Gapeworm?

[Aleksandra]

Hello,
My hen has been showing signs of some respiratory problems: labored breathing and sneeze-like sounds accompanied by head shaking. She’s been doing this for about a week. She eats but is more picky than normal, and drinks. I isolated her from other chickens and keep her in the house. She doesn’t seem weak or lethargic. My local chicken feed store recommended baytril and I was giving it to her for 7 days. Two days ago I also started giving her VetRx. I didn’t notice any improvement. This morning she is stretching her neck and gaping, and seems to have even more difficulty breathing. Can this be gapeworm? I live in Bay Area California, I’m not sure how common gapeworm is in my area. Other 3 chickens don’t show any symptoms.
Thank you for reading my post. I’ll appreciate any advice what else I can do to help my chicken.

 

[Eggcessive]

It sounds more like a respiratory disease, with the gaping, head shaking, and sneezing. Gapeworm is rare, and chickens cannot eat or drink, due to trying to breathe. Do you see any bubbles in either eye, nasal drainage, or congestion? What dosage of Baytril are you giving? It needs to be given orally, not in the water due to it’s bad taste. If using 10% Baytril liquid, dosage is 0.25 ml for 5 pound chicken every 12 hours for 5 days. I would wait at least 30 days to eat the eggs. If she has a virus, and not a bacterial disease, she won’t have any response to antibiotics, such as Tylosin or Baytril. Those have to run their course over a month or so.

If you want to ever treat for gapeworms, SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer or horse paste 0.25 ml per pound for 5 consecutive days will treat gapeworm.

 

[nuthatched]

Vetrx is not a medicine, it's essentially Vicks for chickens. Sounds like a respiratory issue.

 

[Aleksandra]

It sounds more like a respiratory disease, with the gaping, head shaking, and sneezing. Gapeworm is rare, and chickens cannot eat or drink, due to trying to breathe. Do you see any bubbles in either eye, nasal drainage, or congestion? What dosage of Baytril are you giving? It needs to be given orally, not in the water due to it’s bad taste. If using 10% Baytril liquid, dosage is 0.25 ml for 5 pound chicken every 12 hours for 5 days. I would wait at least 30 days to eat the eggs. If she has a virus, and not a bacterial disease, she won’t have any response to antibiotics, such as Tylosin or Baytril. Those have to run their course over a month or so.

If you want to ever treat for gapeworms, SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer or horse paste 0.25 ml per pound for 5 consecutive days will treat gapeworm.

Thank you for your reply! I was giving her 1.65 ml of baytril based on her body weight, every 12h, orally with a droplet.
Since I don’t see any improvement after 7 days, it’s probably something viral not bacterial, although the person at the feed store said baytril should treat both viral and bacterial infections.
I’m not sure how long I should keep her in isolation. Should I do it as long as she shows symptoms? I don’t want her to infect other chickens, but maybe she’s no longer contagious after one week? How important is it to keep her warm at this point? My idea is to put her with other chickens for a few hours and bring her back in the house in the afternoon when it gets colder. I keep her in a spare bathroom shower stall and she just looks so lonely. I think that maybe she would be happier with her flock but I don’t want to risk he gets others sick.

 

[Nealc]

Ours has gape worms, have no idea why people keep repeating that it is very rare. The vet suggested we do a longer dosage of wormer. Hopefully he pulls through. Ours is head shaking and lethargic, no other respiratory symptoms other than the occasional gasping. I would suggest worming as well if they haven’t recovered yet

 

[dawg53]

Ours has gape worms, have no idea why people keep repeating that it is very rare. The vet suggested we do a longer dosage of wormer. Hopefully he pulls through. Ours is head shaking and lethargic, no other respiratory symptoms other than the occasional gasping. I would suggest worming as well if they haven’t recovered yet

I'm just curious. Did you present a fecal sample from your rooster or hen to your vet to be looked at under a microscope for gapeworm eggs? That's the only way to confirm whether gapeworms are present, other than a necropsy.
Here's pics of gapeworm eggs in this link, see post #7:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/where-can-i-get-doxy.1460157/#post-24321556