help! hen died in front of me-gapeworm?

[birdsintown]

I hope someone can help. We have three hens. One RIR had been making odd grunt/cough/bark sound occasionally for about a week and a half. After reading, I thought she might have gapeworm. All three hens eat a lot of earthworms and grubs from the backyard, where they range free during the day. Went to worm her and others with Panacur paste last night, but before I could even get her beak open, she suddenly stretched out her neck and sounded like she was going to vomit. She thrashed away from me, neck out, making a terrible retching/gasping noise, then flapped and spun.She died before I even could put her out of her misery. Awful to watch.

I put a BB-sized blob of wormer on the beaks of the other two birds, and I think they ate most of it. Husband put on gloves and took out poor Jane and bagged her body up to throw away. We didn't want to bury in case a critter would dig her up. Now one of the other hens has her beak open, as if panting. No grunting, no stretched neck, but very occasional stumble. I could be imagining it. Did Jane have gapeworm? Are the others going to die? Any ideas?

I raked pinestraw out of pen and hit everything with DE. Am tossing the eggs the two remaining birds lay.

thank you for any help.

 

[LarryPQ]

Is it possible to *ahem* autopsy Jane? See if there was a worm in there?

I hear you can see the worm in the throat. Perhaps you can look in the remaining girl's mouths to see what you can see? Do their throats feel full?

 

[birdsintown]

It is possible to cut open Jane but she's now been in a sealed trash bag in 80+-degree heat for a day and a night.
the beak-open chicken isn't stumbling currently.
Is it possible for the remaining two hens to die because of the worming? And if one had gapeworm, will the others likely have it, too?

 

[LarryPQ]

I don't know. Better to try and worm them (if you are fairly sure that is the issue) than NOT and have them all die.

I would see if you can look in the other's mouths. Maybe search here and see if anyone posted a picture of gapeworm? I would google for you--but I am at work still.

 

[birdsintown]

Thanks for that advice. I'll see if we can get a peek down the beaks. I looked online for a photo of gapeworms. Ugh. Paranoia question: If Jane was infected, and we ate her eggs during that time, could they have had this parasite in them? (The thought makes my stomach churn.) I mean, we ate them cooked, but still....Any worry there?

 

[LarryPQ]

DId you see that episode of Bones with the chicken guy? From what I understand--it is rare for people to get gapeworm.


A gapeworm (Syngamus trachea) is a parasitic nematode worm infecting the tracheas of certain birds. The resulting disease, known as gape or the gapes, occurs when the worms clog and obstruct the airway. The worms are also known as red worms or forked worms due to their red color and the permanent procreative conjunction of males and females. Gapeworm is common in young, domesticated chickens and turkeys.

When the female gapeworm lays her eggs in the trachea of an infected bird, the eggs are coughed up, swallowed, then defecated. When birds consume the eggs found in the feces or an intermediate host such as earthworms, snails (Planorbarius corneus, Bithynia tentaculata, …), or slugs, they become infected with the parasite.

Ivermectin is a drug often used to control gapeworm infection in birds.

 

[LarryPQ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gape Worms Information

Causative Agent:
Syngamus trachea


Symptoms:
The term describes the open-mouth breathing characteristic of gapeworm-infected birds.

Heavily infected birds usually emit a grunting sound because of the difficulty in breathing and many die from suffocation.

The worms can easily block the trachea, so they are particularly harmful to young birds.

Gaping.
Dyspnoea.
Head shaking.
Loss of appetite and condition

Gapeworms can be present in such numbers that they may completely fill the airway, resulting in extreme respiratory difficulty.

Game birds and waterfowl are particularly susceptible to this infection.

Infected birds typically gasp for air and breath with extended necks.



Treatment:
Flubendazole in feed, Levamisole
Gapeworms are best prevented by administering a wormer at fifteen to thirty day intervals or including a drug at low levels continuously beginning fifteen days after birds are placed in the infected pens.
One drug that is effective for eliminating gapeworms is Flubendazole in feed, Levamisole
This is sold my many different names, you will need to check with your local feed stockist or vet

Flock owners often mistakenly treat affected flocks with antibiotics, which are ineffective against these worms. If gapeworm infections are treated incorrectly, many birds will die.


Effective wormers are available through your veterinarian.
Most over-the-counter wormers (nonprescription) are ineffective.

Treatment: Natural approach:
Remove worms with an oiled feather (sweet oil with a little clove oil), then add 3 drams of salicylate of soda/quart of drinking water

Removal from throat
Use a feather dipped in a mixture of 4 drops of eucalyptus oil to 1/2 pint caster oil to remove worms


Postmortem Finding:
Tracheitis.
Presence of worms, paired parasites up to 2 cm long.


