Laying hen gasping for air.

[BonnieC3]

My daughter works at a little shop that sells organic stuff. They keep a flock of about 20 laying hens out back of the store to sell their organic eggs. She just brought me one of the hens that is gasping for air. They didn't know what to do. I've examined her. She looks to be an adult Barred Rock. Her crop appears empty. There is no discharge from nose or eyes. I cannot feel anything abnormal along her throat so I don't think she has anything caught in there. She seems calm and quite normal except to breathe she must extend her neck, open her mouth and pull in air, making a wheezy noise. Her comb is red, so for now she's getting enough oxygen. I've put her in isolation and just watching her. I will check for gape worms in a bit. Another odd symptom is she has made absolutely no sound except for the wheeze when she breathes... no cluck, no squawk, no nothing. Any ideas? Thanks for any help!!!

 

[browngrub]

The symptoms sound like gape worm. I use a small amount of Tylon 50 and that fixed her right up.


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[Eggcessive]

You can't see gapeworms without opening the windpipe or trachea after death. There is some erroneous info about that online in some older posts. Gapeworm is fairly rare, but capillary worm is also a cause of gasping. A respiratory disease could also be her problem. Do you see any watery eyes, nasal drainage, or sneezing? Is she drinking water and eating? To treat gapes and capillary worm, give SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or horse paste 1/4 cc or ml per pound orally for 5 straight days. Sometimes chickens will get some feed caught in their throats and make a stridorous sound for awhile, and that sometimes clears in a few hours.