Gasping peachick (2 weeks old)

[casportpony]

No, she shouldn't do it again but the chick will be fine. No reason to get him all upset now that it is done.

You're right, what's done is done and no need to worry about it, but I thought it was important to post the proper dose.

 

[Chicken Keith]

That is a lot, I would not do that again.

Max Valbazen dose I would use on a chick that size is 0.11 ml.

I feel you're making a valid point and I don't feel the risk is worth taking again. So, as you suggest, I don't think I will dose that high again per body weight. The chick is fine but I gotta think that the dosage I administered had to have wiped away worms for now. I'll re-administer in 3 weeks.

 

[Chicken Keith]

No, she shouldn't do it again but the chick will be fine. No reason to get him all upset now that it is done.

Oh I'm not upset at anyone. If anything upsets me, it's strictly the situation I face without a solution. No one here, certainly, is responsible for my predicament. You've all been wonderful and so helpful. I can't thank you all enough. I learn so much from all of you who've been there. I'm still learning. I saw what Kathy wrote on dosage and felt it wasn't enough, initially, I also read what KSKingBee wrote as well so I sort of triangulated an answer. When Kathy responded, I realized that someone out there has a concern with the strength of Valbazen. That gave me enough pause to reconsider dosage. But thank you all. Thank you for being concerned for my animals, and also being concerned about my feelings. That's hard to cover both areas, LOL.

 

[Chicken Keith]

So here's an update, Sweet Pea as I named her (and it seems female because the barring on the wing present on male chicks just isn't with her) weighs 130 gms at 4 weeks of age. That seems small. In comparison, her sibling chick is over twice that weight 280gms. The incubating mother of these three peas was a frizzle silkie, a sizzle? A bantam in other words. I didn't realize it but my friend who owns the hen, put my 4 pea eggs under a BANTAM silkie. No wonder the chicks have birth defects. If one is hatching pea eggs under a bantam, the limits should be 2 eggs, period! So because a bantam "sizzle" was sitting on 4 eggs, only 3 hatched and of those 3 I feel two have respiratory defects that affects their growth too.

But all three chicks are alert, and responsive to mom. Healthy appetites, included. I just feel Sweet Pea will grow to become a bantam peafowl, LOL. Can't see her getting much bigger than 1 kilo to be perfectly honest.

 

[Chicken Keith]

Well here's something: The gasping behavior has dropped considerably since the Valbazen dosages. Hmmmm. Coincidence or did I have gape worm? I probably may never know. I do know the growth of the gaping/gasping birds is retarded somewhat so worms may be a factor in that.

 

[KsKingBee]

Glad to hear of the progress!

 

[Chicken Keith]

At almost 5 weeks of age, a peachick that weighs 125-130 grams is a little concerning, especially when it has a sibling that weighs over twice that weight. Can worms in chicks stunt their growth this badly? Intuitively it certainly seems possible, but I'm really interested in knowing if anyone else has experienced this first hand. Can fowl get tapeworms???

The gasping seems to continue but nowhere near the intensity as before.
Again, no lethargy observed, at all. It's as lively as the others but 50% of the size.

Should I continue deworming with Valbazen? If so, for how long? I know about the "wait 10 days before continuing" because of worm eggs hatching the next generation. Can somebody please remind me? Sorry did a search for worming regimens but they vary greatly.

 

[KsKingBee]

Valbazen kills tapeworms too that is one of the benefits that it has over SG. It should take a few weeks to a couple of months to be reinfected. Your chick could be stunted but I won't speculate on the reason why.

 

[casportpony]

According to the studies I read, Valbazen kills gapes if given several days in a row. Does the chick look or sound like this?

If so, try giving 0.02 ml Tylan 200 4 times a day orally. I think 0.02 ml is about one drop from a standard syringe.

If you have Baytril, I think that would be even better. The chick in the video above was treated with Baytril and made a complete recovery in 3 days.

 

[casportpony]

Interestingly, I have one that's way behind too. All hatched 7-8 and the biggest is 400 grams, but one is only 235 grams. It looks and acts fairly normal, but there's just something not right about it. I think I might try treating it for coccidiosis and a bacterial infection and see if it starts to gain.

Here is the chart: