like gapeworm...I think it's too late for her, she isn't doing well...what's the dosage?


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## COchickengirl

Robin, I gave her some last night & she was doing great this morning but has gone downhill again tonight


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## robin416

It needs to be on it several times a day. Not just once. 

How are you dosing? If its in the food, mix enough to get down at each feeding. If its in the water and you're dosing then dose four times a day.

Do not add any other things to treatment. Gape is not that prevalent and at that age I doubt highly what you are seeing is gape. It has not been exposed to the outdoors or others outside birds.


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## COchickengirl

Thank you, but she passed away last night    I'm so sad...but on the bright side, minus a little sneezing here & there the other 6 are doing great.


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## robin416

I am bothered by this whole situation you have there. Chickens can and do get a pneumonia that is 100% curable. What bothers me is that you report others are also sounding not quite right. 

How long did you have them before the symptoms showed up? This could be a hatchery issue or someone in the feed store could have transmitted a bug to them.


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## TheChickenGuy

Sorry for the loss.


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## COchickengirl

One of the others is very congested now, how many drops of tylan water do you put in like a cup of water? Would you only give it to that one or all of them?


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## robin416

Those chicks have picked up something either from the hatchery or the feed store. 

You are probably in the middle of a really bad place, especially if you have other chickens. If they have been given a chronic respiratory disease then they will give it to your other birds. Or if you ever want to bring more in. 

Mix it according to the bottle directions. It does say on the bottle, doesn't it? If not I'll do some digging and come up with the dose. At this point give it to all of them. 

As much as I hate to say thing especially about babies, it might be better if they don't survive. I am not usually this fatalistic but this is not good in the long term.


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## COchickengirl

We have her LA200, which is basically the same thing as tylan water. It doesn't say on the bottle how much to give chickens as it's a broad spectrum antibiotic that can be used on horses, cattle, goats as well as chickens. 

They all seem to be doing ok at this time, still have one that's sneezing/congested but it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Fingers crossed.


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## robin416

I've never seen LA200 in anything but injectables. So, I doubt I have a break down for it in powder form.


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## Fiere

I am sorry about your birds.
I must agree with robin, however. When chicks get sick like this for a long period it takes a lot out of them, they will forever be prone to such things. Not to mention the risks to any other existing birds or future birds. I myself don't allow sick birds in my flock, it's one thing if they pick up a bug or whatever, I'll separate and treat them. But if the treatment doesn't work, or the birds are young/old and weak, I cull. It's sad when you work hard to bring something around, and it fails, but you need to think of their future lives and your other birds - if they are continuously sick and making your others sick, they are a liability, IMO.


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## COchickengirl

Thank you for all the replies & help everyone. I'm happy to report they're all doing great, no more sneezing


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## TheChickenGuy

COchickengirl said:


> Thank you for all the replies & help everyone. I'm happy to report they're all doing great, no more sneezing


That's some goodnews.


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