possible Gape worm?

[Chicken McNuts]

I have been reading and researching like crazy, my wife's favorite rooster and the very first chicken we hatched (George) seems to be showing sings of gape worm but I'm not sure. he seems to be eating and drinking as normal and there is no labored sound when he breaths (had him up to my ear tonight when I closed the coop up for about 5 minutes to get a good listen). I also did a q-tip swab that came up clear. his feathers and combe seem fine and waddles look normal. the only sign of possible Gape worm would be the opening of his beak at regular intervals, and his crowing is inconsistent and comes out more like a squeek. I am hoping I can get this figured out. we lost 18 birds to a weasel in one day and only 5 made it, George being one of them, it would be pretty sad to loose him. any help would be awsome so thank you all in advance.

 

[chicknmania]

Hello and welcome. You might start by gently looking in his mouth with a flashlight by pulling on his wattles and very gently prying his upper beak. ( This is usually a two person job) Look for anything unusual, or whitish or yellow lesions. Be very careful as the beak can break easily especially if the bird struggles. If it all looks normal, then try starting him on an antibiotic like Oxytet (2 tsp per gallon) if you can still find it in feed stores, or Gallimycin. Only saying this because roosters seem to be prone to getting this weird voice thing where their crow is squeaky and sometimes dissapears altogether. We haven't had any cases of it for years, but we have had a couple, and that is how we treated it. It seemed to clear up on antibiotics, with no issues, but if you put him on antibiotics, he does need to be on them for seven to ten days, and so he should be in a pen by himself, which also protects the rest of the flock. You can also try injectible Tylan, which doesn't require such a long course of treatment, and if you have other roosters, that would be the best way to go, because he will have a hard time regaining his status in the pecking order if he is confined away from the flock which contains other roosters. If you can't get the antibiotics (and you won't be able to at all without a vet's prescription after the first of the year)..then a vet may be the only way to go. If nothing else, you can always try VetRX, but I have never had very good luck with that stuff. Some people swear by it though. You can find it on line or in feed stores.


If there ARE lesions in the mouth, than that is canker and needs to be treated with Metronidazole, which you would probably need scrip from a vet for.

PS: I just noticed you are in Canada, so that might change availability of antibiotics for you. Also, Gapeworm is not very common in chickens here in Ohio, but I don't know about Canada. I also don't know if Gapeworm would show up in a fecal float.

 

[Chicken McNuts]

thank you very much for the great info. I will be checking the feed stores today to see what, if any, antibiotics I can get. we recently changed the bedding in the coop/ nesting box's and shortly after is when George started showing these signs. no one else is showing sings but we will be changing back as a precautionary measure. there is another bantam mix roo, a jersey giant hen and a mated pair of guinea fouk and two silkie hens. a bit of a mixed flock lol.

again thank you and I will keep this updated with progress report and or cause of the odd behavior.

 

[chicknmania]

Ok. don't forget to look in his mouth and down his throat with the flashlight too. He could even have something stuck in his throat..I seem to remember that happening to someone on here.