Gapeworm, Respiratory illness? Need advice!!!

[aleubanks]

I recently acquired an 18 week old frizzle bantam cochin. She is bright and alert, eating and drinking well, poop looks normal.

ABout 3 times an hour or so she sticks her neck out and looks like she is gasping. She had a very small amount of nasal

discharge a few days ago that I cleaned and has not recurred. She also appears pale to me. She is also a bit thin.

So, what should I do? Any ideas what this might be? I have her on chick starter and I supplement with meal worms for a protein

boost. I provide her with electrolytes as well as plain water daily. SHould I worm her? Tylan in case of respiratory infection? I am

very new at keeping chickens and need some experienced advice. Thanks!

 

[Wyandottes7]

Is her crop impacted (it would feel hard and large if it was)? Sometimes, birds stretch their necks and open their mouths when they are adjusting their crop.

The paleness would seem to indicate some sort of worms, whether they are gapeworms or not. I would worm her with Valbazen or Safeguard. These two medications are broad-specturm dewormers, so, if she has worms, they would kill them.

At this point, I don't think that it is a respiratory illness. If more symptoms appear (lack of appetite, sneezing, more nasal discharge, coughing, etc), I would start her on a course of antibiotics. Tylan is a good antibiotic to use, but you have to be careful with the dosage because it is quite strong. If using Tylan 50, I would give .1ccs to .2ccs for a course of three to five days. Oxytetracycline (sold under names such as Terramycin, Duramycin, or LA 200) is another antibiotic. It is put in the water, whereas Tylan is injected into the breast muscle.

So, to summarize, I'd first check her crop. If it didn't seem impacted, I would worm her. If more symptoms appear, start with Oxytetracycline or Tylan. Continue to give her electrolytes and keep her warm and well fed.

Keep us updated!

 

[aleubanks]

Thank you so much for the advice! I was leaning towards that course of action, but I definitely feel better having someone with chicken experience. I bought the fenbendazole(safeguard). Do you know the dose off hand. I assume it will be weight based. Gotta find somewhere to weigh the little bugger. Also, I know with fenbendazole in dogs you dose them once daily for 3 days. Is this the aame for chickens? I see lots of conflicting info out there!

 

[Wyandottes7]

According to information found on this post https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/702562/safeguard-fenbendazole-for-gapeworm, the dosage is 1cc per 10 pounds of bird. So, for a young bantam cochin (who probably weighs around 1 pound?) it would be .1cc or so.

I believe that it is just a one time treatment. You give it to a chicken orally, either directly or on something like a piece of bread.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is another post to read for info: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/761319/wazine-17-valbazen-dosage-for-chicks

 

[aleubanks]

I found this dosage info from the NIH. They found fenbendazole to be 100% effective for the treatment of gapeworm in chickens at 20mg/kg. The chickens were living in Uganda. But, a chicken with gapeworm is a chicken with gapeworm I would think.

So, at this dose it would be .09ml of the 100mg/ml solution per 1 lb of body weight by mouth for 3 consecutive days. I am going to give it a shot! I will let you know how it goes.

 

[aleubanks]

Shoot. Forgot the link.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6750887

 

[aleubanks]

After a three day course of fenbendazole, I am happy to report that my girl has pinked up and is no longer gaping. Yay!