Gapeworm treatment and how soon can you eat the eggs

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aSliceOfLife

Chirping
12 Years
Jan 28, 2007
66
1
96
Escondido, CA
Hello! Thanks to all you posters out there that helped me diagnose my chicken with gapeworm. She's been hiccuping and wheezing for about two weeks now but other than that she's been fine. I have been doing a lot of reading up on treating gapeworm and found that fenbendazole is the only really good treatment out there. But I'm concerned because they say you shouldn't use this for any birds producing eggs or meat destined for human consumption. I'm assuming that it will eventually go out of the bird's system so how long before I could start eating her eggs again after treatment? No guesses please!!

Also, how the heck do you look down a chicken's throat to see if they have red worms in there??
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Well, all you'll have are guesses. That product isn't made for chickens and there are no established withdrawal periods, per se. Some say two weeks, some say a month. Truthfully, gapeworm isn't all that common so manytimes, the symptoms you are going by simply mean the bird has something caught in its throat or is congested and trying to breathe better. To look, you have to pry the beak open and put a pencil or something similar in there to hold it open and use a flashlight. It's not easy.
 
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do your best to look in the mouth and throat..look for any sores in mouth (canker or roup)
or the red gapeworm in throat..
or some other obstruction..
 
Thanks for your help. I decided to try and treat Buttercup with Piperazine first. A couple of people have said that worked for them. I will also try to look down her throat today and see what I can find. I know I let my chickens out about once per week to scratch for bugs and worms in my backyard here in the San Diego area, so that's why I thought it could realistically be gapeworm. Everything checks out for that other than looking down her throat. I'll keep you posted. :|
 
Thanks, this was several years ago and yes, it turned out just fine. Buttercup is still with me and healthy as ever. Unfortunately, I had another chicken contract something that looked like gapeworm in April and after several treatments, didn't get any better. I couldn't stand to see her suffer with her breathing anymore so I had her put down by a local vet. As they say, you win some and you lose some. I just hate the losing.
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So sorry to hear your loss! Buttercup, did you find the gapeworm in her throat or did you simply treat her?
I'm trying to pry my chickens' mouth and everyday, I couldn't - they are difficult to do!!!

The chicken that you recently lost, what symptoms did she display for you to conclude that she had gapeworm? How was she? What did you treat her with? I just want to know so I understand how to observe/ treat/ prevent my chickens as I'm worrying at least one of them has gapeworm.... (?)

Thank you!
 

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