Mari : My Double Laced Barnvelder chicks have been interesting so far, compared to the other breeds I've started. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced some of the things I've encountered and what they've done to resolve it, if anything.

When I first got my DLB day old chicks I lost the first one within a couple of days. The one I lost exhibited extreme gasping and when it drank it would stand on its tippy toes much longer than normal to get the water down. About a week and a half ago one of my DLB chicks seemed to be sick. It was fluffed up and had labored breathing. I went online to see if there was any diseases that matched the symptoms. What I found was that all the other diseases that exhibited labored breathing also included discharge from the nose and eyes. Mine didn't have that. The only one that seemed to match was what they call brooder pneumonia. A fungal respiratory infection called Aspregillosis which is caused by mold contamination in food and/or water. This didn't make sense to me since that was the only one having the symptoms and it is supposed to have a high mortality rate. I thought for sure the chick wouldn't make it but she is still alive and no longer gasping. However, at times I see her hunker down and have faster, deeper respiratory cycles than any other chick I have so far raised. I thought that it might be possible that it has some kind of internal defect but it is seeming to do fine. Don't really know what to make of it. It'll be interesting to see if anyone with DLB's has had something similar happen to them. I have also noticed that they don't seem to be as good eaters as the other breeds. The other chicks always had full bellies, where I could feel that they have been eating. Even though the food disappears I can't seem to see or feel a full crop... I think that is weird. I am by no means an experienced or expert chicken person, but they seem to be different than the other breeds. I have since integrated the DBL chicks into the other chick flock. All the other breeds I have integrated have acclimated within 2-3 days - meaning they stopped huddling together and started mixing with the other chicks. These guys still are huddling together even when I let them have their outside time.