Gapeworm

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree, it does sound like a respiratory infection.

 

[mama23]

I have been battling gapeworm in Kentucky for years. Yes it’s been rumored to be a rare worm but somehow I have it here. I do my own fecals and it’s gapeworm. I moved them out of the infected pasture and that helped but when a mockingbird gets it and spreads it, it reinfects everything. So it’s been a real struggle. The worm here is resistant to every single medication. I finally found that ivermectin paste works great but now it’s overcome that too. I’m very particular about my wormers and I do it carefully and as directed. They just find a way to survive. I manually remove them the way farmers did 100 years ago pre wormers. It’s not easy and sometimes I fail and have to keep trying. Especially if the worm is deep in the trachea.

It is a misconception that gapeworm kills every chicken. Despite me saying this I keep reading about it on here. It definitely can kill a weak or stressed chicken or one that has another issue. I lost a duck to it but she was just a really stressed girl. I lost a rooster with a preexisting issue as well. That is it though. But most chickens live with it just like any other parasite. You just see them yawning a lot or shaking their head. And it can cause loose stools like other parasites. I’ve never seen anything so contagious or stubborn. I have one hen with it right now. Don’t know how she caught it. I guess a wild bird pooped in her area and she got into it. I buy blue gloves off Amazon and keep their poop picked up so that if one gets it before I know about it, they haven’t infected everyone and the area is still useable.

I have never tried lime. I’ll do some digging into it and see what I can find and may experiment with it and let you know.

I would highly suggest if you want to get rid of it to start with a microscope and centrifuge. I bought some test tubes as well. And slides and cover slips. I can help you with samples. I’ll attach the most recent egg I found yesterday and you can see what they look like. It’s similar to a roundworm but more oval. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with the appearance of the eggs and then I can help you eliminate them for the most part but you will need to move them to clean ground once they’re no longer infected. This includes testing every single chicken individually and treating them. When I have an outbreak and have to move them, I typically take them to an intermediate area and wait out the 18 days and if cleared they get moved to the place I want them to stay.

Sometimes I feel like why bother. It’s been five years and my ground is still infected. Maybe I will eventually just let them on this pasture bc it’s my garden area and I love it in here. But I still have this crazy notion that I can control wildlife and eventually it will be gone in a few years. For those that don’t have it they will never understand the obsession that comes along with it. I really am about to wave my white flag.

 

[Kiki]

I have been battling gapeworm in Kentucky for years. Yes it’s been rumored to be a rare worm but somehow I have it here. I do my own fecals and it’s gapeworm. I moved them out of the infected pasture and that helped but when a mockingbird gets it and spreads it, it reinfects everything. So it’s been a real struggle. The worm here is resistant to every single medication. I finally found that ivermectin paste works great but now it’s overcome that too. I’m very particular about my wormers and I do it carefully and as directed. They just find a way to survive. I manually remove them the way farmers did 100 years ago pre wormers. It’s not easy and sometimes I fail and have to keep trying. Especially if the worm is deep in the trachea.

It is a misconception that gapeworm kills every chicken. Despite me saying this I keep reading about it on here. It definitely can kill a weak or stressed chicken or one that has another issue. I lost a duck to it but she was just a really stressed girl. I lost a rooster with a preexisting issue as well. That is it though. But most chickens live with it just like any other parasite. You just see them yawning a lot or shaking their head. And it can cause loose stools like other parasites. I’ve never seen anything so contagious or stubborn. I have one hen with it right now. Don’t know how she caught it. I guess a wild bird pooped in her area and she got into it. I buy blue gloves off Amazon and keep their poop picked up so that if one gets it before I know about it, they haven’t infected everyone and the area is still useable.

I have never tried lime. I’ll do some digging into it and see what I can find and may experiment with it and let you know.

I would highly suggest if you want to get rid of it to start with a microscope and centrifuge. I bought some test tubes as well. And slides and cover slips. I can help you with samples. I’ll attach the most recent egg I found yesterday and you can see what they look like. It’s similar to a roundworm but more oval. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with the appearance of the eggs and then I can help you eliminate them for the most part but you will need to move them to clean ground once they’re no longer infected. This includes testing every single chicken individually and treating them. When I have an outbreak and have to move them, I typically take them to an intermediate area and wait out the 18 days and if cleared they get moved to the place I want them to stay.

You sure about what this is?

I don't know but based on this it doesn't look like gapeworm to me:

https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-...-external-and-internal-parasites-of-chickens/

 

[mama23]

You sure about what this is?

