Gaping hen :(

[Shugercube]

I have a hen who is gaping and gasping for breath a lot. The severity ebbs and flows, sometimes it seems she's gasping and struggling with every single breath, and others she is just open mouth breathing quietly, with no wheezing or stretching her neck out. There have been some upper respiratory symptoms amongst the flock (sneezing mostly), and I started treatment of the whole flock with denagard yesterday. But this particular hen is the only one gaping (she does also sneeze). Her comb and wattles are still nice and red, no purple, and she seems mostly normal- eating and drinking, normal poo; only she hasn't been laying. She is isolated currently so she can rest.

Anyway, I dosed her with safeguard last night on the off chance it's gapeworms, but she is still gaping this morning. I thought maybe she was choking on something, but I don't feel anything in her throat, and don't see anything in her mouth, so I don't *think* it's anything lodged in there. Her nares seem clear, eyes look good. I have also been putting VetRx under her wings each night, although I'm not sure it's doing anything to help her breathing I figure it can't hurt.

Any thoughts? If it *is* gapeworm, how long before I should see symptoms resolve? Anything else I can be doing for her?

 

[Eggcessive]

It likely is not gapeworm, but give the safeguard for 5 days in a row (1.25 ml for a 5 pound hen.) Consider ammonia odor in the coop from droppings, poor air circulation, mold, and dust in coop or the feed as possible causes. There could be a virus or mycoplasma respiratory disease. Denagard or Tylosin can help if the latter. Viruses run their course over several weeks. If you wver lose a bird, have your state vet do a necropsy where they can test for the common respiratory diseases, or look for fungal infections.

 

[Purelychicks]

I have a hen who is gaping and gasping for breath a lot. The severity ebbs and flows, sometimes it seems she's gasping and struggling with every single breath, and others she is just open mouth breathing quietly, with no wheezing or stretching her neck out. There have been some upper respiratory symptoms amongst the flock (sneezing mostly), and I started treatment of the whole flock with denagard yesterday. But this particular hen is the only one gaping (she does also sneeze). Her comb and wattles are still nice and red, no purple, and she seems mostly normal- eating and drinking, normal poo; only she hasn't been laying. She is isolated currently so she can rest.

Anyway, I dosed her with safeguard last night on the off chance it's gapeworms, but she is still gaping this morning. I thought maybe she was choking on something, but I don't feel anything in her throat, and don't see anything in her mouth, so I don't *think* it's anything lodged in there. Her nares seem clear, eyes look good. I have also been putting VetRx under her wings each night, although I'm not sure it's doing anything to help her breathing I figure it can't hurt.

Any thoughts? If it *is* gapeworm, how long before I should see symptoms resolve? Anything else I can be doing for her?

Most likely not gape worm. I had a hen doing THE same thing and she had impacted crop. What’s the crop feel like? What’s her mouth look like? (The inside)

 

[Shugercube]

Most likely not gape worm. I had a hen doing THE same thing and she had impacted crop. What’s the crop feel like? What’s her mouth look like? (The inside)

Her crop feels normal, and empties every night. Inside mouth looks normal to me as well. It's day 4 of denagard and safeguard, and she's still gaping along with the occasional sneeze. Still no nasal drainage or eye issues, comb and wattles still nice and red. She's been isolated inside my house in a large dog kennel, eating/drinking/pooing normally but still not laying (although I've kept it pretty dim so she can rest). Should I switch to Tylan? Finish out the denagard? She doesn't seem to be worsening, but also not improving.

 

[Purelychicks]

Her crop feels normal, and empties every night. Inside mouth looks normal to me as well. It's day 4 of denagard and safeguard, and she's still gaping along with the occasional sneeze. Still no nasal drainage or eye issues, comb and wattles still nice and red. She's been isolated inside my house in a large dog kennel, eating/drinking/pooing normally but still not laying (although I've kept it pretty dim so she can rest). Should I switch to Tylan? Finish out the denagard? She doesn't seem to be worsening, but also not improving.

Are you sure she’s not eggbound? does her belly feel puffy/airy? Is she molting? Has the rooster been “friendly” with her?

 

[Shugercube]

She's the favorite hen, so yeah lots of shenanigans before I brought her in She doesn't show any signs of being eggbound that I can tell, I don't feel any eggs and everything else feels normal, no squishiness/puffiness or anything. Not molting, but does have some feather loss from mating (possibly over mating? Like I said, she's the favorite). She's acting alert and happy outside of the gaping and sneezing and lack of eggs. All of my hens had stopped laying for a bit when the feed store was out of their normal food and I switched for a little to get them through, but all have resumed laying other than her. I wish I had an avian vet I could take her to, just to figure out what's going on!!

I normally feed all the big birds 20% chick starter, and have grit and oyster shells available 24/7. Since she's been inside though, I've been giving her the same feed as my silkies, which is a 30% feed, along with 1 scrambled egg including the shell each day (how I get her to eat the safeguard lol). She has her own grit and oyster shells available as well.

 

[Shugercube]

She's being a lot more talkative today, I'm hoping that means she's having an easier time breathing. Still gaping, but sneezing a lot less frequently.

 

[Shugercube]

Just wanted to update in case anyone else comes with a similar issue.

She finally started laying again, and the sneezing is gone. Mostly done gaping also, although it seems if she's stressed she starts again. I went ahead and moved her to the coop one night, putting her on the roost after everyone was sleeping. I still don't know what was wrong, but she seems to be loving being back with the flock.

 

[Nealc]

Thanks for the update. My rooster has similar symptoms and I was on here to determine if I should worm at same time as Denagard. Which I think I may go ahead and do. His symptoms are staying hunched over, lethargic, shaking his head some, but really no other symptoms

 

[Shugercube]

Thanks for the update. My rooster has similar symptoms and I was on here to determine if I should worm at same time as Denagard. Which I think I may go ahead and do. His symptoms are staying hunched over, lethargic, shaking his head some, but really no other symptoms

I hope he pulls through!! Red finally stopped gaping and is doing great now! I did end up separating her from the main flock though, she just could NOT get a break as the favorite hen! So now she shares a small coop with my silkie hen and they're besties now.