BonnieBlue
Songster
Right before I moved my girls to their new coop, I noticed one of my hens gaping. The night I moved her, I started her with Panacure treatments which I did for 4 days. There was a bit of a gap in the middle because I changed from treating at night, to in the morning when I could snatch her off her roost without staying up late. (This move is exhausting me.) I cannot watch her all the time, and I don't have cameras in the new coop yet, but it seemed she wasn't gaping. Then 6 days later I saw her gaping again and her comb was pale, and everything I have read is gape worms take two rounds, with a week in between. I started a second round of Panacure 6 days after the first, giving her a dose every morning for 5 days, without fail. She seemed fine. Two days ago was her last dose.
This morning she had a gaping like crazy episode. Approximately 8 times, wide gapes. Two things this morning. One, I had just deep cleaned the coop, which has sand, and although they were outside while cleaning, there was probably still a bit of dust in the air when they came in. The other is she had been eating, and was eating well. I checked in a few times, she seemed fine. Just went out there and she was laying under the poop board with her sister, and when she got up to come to me, she had one small gape, and that was it.
I went on the assumption of gape worms. Her sister is not gaping at all that I have seen. She has no coughing or sneezing, no discharge, or anything else that would suggest respiratory, and since this has been almost 3 weeks and her sister is fine, I feel like it is not contagious. She has a good appetite, and is not lethargic. I would think two rounds of Panacure would have killed gape worms, so I am at a loss.
Do some hens just gape a lot to adjust their crops? Am I missing something? I don't want to miss anything, yet I don't want to overtreat her. I am completely befuddled about which direction to go next.
Edit to add: I notice that for the first week she was here so a few days into her 2nd round, her night time poops were cylindrical, not piles. The last few days, they are normal piles of poop, normal amount. That made me wonder if it was worms.
This morning she had a gaping like crazy episode. Approximately 8 times, wide gapes. Two things this morning. One, I had just deep cleaned the coop, which has sand, and although they were outside while cleaning, there was probably still a bit of dust in the air when they came in. The other is she had been eating, and was eating well. I checked in a few times, she seemed fine. Just went out there and she was laying under the poop board with her sister, and when she got up to come to me, she had one small gape, and that was it.
I went on the assumption of gape worms. Her sister is not gaping at all that I have seen. She has no coughing or sneezing, no discharge, or anything else that would suggest respiratory, and since this has been almost 3 weeks and her sister is fine, I feel like it is not contagious. She has a good appetite, and is not lethargic. I would think two rounds of Panacure would have killed gape worms, so I am at a loss.
Do some hens just gape a lot to adjust their crops? Am I missing something? I don't want to miss anything, yet I don't want to overtreat her. I am completely befuddled about which direction to go next.
Edit to add: I notice that for the first week she was here so a few days into her 2nd round, her night time poops were cylindrical, not piles. The last few days, they are normal piles of poop, normal amount. That made me wonder if it was worms.
