How common is Gapeworm? What percentage of worms carry this???

[allmypeeps]

I am paranoid to let my chickens eat worms...

It litterally grosses me out.

A friend of mine is feeding her chicks worms and I want to warn her about gapes but dont want to scare her...she's never had chickens before and I dont want to worry her or have her be paranoid like ME!!!

So what are the risks????

anyone know??

e

 

[Pine Grove]

Gapeworms are actually more common in Pheasants and Turkeys than they are in chickens..

 

[TACEYPERKINS]

From what I have been reading, gape can be really hard to get rid of. And all chickens but mostly young are affected by it. The gape attach in the trechea of the chicken and then the bird gets more and more uncomfortablle as they grow and reproduce. Blocking food passage down esophagas. Also The airways. The chicken hacks up eggs which are then swallowed into the chicken and pooped out. To then possibly be eatten by a 2nd host ie an earthworm, snail or slug. Which then becomes infested. So you can see the cycle coming about. As far as How many earth worms are infected would be hard to tell. I would say that it depends on if there has ever been a case of gapeworm on your property. I would assume that it is not very common in places that are warmer and dryer. Being there are less earthworms in desert areas etc. I did happen to read that earthworms can have a long life so 1 infected earth worm could live up to 7 yrs.And there for being hard to get rid of. But I did read peaplehaving sucsess preventing and preparing soil to get rid of the hosts that could possibly carry the gape. I hope this helps. There are alot of sites that have info on gape. I included some for you!Good luck~ Tacey

Effects: Signs of weakness and emaciation are seen, and infected birds usually spend much time with their eyes closed and head drawn back against the body. Occasionally the bird may throw head forward and upward and gasp for air, sometimes with a convulsive shake in an attempt to remove an obstruction from the trachea. Little or no food is eaten, and death usually ensues.


Treatment
Syngamus approved compounds

Thiabendazole is currently approved for use only in pheasants at a level of 0.05% for 2 weeks and is effective when administered in the feed. Continuous medication of pen-reared birds has been recommended, but is not economical.

Several other compounds have been shown effective against Syngamus under experimental conditions. Methyl 5-benzoyl-2-benzimidazole was 100%efficacious when fed prophylactically at 0.0064% and curatively at 0.0125% to turkey poults. A level of 0.044% for 14 days has also been effective.

5-isopropoxycarbonylamino-2-(4-thizolyl)-benzimidazole was found to be more efficacious than thiabendazole or disophenol (2, 6-diiodo-4-nitrophenol). The level of control with three treatments of cambendazole* on days 3-4, 6-7, and 16-17 post-infection was 94.9% in chickens (2mg/kg x 50mg/kg) and 99.1% in turkeys (2mg/kg x 20mg/kg).

Levamisole*, fed at a level of 0.04% for 2 days or 2 g/gal drinking water for 1 day each month, has proven effective in game birds. Fenbendazole at 20 mg/kg for 3-4 days is also effective.
*Not approved for use in commercial poultry.

Also on BYC there have been people who used a BB sized dolup of paste wormer for horses on their chickens, OF IVERMECTIN OR FENBENDAZOLE.

More info about Gape-
http://www.sandhillvet.demon.co.uk/control_gapeworm.htm
http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/page12.htm

 

[BCbirder]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I had a hen with gapeworm. She probably had it for 6 months before I knew it. She would stay in the pen longer in the morning, I used to joke that she didn't like the rooster. She still ate well and I saw her in the nesting box regularly. Then I noticed the gasping, first when she ate, I thought she was just eating too fast, but she was having trouble breathing. I gave her every kind of wormer and she didn't get worse but was not really getting better. She was so alert when I went to the garden and I let her follow and she ate worms like she was starving. She had lost so much weight that I let her. She was not as eager to eat her chicken food. I fed her vitamins, had her in her own pen. I used to make a warm mash from crumbles mixed with vitamins and one day she was eating well and I got a bit carried away and kept feeding her, maybe a half a cup and she choked and died. That sounds sad but none of the other chickens ever got igapeworm, they don't seem to eat worms as eagerly as she did. I did end up opening her up after she died. I never do that but I didn't want to bury her in the yard if she had some worm that was going to be a problem. I examined really well and I didn't see anything in her throat or her lungs. I heard you can see them.
I think that she would have gotten better if I had not rushed the feeding. I check my chickens regularly and extended the pen to include a new scratching area, so far so good.

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Interesting!