Gapeworms?

[cate1124]

My 7-year-old Welsummer is gaping; I noticed it a couple of weeks ago when I was handling the birds and thought it a stress response as she has never liked to be handled. But I see her doing it now while she is sun/dustbathing, and small sneezes and coughs are common. She is eating, drinking, vocalizing, enforcing peck order and otherwise acting normal. None of the other eight hens are affected, and worms aren't all that common in Colorado.

According to Damerow (The Chicken Health Handbook) older hens become resistant to gapeworms. But I'd like to treat for it, as some more serious respiratory illness probably means the end for her, at her age. Damerow says to treat gapeworms with either thiabendazole or levamisole. I am familiar with neither. Do they require a vet RX? If not, where can I purchase them, what is the dosage and how is it administered?

Thank you.

 

[All4Eggz]

Not sure. Pictures would help.

@Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @azygous

Good luck!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

7-year-old Welsummer is gaping; I noticed it a couple of weeks ago when I was handling the birds and thought it a stress response as she has never liked to be handled. But I see her doing it now while she is sun/dustbathing, and small sneezes and coughs are common. She is eating, drinking, vocalizing, enforcing peck order and otherwise acting normal.

Is her crop emptying overnight?
When is the last time she laid an egg? Any bloat of feeling fluid in the abdomen below the vent between her legs?

A video of her actions may be helpful. Upload video to youtube and provide a link.

Eating/Drinking/Vocalizing/Enforcing The Pecking Order/Acting Normal does not sound like a hen that has Gapeworm.
With Gapeworm a hen would be coughing, gaping, not eating or drinking and in great distress.

If you feel you need to treat for Gapeworm, then you can use Fenbendazole (Safeguard/Panacur) at a dosage rate of 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row. (This dose and length of time will also treat other common poultry worms except for Tapeworm)

 

[dawg53]

Is her crop emptying overnight?
When is the last time she laid an egg? Any bloat of feeling fluid in the abdomen below the vent between her legs?

A video of her actions may be helpful. Upload video to youtube and provide a link.

Eating/Drinking/Vocalizing/Enforcing The Pecking Order/Acting Normal does not sound like a hen that has Gapeworm.
With Gapeworm a hen would be coughing, gaping, not eating or drinking and in great distress.

If you feel you need to treat for Gapeworm, then you can use Fenbendazole (Safeguard/Panacur) at a dosage rate of 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row. (This dose and length of time will also treat other common poultry worms except for Tapeworm)

x2. Not gapeworm.

 

[cate1124]

Thanks, gang. I don't think this is a crop issue, and I'm inclined to agree it's probably also not gapeworms. The gaping is situational -- notably when I handle her and, yesterday, when she was laying on her side dustbathing -- and it seems that would not be the case if worms had infiltrated her trachea.

I do feel what seems to be some fluid in her abdomen; it may be that she has developed masses that -- in certain positions, including being held -- impede her breathing, causing her to gape.

She may have laid once some weeks ago. I can't recall. But she has not laid more than once this spring, nor recently, though she demonstrates laying behaviors, including squatting for me and going into the box. That said, she is 7 -- and none of my other old hens has laid either. She does not behave as an eggbound hen, or in any way abnormally apart from sporadic gaping. Her poop looks good.