Baby chicks are very fragile, so it is very important that you keep an eye on these little birds to make sure they maintain good health.
If your baby chick looks like it is gasping for air you’d understandably be worried.
This article looks into why this may be happening
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Why does my chick look like it’s gasping for air?
Your bird gasping for air may seem odd and this may start to worry you.
Here is why your baby bird may be doing this:
Adjusting the crop:
One of the simplest, and most likely, reasons that your baby chick may be doing this may be that the bird is simply adjusting its crop.
The crop is an organ that temporarily stores your bird’s food before it moves into the bird’s stomach.
This organ can get full and uncomfortable and the bird will adjust the crop to relieve itself of the discomfort.
This crop adjustment may be what you’re seeing as the bird gasping for air.
What to do:
This is normal and is simply the bird’s way of relieving the discomfort that it may be feeling in its crop.
This is not something to worry about, you’d only need to start to worry if the bird starts showing signs of distress along with this behavior.
Distress may mean that your bird is sick
Aspergillosis:
Your bird may look like it is gasping for air, because it actually is gasping for air.
Chickens and chicks can suffer respiratory infections and aspergillosis is one of them.
This condition is caused by a fungus and can be spread in environments that are warm, moist, and dirty.
This condition is common in chicks because the cilia in their throats are not yet matured enough to remove the fungus and spores from the bird’s throat.
These spores and fungus will block the inhalation of air causing the bird to gasp for air.
Other signs of this condition in your bird, in addition to the gasping for air, include nasal discharge, swollen eyes, diarrhea, convulsions, open mouth breathing, head twisting, and the inability to balance.
What to do:
Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, there is no treatment for aspergillosis in chickens.
The source of the fungus should be removed to keep it from infecting other birds and good ventilation and hatchery sanitation would need to be implemented.
Gapeworm:
Another reason why your chick may be gasping for air may be because it has a condition called gapeworm.
Gapeworms are thin red worms that can infect a variety of different bird types.
These worms infect and live in the bird’s respiratory tract, namely the windpipe. The worms are quite uncomfortable to the bird.
Your chick will gasp because of this discomfort and because it is trying to relieve itself of the parasites.
Other signs of gapeworm in your chick include trouble breathing, hissing, open mouth breathing, weakness, a lower appetite, and constant extending of the neck.
What to do:
You can check to see if your bird has this condition by opening your bird’s mouth and swabbing the bird’s throat using a Q-tip
If the bird does have this condition, then the Q-tip will pick up some of the worms from the bird’s throat.
If your chick does have gapeworm, then isolate this bird, give it its own food and water, and treat the bird using a medicine called Flubenvet which will kill the worms.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: What To Do If A Chick Is Gasping For Air, 2 Day Old Chick Gasping, Chick Gasping And Chirping, Chick Gasping After Drinking, Baby Chick Vomiting, Baby Chick Leaning To One Side, How To Force Feed A Baby Chick, Signs Of Intestinal Blockage In Chickens, Chicken Keeps Opening Mouth Like Gagging