I don't know but based on this it doesn't look like gapeworm to me:

https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-...-external-and-internal-parasites-of-chickens/View attachment 3569468

Yeah my vet confirmed it years ago and they get all the symptoms. Shaking head and yawning aggressively. It’s such a nasty parasite. Gapeworm has some variety to the egg shape. I have some that are larger than others but it’s all the same. I have seen classic roundworm, capillaria, and cecal worm and those stay pretty true to form but gapeworm can vary slightly in size. Interestingly enough though it’s the only parasite with an exact date of reinfection. It is exactly 7 days to enter the trachea from point of infection and then at day 18 the eggs appear in the feces. With capillaria and roundworm there’s a window there of when new eggs will appear. Some of my hens will get a hoarse voice on day 7 before eggs appear and I will swab them and it goes away. I wish so much it wasn’t gapeworm.

ETA even when googling the eggs gapeworm looks different in all of them. This is one I found very similar. I have had the caps on the ends before but lately only straight oval. Not sure if bc they’re mutating or what. They just keep getting stronger. Furthermore bc I do my own samples I am able to see results in real time. After I swab them I wait four hours and then retest their stool to see if still present. If I missed I do it again but if successful no other eggs are seen. The evidence is overwhelming.

 

[Saaniya]

Have you confirmed gapeworms with a fecal float by your vet? What have you used for treatment? Gapeworms are pretty rare. Are you seeing any symptoms?

Agreed! Just from observation confirming gapeworm is not good because it will either confirm with a test or by looking inside the throat .
It’s a rare occurrence disease but very much treatable with Albendazole

 

[Saaniya]

Yeah my vet confirmed it years ago and they get all the symptoms. Shaking head and yawning aggressively. It’s such a nasty parasite. Gapeworm has some variety to the egg shape. I have some that are larger than others but it’s all the same. I have seen classic roundworm, capillaria, and cecal worm and those stay pretty true to form but gapeworm can vary slightly in size. Interestingly enough though it’s the only parasite with an exact date of reinfection. It is exactly 7 days to enter the trachea from point of infection and then at day 18 the eggs appear in the feces. With capillaria and roundworm there’s a window there of when new eggs will appear. Some of my hens will get a hoarse voice on day 7 before eggs appear and I will swab them and it goes away. I wish so much it wasn’t gapeworm.

ETA even when googling the eggs gapeworm looks different in all of them. This is one I found very similar. I have had the caps on the ends before but lately only straight oval. Not sure if bc they’re mutating or what. They just keep getting stronger. Furthermore bc I do my own samples I am able to see results in real time. After I swab them I wait four hours and then retest their stool to see if still present. If I missed I do it again but if successful no other eggs are seen. The evidence is overwhelming.

Have u tried albendazole??

 

[mama23]

Have u tried albendazole??

I’ve tried everything. Fenbendazole albendazole ivermectin and seems like there was maybe another. I have not tried levamisole bc I can’t figure out how to give it and I’ve read it’s just too dangerous for chickens. I think it’s resistant to any -ole drugs anyway. I’m all ears for any other drugs to try.

 

[dawg53]

I’ve tried everything. Fenbendazole albendazole ivermectin and seems like there was maybe another. I have not tried levamisole bc I can’t figure out how to give it and I’ve read it’s just too dangerous for chickens. I think it’s resistant to any -ole drugs anyway. I’m all ears for any other drugs to try.

Levamisole is effective eliminating gapeworms. However, since your soil is contaminated with eggs; between your birds pecking the soil and picking up and swallowing the eggs, and probably infected insects, you'll be treating your birds for gapeworms for a long time to come and the only way to do this is with monthly treatments and rotation of foraging areas. Hopefully your birds will drink the treated water. It must be given over several days, then a 2 day break, then another several days specifically for gapeworms.
I'm sorry you're going through this.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/levamisole-dosage-miscalculation.1465757/

 

[mama23]

Levamisole is effective eliminating gapeworms. However, since your soil is contaminated with eggs; between your birds pecking the soil and picking up and swallowing the eggs, and probably infected insects, you'll be treating your birds for gapeworms for a long time to come and the only way to do this is with monthly treatments and rotation of foraging areas. Hopefully your birds will drink the treated water. It must be given over several days, then a 2 day break, then another several days specifically for gapeworms.
I'm sorry you're going through this.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/levamisole-dosage-miscalculation.1465757/

Yeah I’ve moved them to clean ground but if a wild bird gets it from an infected yard it ends up getting pooped in my clean yard. It’s just a vicious cycle I’ve battled for years. If I can ever clear this one hen up I’m going to move them to a temp yard with no trees and after a clearance period of 18 days if not one is positive and no symptoms I’ll move them down to barn with my other girls. I have several flocks. This flock I wanted to keep up here bc I have a hen with a leg issue (she had splayed leg as a chick so hobbles still) and I also have an elderly hen maybe 12 years old and I’m afraid of the other girls at the barn bothering them. I think I’m at that point where I’m ready to make the move bc despite moving them around it always follows me.

 

[Eggcessive]

What has been the dosage of the wormers you have used? Fenbendazole works for gapeworms if you give 0.25 ml per pound of weight for 5 consecutive days. It sounds like a nightmare. Have you lost a bird, and opened up the trachea to see if there are the typical Y-shaped red worms?