Weird behavior this morning! Gapeworm? Video included.

[Shahannah]

Hi! I’m a new chicken owner. My 35 week old Ameraucana was acting odd this morning. I attached a video but essentially it looks like gaping and she also would close her close her after making the head movements. She hasn’t laid yet and her poop looks normal just dark. I tried to look down her throat and honestly I’m not sure if what I saw was normal or not. There was a dark red area in the middle of her throat when she opened up. I’m not sure if that was the top of a gapeworm or just a normal chicken throat. Also, (since I was convinced it was gapeworm before reading that it’s rare) I started treating my flock with Safeguard for goats. 3ml per gallon for the next 3 days. When my fiancé comes home I’ll try to get a picture of her throat but for now I just have the video of her acting weird. Thanks for any help!

 

[coach723]

It looks like she's adjusting her crop. I would feel her crop, see if it's full, empty, hard, soft & squishy, etc. Then check again first thing in the morning, before she's had food or water, it should be empty then. If it's not empty in the morning that would indicate a problem. Do they have access to grit all the time (grit is crushed granite, not the same as oyster shell for calcium)?
Safeguard liquid goat wormer can't be mixed in the water, it settles out. It needs to be dosed directly, orally, to each bird. Dose is .25 ml per pound of body weight, dose 5 days in a row.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thanks for any help!

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

That's a chicken burp, lol!

 

[Chickengirl209]

For the future: one of my girls was doing this often, and losing weight. Her crop was small and empty, and she’d only eat wet feed. Her comb turned a red/purple, and she sat huddled in a ball as if she was cold all day. We fed her fermented feed, and she completely recovered.