Best treatment for gapeworm?

[lilypad]

If you make the food runny enough, 30ml/kg three times a day should be enough to keep her hydrated and keep her from losing weight.

-Kathy

Fantastic! I'll keep doing that! Thank you so much

The vets never got back to me (what a bloody surprise). So have found a vet that deals with exotic animals and birds (as well as cats and dogs etc) so have an appointment with them in the morning, Wish I'd rang them in the first place x

 

[casportpony]

Good luck!

-Kathy

 

[lilypad]

Thank you!

 

[lilypad]

The vet was great, so glad we went there and will definitely use them again for any more chicken problems.
The consultation lasted about half an hour, did a really good, thorough examination and swabbed her throat to check for any parasites or anything and all was clear. He said it's a respiratory infection and could possibly be mycoplasma. He gave her an injection of tylan and I have another to give her orally tonight. Have to go back tomorrow and get some tylan for their water (they are ordering it in for me). Charlotte was chatty and doesn't seem to have gotten any worse which is good.

Now just hope for the best!

Thank you everyone for all your help x

 

[dawg53]

I suspected it was a respiratory disease. Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) is most likely what she has. MG is contageous to other birds and birds remain carriers for life. Antibiotics such as tylan and others, only treat the symptoms. The disease is never cured. Stress will bring out symptoms at any time and you will have to treat them again. If you decide to keep your birds and not cull them, you will have to maintain a closed flock. No new birds introduced as they will become infected, and no birds out which will infect other flocks. MG is transmittable through the eggs, no selling or giving away eggs to be hatched. There are different strains of MG... some are mild, others can be severe. In any case, good luck with your chickens.

 

[lilypad]

I suspected it was a respiratory disease. Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) is most likely what she has. MG is contageous to other birds and birds remain carriers for life. Antibiotics such as tylan and others, only treat the symptoms. The disease is never cured. Stress will bring out symptoms at any time and you will have to treat them again. If you decide to keep your birds and not cull them, you will have to maintain a closed flock. No new birds introduced as they will become infected, and no birds out which will infect other flocks. MG is transmittable through the eggs, no selling or giving away eggs to be hatched. There are different strains of MG... some are mild, others can be severe. In any case, good luck with your chickens.

Thank you for that, very helpful! The breeder actually sold me a sick hen in April (although obviously completely denying it), she had a resp. infection and it spread to the others. I'm now introducing some hens (now 20 weeks) I bought around the same time, I guess the stress of that could of set it off again (if it is myco).
Definitely wont add anymore birds now, but I wont be culling my girls, they will live happily with me until their time comes.
So, I know this will be a few years away, but once I have no girls left, is there anything I have to do to my run to get rid of the problem? Or is it only transferred from bird to bird? x

 

[dawg53]

If the infected bird has been introduced to your 20 week old birds, then there's a good chance they might have been infected. You can google the "incubation time of mycoplasma gallisepticum" on your computer (I forgot lol.) That will give you an idea when to start looking for similar symptoms in the 20 week old birds.
If you didnt introduce the sick bird to your 20 week olds, I would cull it. When you get new birds...practice biosecurity to keep your birds safe, including quaranting new birds for at least 6 weeks. Keeping new birds away from an existing flock as far as possible.
Since you're keeping your birds, and if they get MG, treating the coop/run is useless. As I mentioned, MG is contageous to other birds via the clothing and shoes you wear, your hands...birds spread it via sneezing/coughing, slinging mucus when shaking their heads, on contact, feeders/waterers etc...
Here's a link for you, scroll down to Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) and read about it if you wish:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

 

[lilypad]

Thank you very much
But there is zero chance I will cull any of my birds. All the birds I have have already interacted with each other anyway.
They will all be getting treated with tylan tomorrow.

Thank you for the link - I will give it a read later

 

[Suzierd]

Lilypad I would get some Oxine and spray a fine mist above their heads three times a day, check out these links. Oxine is great stuff!
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/chicken-fungal-infections
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-poultry-often-mistaken-for-crd-mycoplasmosis

 

[lilypad]

Lilypad I would get some Oxine and spray a fine mist above their heads three times a day, check out these links. Oxine is great stuff!
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/chicken-fungal-infections
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-poultry-often-mistaken-for-crd-mycoplasmosis

Thank you so much! that is interesting!
If I had read that on Sunday I would of thought Charlotte's symptoms may have been a fungal infection, there was no sneezing, just a sort of coughing sound and then a moment I thought she was choking, there's also been no mucus. BUT, she has had a few bubbles in her eyes, which I don't see mentioned in the fungal symptoms, but know is a symptom of a respiratory infection.
If she's no better in the morning I'll chat to the vet about a fungal infection when I go to pick the tylan up tomorrow.
But wouldn't the swab he took show if there was any fungal infection?

Also, can I add ACV to the water that has tylan in? Or is that not a good idea?