******

Introduction & Information
Syngamus trachea, a nematode worm parasite of chickens, turkeys, pheasants, and other game and ornamental birds occurring worldwide. Infection is by the oral route with earthworms, slugs and snails acting as transfer hosts but the life cycle may also be direct, by ingestion of embryonated egg or L3. There is an 18–20 day prepatent period.

The condition is seen more commonly in poultry on free range where ground may be contaminated by wild birds e.g. from rookeries

The gapeworm (Syngamus trachea) is a round red worm that attach to the trachea (windpipe) of birds and causes the disease referred to as "gapes".

The gapeworm is sometimes designated as the "red-worm"; or "forked-worm" because of its red color and because the male and female are joined in permanent copulation.

They appear like the letter Y. The female is the larger of the two and is one-fourth to one inch in length.

Gapeworms are long, bright red worms that attach themselves to the inside lining of the trachea.

The male gapeworm may attain a length of one-fourth inch. Both sexes attach to the lining of the trachea with their mouthparts. Sufficient numbers may accumulate in the trachea to hinder air passage.

Within eight to fourteen days the eggs embryonate and are infective when eaten by birds or earthworms. The earthworm, snails and slugs serve as primary intermediate hosts for the gapeworm.

Gapeworms in infected earthworms remain viable for four and a half years while those in snails and slugs remain infective for one year. After being consumed by the bird, gapeworm larvae hatch in the intestine and migrate from the intestine to the trachea and lungs.

Gapeworms infect chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, pheasants, chukar partridge, and probably other birds. Young birds reared on soil of infected range pens are at high risk (pen-raised game birds).

Some control or reduction in infection density (worms/bird) is achieved by alternating the use of range pens every other year and/or using a pen for only one brood each year. Tilling the soil in the pens at the end of the growing season helps to reduce the residual infection.

Treating the soil to eliminate earthworms, snails and slugs is possible but the cost is usually prohibitive.


Transmission:
The life cycle of the gapeworm is similar to that of the cecal worm; the parasite can be transmitted when birds eat embryonated worm eggs or earthworms containing the gapeworm larvae.

The female worm lays eggs in the trachea, the eggs are coughed up, swallowed, and pass out in the droppings.
Gapeworms produce eggs that are coughed up, swallowed, and passed out of the host through the feces. These eggs or the resulting larvae are then picked up by other birds during feeding.

Earthworms may also ingest the parasite, and birds can become infected by eating infected earthworms.



Diagnosis
Signs and lesions, confirmation of presence of the parasite
Diagnosis is made by demonstrating worms in the airway or by observing their eggs in the faeces under a microscope.

Prevention:
Flubendazole.
Raising game birds on wire above the ground can greatly reduce the incidence of this disease.

 

[sillyaboutchickens]

I'm so sorry to hear about your chicken. We also had a chicken die like that. She had been making a weird barking noise, but not making many other chicken noises. She was the only hen not laying eggs. I isolated her. Her weight seemed to drop overnight and the next evening she took a last (dramatic) gasping breath while I held her. I brought her to the university diagnostic lab and they necropsied her. The findings were avian leukosis virus. Very nasty. She had no internal or external parasites. Her lungs appeared to have hemorrhaged, but the pathologist said it was actually a large tumor caused by the ALV. We were extremely fortunate to be able to test the rest of our flock. There was only one bird who tested +. We believe she was the carrier. We were able to save our flock.

I hope you find the answer.

 

[birdsintown]

Thank you all for the information. I'd read some of that about gapeworm which is the only way I connected that grunt/bark with the worm. Sillyaboutchickens: That avian lekosis, is that transmittable to humans? I live in a large city, hard to find a vet that knows about chickens. The buff Orpington that was panting is doing so still, and pacing a lot. I guess they pace normally but not as much as she is doing now. I locked them up in their pen and I'll watch if she roosts.

Sadly, I'd never wormed my birds before. The hardware store where I got them said it probably wasn't necessary and they'd seemed fat and shiny. Panacur is a brand name for flubendazole. I'll worm these two birds, assuming they make it, again in another 7 days.

We are getting three new chicks next week. They'll be in our garage under a light til they have feathers and won't be in the backyard with the adult birds until they are quite a bit bigger. Starting over, should I do preventive worming on the new babies?

This is all assuming Jane died of gapeworm and not leukosis or something else...

 

[Nautica Vanity]

Fenbendazole For chickensTrying to buy this in the US is extremely difficult But because I was deworming my puppies as well and noticed that my chicken was gasping for air and started to get worse with the head shakes and so forth .I’m searching online everywhere to buy this certain medication and I just can’t find it so I realize to check my dog dewormer because I have read that you could use doggy dewormer Can I read don’t use doggy dewormer but then I read through backyard chickens.com a few times that you could use horse do you dewormer But I think you got a better chance by using the doggie one it’s simple to use 1 g per 10 pounds well if you do the math and use your chicken weight it’s easier to Way the medicine