gasping when excited- holding wings out- help!?!

I have a pullet that went broody, so I seperated her in a crate- she escaped me for some time, and was having a quick dust with her friends, and I noticed she was gasping for every breath. She sometimes makes a wheezy noise and her general noises are low and raspy. I thought she just had a deep voice. She does not sneeze. No discharges. It definately gets worse when she gets excited or anxious about something.

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Plymouth Rock, 10 months (ish), no idea of weight, but she's a big girl
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
described above
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
subtle symtoms for about 3 weeks, acutely in the last 2 days
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
no
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
no
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
when she first started the wheezing, she was horking down food... so i thought it may be that- but that was three weeks ago
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
still loves her scratch, and she got a scrambled egg/buttermilk snack that went down just fine. I haven't noticed her drinking at all.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
normal to runny- she has poo issues w/her bum feathers. She needs a good trim when I have a partner willing to hold her for me.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
seperation. Purchased Sulmet on the recommendation of the Feed store employee. I think she has yet to drink any though.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
Would love to treat myself. There is a vet I could take her to this Monday, but I'd like to figure something out before then.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
In her normal coop they have pine shavings w/DE mixed in. Right now she is in a wire dog kennel w/a plastic bottom- no bedding- since I was trying to break her from being broody. When she got out yesterday, she acted "normal" (with the exception of the panting) for about 45 minutes, then went back up to the nest box.

I didn't think a hen would go broody, and be sick all at the same time, so I'm at a loss.
Please help- I could use some insight!
edited to add a photo

Especially if it coincided with eating fast, it sounds like maybe aspiration pneumonia. I had a rooster aspirate water and he almost died from the resulting pneumonia.

If that's the case- what would I do about it?

Quote:
Antibiotics asap.

Quote:
Antibiotics asap.

Would the Sulmet work for that??? I keep making sure she has fresh water and crumble (neither of which it looks like she's touching) but I just gave her some Collards, and she attacked them like she hasn't seen food all day. I have no idea what gives.

I don't know, I've never used sulmet for anything. I used Baytril for my roo. I used the 100mg/ml injectable liquid and gave it orally at a dose of 15mg/kg twice a day for 10 days.

Just an update- Ina appeared to be doing okay yesterday, but this morning she looked worse. Just standing in her little prison- gasping and shaking her head. She does cough and or sneeze occasionally. Still no discharge. Made no attempt at the medicated yogurt I tried to tempt her with this morning. I'm at work for 9 hours today, so pray she hold on...or doesn't- if that's what's best.

Sounds like gape worms. You need to treat her immediately or she WILL die. I lost one to that before I found out what it was. Go to the feed store and get some ivermectin (I think that's how it's spelled). It's a horse wormer. You only need a pea size. Put it on a piece of bread or other treat that she will eat. You probably should do all the others while you're at it. If you have any doubts, read here:


Gape Worm or Syngamus Tachea
Written by Administrator
Saturday, 06 June 2009 14:17
The Gape Worm also called Syngamus Tachea mainly affects chickens, turkeys and game birds, especially pheasants but can affect other wild birds as well which makes eradication difficult. Infestation offen occurs when there are wild pheasants close to your birds. Gapeworm infestation can occur either directly by birds eating eggs that have been swallowed or coughed up by infested birds, or indirectly by intermediate hosts such as earthworms or snails. Young birds up to 8 weeks of age are particularly susceptible to gape worm. Gapeworms normally live in the tachea (windpipe) but are also found in the bronchi and lungs.

Typically, eggs are picked up from the ground or intermediate hosts such as worms or snails. The eggs hatch and the larvae penetrate the intestine walls and move to the lungs and bronchi. It is here they go through a larval moult, before travelling up to the trachea. Male and female gapeworms attach to one another once they arrive here. This process takes around 7 days. Gapeworm lay eggs that get coughed up onto the ground or swallowed and passed out in the faeces.

Signs and Symptoms
Infestation causes respiratory distress. Gasping for breath or 'gaping' as it is known is the biggest sign of gape worm. Shaking of the head and neck stretching are common. When birds are held, gurgling or a 'tracheal rattle' can often be heard. This can often be confused with respiratory infection, if in doubt, check for other signs of respiratory disease. If a heavy infestation occurs, death by suffocation will occur. Fully grown gape worms are 'Y' shaped and vary in size between 1 and 2cm long.

Treatment.
Chickens are particularly prone to respiratory diseases so it is important to ensuring you have a good worming schedule to eliminate the possibility of a respiratory problem being confused with a gape worm infestation. Gurgling noises that come from the throat of the bird can be caused by gapeworm and can be confused with a respiratory problem.


As with all internal parasites, there are many treatments that will kill these worms but rotating the grazing area will help to stop birds becoming re-infected. Internal Parasites or Worms in Chickens and Other Poultry provides some ideas for worming poultry. Flubenvet is licenced for use in poultry and will kill gapeworms.

Photos courtesy of Janssen Animal Health.





HTH,
Jen

Thank you SO SO much for the reply! The only thing that makes me scratch my head is that I JUST got through worming the whole flock with Valbazen not but a week and a half ago. They got two doses 10 days apart. She's the largest girl I have, so maybe she didn't get a big enough dose??? That's the only thing that kept making me think it couldn't be worms- but it sure does sound like that's the problem.

Quote:
Gapeworms are hard to kill. Takes a specific wormer. Check yours to make sure it is effective on gapeworms.

Jen