Gapeworm or Respiratory Disease?

[Chick3nLover]

Hey everyone, one of my hens has been showing some weird signs of something to do with her respiratory, but I’m not sure what it is. After reading an article on the two I think it may be; I’m thinking gapeworm, but I don’t know for sure.

If any of you have delt with gapeworms could you please share what the symptoms were and how I can effectively treat her or my whole flock? I read that this was a good dewormer “Avitrol Plus Bird Wormer Syrup” has anyone else used this?

Here’s what I’ve noticed about her:
Panting with a weird/kind of honking sound and making occasional 3-5 times a day loud sneezes or maybe coughs? She does eat and drink and is still active, I’m just worried about it getting bad if I don’t start treatment soon. I’m also worried about my other hens as I’ve heard similar sounds yet less aggressive from them.

Thank for your help.

 

[nuthatched]

How long has she been showing these symptoms?

 

[Chick3nLover]

How long has she been showing these symptoms?

I’m not 100% sure but I wanna say about 2months of the weird cough thingy, and the squawking noises I wanna say were around when summer heat really picked up.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you noticed any clear drainage from her nostrils, bubbles or foam in one eye? Is it dusty around the coop and run, and how is the ventilation? Have you seen any mold? You can use the Avitrol to treat most worms in chickens if you give it, and she drinks enough of it. Usually gapeworms make them constantly gasp for air, and usually are not able to eat and drink, or be active.

 

[Chick3nLover]

Have you noticed any clear drainage from her nostrils, bubbles or foam in one eye? Is it dusty around the coop and run, and how is the ventilation? Have you seen any mold? You can use the Avitrol to treat most worms in chickens if you give it, and she drinks enough of it. Usually gapeworms make them constantly gasp for air, and usually are not able to eat and drink, or be active.

Hi! Okay so we did start implementing sand into our coop in about the end of May, and I have noticed that it can get dusty when I’m sifting it, but it is construction sand not play. We did add First Saturday Lime at the very beginning of adding the sand. That’s the most recent dust I can think of. I’ll double check for mold, but there should be none, I felt with that a little while back and treated the infected areas. I’m going to do a look over of her whole body tonight when I get home, and some of my other hens too, but from normal observations I haven’t noticed any bubbles or discharge.


Also thank you so much for more details on the gape-worm.

Also today when, I was out there just kinda hanging with them she was next to me and all of sudden just stopped panting/(making weird panting honk noise) and just stayed pretty quiet, except for this just kinda slight gurgle like something was in her throat for second and then did a loud cough/sneeze and went back to honk panting.

 

[dawg53]

It's probably the heat. Some birds react to it differently than others. Currently I have a young EE hen that honks and makes other strange noises, but mostly honks.
Her flockmates act all normal.
Sneezing coughing could be due to inhalation of feed dust or dirt or dust from dust bathing.
If it were a respiratory disease, other birds would be showing symptoms especially after the two months that you mentioned.

 

[Chick3nLover]

It's probably the heat. Some birds react to it differently than others. Currently I have a young EE hen that honks and makes other strange noises, but mostly honks.
Her flockmates act all normal.
Sneezing coughing could be due to inhalation of feed dust or dirt or dust from dust bathing.
If it were a respiratory disease, other birds would be showing symptoms especially after the two months that you mentioned.

I really hope that that’s all it is.

The only thing is though, I’ve noticed my oldest EE girl just recently now shaking her head maybe a bit more and another hen honking as well, and just today one of my Golden Laced Wyondotte girls looked like her breathing could have been a little off, yet she was still cruising around doing normal chicken stuff for it being 100+ degrees. I really am not sure, what to think. I’m wondering if it’s our sand in our coop, but we did that in May/June timeframe, und used construction sand, i mean it’s still dusty but it’s not play sand.

 

[dawg53]

I have sand in the pens and coops, most nest boxes as well. My pens are 75-80% covered.
With this heat, I've used the garden hose in the pens to spray the sand in a certain area where the birds can lay or sit in a cool shady area. I also have fans in the pens running full speed during the day. I have fans in the coops for them at night also.

The sand I have is sand from a barrow pit. I dont know about construction sand. Maybe you can wet it down a little to keep the dust from flying around preventing your birds from inhaling it. If all the sneezing stops in a day or two, you'll have your answer. Then continue spraying as needed.
We had some cooler temps earlier this week, upper 80's during the day and my EE didnt honk. Now that we're back in the oven, she's honking again.

 

[Chick3nLover]

I have sand in the pens and coops, most nest boxes as well. My pens are 75-80% covered.
With this heat, I've used the garden hose in the pens to spray the sand in a certain area where the birds can lay or sit in a cool shady area. I also have fans in the pens running full speed during the day. I have fans in the coops for them at night also.

The sand I have is sand from a barrow pit. I dont know about construction sand. Maybe you can wet it down a little to keep the dust from flying around preventing your birds from inhaling it. If all the sneezing stops in a day or two, you'll have your answer. Then continue spraying as needed.
We had some cooler temps earlier this week, upper 80's during the day and my EE didnt honk. Now that we're back in the oven, she's honking again.

Thanks for the tip, that’s a really good idea, I’ll definitely try that!