Valbazen or Safeguard for gapeworm

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Freia

Freia

Chirping
8 Years
Jan 11, 2012
134
7
93
I bought Valbazen to worm my flock today. It went really well. 0.5cc on a piece of bread, and they each politely gobbled one up each.

I have one hen who's been a bit slow and just "off" for the past week. That usually tells me I need to worm, and quickly. However, today I'm seeing her laying on the deck, occasionally gaping and shaking her head. Her breathing seems a bit labored. I gave her yoghurt and boiled egg, which she gobbled down. She has her eyes closed a lot.

I'm thinking she might have gapeworm. I know I need to hit it hard and fast. So she's already had 0.5cc Valbazen. Reading on here, it sounds like Safeguard might work better? What should I do now? Should I give her Valbazen in 3 days, then in 3 days again, or should I switch to Safeguard in 3 days?
 
Gapeworm are rare in chickens. Since your hen has been "off" for a week, I suspect something else is going on. Perhaps lice/mites, eggbound/egg impacted, something stuck in her throat or crop/adjusting her crop causing the gaping. Or perhaps she is worm infested in which you need to give the valbazen time to do its job. It could also possibly be the onset of a respiratory disease. If she had gapeworm, she would be dead by now. Here's a link about gapeworm; Covey Rise Plantation is the expert on gapes and has dealt with them many times, read posts #13 & #14.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/602699/worming-chickens/10#post_7931055
 
a excellent tratment for Gape worm is Levamisole concentrate. I got mine online. its a powder form placed into water.its dose is 20mg per kilo of body weight. its effictive against ascaridia galli, heterakis galline, and capilliaria obsignata, and Gape worm Syngamus trachea. no withholding period for eggs.. its full name is levamisole hydrochloride.hope this is helpful!! you can look up levamisole for gape worm in chickens. you will see this is a effictive treatment because they are very difficult to terminate otherwise with other wormers!!! if its truely gape worm please use levamisole, it will cure it. other wormers wont kill gape worm. best of luck
 
dawg53 said:
Gapeworm are rare in chickens. Since your hen has been "off" for a week, I suspect something else is going on. Perhaps lice/mites, eggbound/egg impacted, something stuck in her throat or crop/adjusting her crop causing the gaping. Or perhaps she is worm infested in which you need to give the valbazen time to do its job. It could also possibly be the onset of a respiratory disease. If she had gapeworm, she would be dead by now. Here's a link about gapeworm; Covey Rise Plantation is the expert on gapes and has dealt with them many times, read posts #13 & #14.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/602699/worming-chickens/10#post_7931055
Click to expand...
I wasn't suspecting the gapeworm until I saw her shake her head and gape a few times. It popped into my head, because she is the resident earthworm and snail connoisseur. I just looked into her trachea, and it seems clear. It's kind of dark down there, so I can't be sure. I'm going to try again with someone holding a flashlight. No gurgling or odd sounds coming from her when she breathes. No snot, discharge, or odd breathing sounds. No sneezing or coughing. Just feeling blah, and an occasional head shake or gape. Very few gapes. I've ruffled through her feathers and can't see any sign of lice or mites. Will check again in case I missed something. Crop doesn't feel hard or particularly full, even though she pigged-out on the treats I gave her. This is so weird. Maybe she'll get a warm bath tonight and some rest in a box in front of the fireplace tonight.
 
dawg53 said:
If she pigged out on treats...I can assure you it's not gapeworm.
Click to expand...
Oh good! That makes me feel better. Yep, she ate a whole hard-boiled egg, 3 ozs of vanilla yoghurt, some garlic, and a cheese stick. I hadn't meant to feed her the cheese-stick, but she grabbed it out of my hand, and I decided I didn't really want it back at that point
tongue.png


Then I will keep her in a nice cozy box in the house and keep a close eye on her and see what happens next. At least she's wormed, so if that's the problem, that's one thing taken care of.
 

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