gape worm

[crazychickenhug]

Hi 5 of my chickens have come down with gape worm. I see things about horse wormer but I have almost 100 chickens and can't dose each one individually is there something you can put in the water and where do you get it? I am drawing blanks with my regular suppliers and I need to act fast .2 I know they are coming from the tons of snails on our property is there any thing I can use to get rid of the nasty little buggers that wont hurt my chickens? I have 5 acres that they run on so I need something relatively inexpensive to treat the property. HELP PLEASE!!!!!

 

[dawg53]

Covey Rise Plantation is the expert on gapeworms. Here's a link, read posts #13 & #14:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/602699/worming-chickens/10#post_7931599

 

[crazychickenhug]

Thanks for the info it's much appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

Not doubting your diagnosis of gapeworm (syngamus trachea,) but have you gotten a fecal test done on one of your birds? Gapeworm can appear the same as some of the respiratory diseases. Levimisole can be used in the water for treatment for several days (as Dawg53's link shows,) and fenbendazole (SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or Panacur) can be given to each chicken by mouth for several days. I'm not sure how to rid your area of the snails or hosts of the worm.

 

[crazychickenhug]

No doubting it it's definitely gape worm. Hard to find a vet in my area that knows anything about chickens, they have all the classic symptoms and I could even catch a glimpse of the nasty things in one of my hens but I can't reach it and I don't want to cause trauma to her throat.

 

[Eggcessive]

All your regular vet needs to do is a fecal float test--if there is gapeworm in one of them, it will show up. This would help you in the fact that you could then focus on what may be wrong. Many people think they have gapeworm where it may be MG/CRD or some other disease. This would save you time and money, since the wormer Levamisole is hard to find because of it's use in the cocaine industry. Plus it is harder on chickens than some wormers. EBay and this company are the few that sell it: http://www.jefferspet.com/prohibit-powder/p/16398/

 

[dawg53]

No doubting it it's definitely gape worm. Hard to find a vet in my area that knows anything about chickens, they have all the classic symptoms and I could even catch a glimpse of the nasty things in one of my hens but I can't reach it and I don't want to cause trauma to her throat.

You can always get the bird that is showing the worst symptoms and cull it. Then split open its windpipe vertically. If you see red in color forked worms, it's gapeworms.

 

[crazychickenhug]

Thanks so much.