Is this possibly gapeworm?

[RoyalChick]

Sorry the video is two mins long - so you can see Bella.
She is eating and drinking and I don’t think she is napping excessively (not 100% sure if that).
It is hot but she is not panting like her sisters, but she is mouth breathing.
She does it frequently, but not all the time.
I know gapeworm is rare so don’t want to jump to any conclusions but I looked at some videos on line and it does look similar.
If it could be gapeworm am I right that fenbendazole is the right treatment?
I have that as goat wormer liquid and I have the paste for horses. Can someone help me with dosage and duration of treatment?
For context she is about 3 months old.
Tagging @casportpony and @azygous who seem to know everything there is to know, but happy to get advice from anyone with experience.
Many thanks

 

[dawg53]

It's not gapeworm, especially if she is eating and drinking. Most likely it's the heat. My birds open their mouths and sometimes look sort of lethargic when it's really hot and humid. They also hold their wings away from their body to keep cool.
Fans in the coops and pens help as well as chilled or ice water to drink.

 

[RoyalChick]

It's not gapeworm, especially if she is eating and drinking. Most likely it's the heat. My birds open their mouths and sometimes look sort of lethargic when it's really hot and humid. They also hold their wings away from their body to keep cool.
Fans in the coops and pens help as well as chilled or ice water to drink.

Thanks. I hope you are right, but I am not 100% sure it is the heat.
My others are panting in the heat and it looks much more like panting.
I will keep a close eye on her over the next 24 hours and try and observe early morning when it is cooler.
Are you saying that if she is eating that it cannot be gapeworm?
If so, that is the easiest thing for me to watch as she is a little piglet when it comes to mash!

 

[dawg53]

Thanks. I hope you are right, but I am not 100% sure it is the heat.
My others are panting in the heat and it looks much more like panting.
I will keep a close eye on her over the next 24 hours and try and observe early morning when it is cooler.
Are you saying that if she is eating that it cannot be gapeworm?
If so, that is the easiest thing for me to watch as she is a little piglet when it comes to mash!

Some birds can handle the heat better than others. I've had EE's pant and open their wings whereas my BR's act as if it's business as usual in the heat. You would think it would be the other way around. I guess that's one of the reasons why BR's are my favorites.

Birds with gapeworm are too busy trying to breathe rather than eating and drinking because they are suffocating due to the worms lodged in their trachea. Birds with gapeworm have their necks outstretched and honk as well as shaking their heads and necks trying to loosen the worms which doesnt happen.
You can always get a fresh fecal sample and put it in a ziplock bag and take it a vet have them look at it under a microscope for worm eggs. Then you can worm accordingly if that's the case.

 

[RoyalChick]

Providing an updated video. A couple of things.
Bella is definitely eating (I did a trial by scratch grain) and I have seen her drinking.
Here she is with Bernadette who has been panting in the heat all day but now it is cooler has stopped panting while Bella continues to gasp.
You can also see and hear Bella honk. She has been doing that for a couple of days now but I put it down to her changing voice as she is growing up. She does it maybe 4-6 times a day. There is no nasal discharge and I don’t hear any breath sounds.

 

[RoyalChick]

Some birds can handle the heat better than others. I've had EE's pant and open their wings whereas my BR's act as if it's business as usual in the heat. You would think it would be the other way around. I guess that's one of the reasons why BR's are my favorites.

Birds with gapeworm are too busy trying to breathe rather than eating and drinking because they are suffocating due to the worms lodged in their trachea. Birds with gapeworm have their necks outstretched and honk as well as shaking their heads and necks trying to loosen the worms which doesnt happen.
You can always get a fresh fecal sample and put it in a ziplock bag and take it a vet have them look at it under a microscope for worm eggs. Then you can worm accordingly if that's the case.

Thanks. Isn’t what you are describing sort of the final stage of gapeworm infection? I mean could I be looking at an earlier stage.
I don’t want to be seen to be asking for advice and then dismissing it, but I am worried and it just doesn’t look like the heat to me when I watch her.
I can see if I can get a fecal sample done after the holiday I guess.

 

[dawg53]

Thanks. Isn’t what you are describing sort of the final stage of gapeworm infection? I mean could I be looking at an earlier stage.
I don’t want to be seen to be asking for advice and then dismissing it, but I am worried and it just doesn’t look like the heat to me when I watch her.
I can see if I can get a fecal sample done after the holiday I guess.

A fecal sample is they only way for sure.
I forgot to mention that birds yawn to adjust their crop.

 

[BY Bob]

Thanks. Isn’t what you are describing sort of the final stage of gapeworm infection? I mean could I be looking at an earlier stage.
I don’t want to be seen to be asking for advice and then dismissing it, but I am worried and it just doesn’t look like the heat to me when I watch her.
I can see if I can get a fecal sample done after the holiday I guess.

Did you not just worm them a couple of months ago? If I am remembering correctly it is awful soon for her to be having a breathing problem from gape worms.

While over worming can lead to resistance to the worker, it won't really hurt to worm her again if it provides you peace of mind.

To me it seems there may be a much simpler explanation. It looked like she was also breathing through her nose at times. Maybe there is some dirt lodged in her nostrils much like when we have a booger blocking our nose and we mouth breathe from time to time to augment the air we are not getting through our nose.

to put it simply, she may just be needing to pick her nose.

 

[RoyalChick]

Did you not just worm them a couple of months ago? If I am remembering correctly it is awful soon for her to be having a breathing problem from gape worms.

While over worming can lead to resistance to the worker, it won't really hurt to worm her again if it provides you peace of mind.

To me it seems there may be a much simpler explanation. It looked like she was also breathing through her nose at times. Maybe there is some dirt lodged in her nostrils much like when we have a booger blocking our nose and we mouth breathe from time to time to augment the air we are not getting through our nose.

to put it simply, she may just be needing to pick her nose.

I did not worm the littles - in part because I wasn't sure how to do so, but also they did not have symptoms, and at the time they were not really mixing with the others. So no, she was not wormed. Incidentally the worming and treating with Corid has done nothing to lessen everyone else's diarrhea, but that is a problem for another day!
We can rule out heat as Bella's issue - I just went out to look at her - it is a nice 74 degrees inside where she is sleeping, but she is still doing gulping with her beak open and had an explosive sort of cough or sneeze a couple of times while I was out there.
I got a good look down her throat which looked really clear and clean. I would think I would have noticed if her nostrils were plugged up - but I didn't think to look specifically - I can look tomorrow.
She also fell off her roost (she only fell about 8"). I don't know what that is all about unless it is just a coincidence.

 

[MaryJanet]

I did not worm the littles - in part because I wasn't sure how to do so, but also they did not have symptoms, and at the time they were not really mixing with the others. So no, she was not wormed. Incidentally the worming and treating with Corid has done nothing to lessen everyone else's diarrhea, but that is a problem for another day!
We can rule out heat as Bella's issue - I just went out to look at her - it is a nice 74 degrees inside where she is sleeping, but she is still doing gulping with her beak open and had an explosive sort of cough or sneeze a couple of times while I was out there.
I got a good look down her throat which looked really clear and clean. I would think I would have noticed if her nostrils were plugged up - but I didn't think to look specifically - I can look tomorrow.
She also fell off her roost (she only fell about 8"). I don't know what that is all about unless it is just a coincidence.

Like the vet said in that video I shared on Bob's thread, she may have something stuck further down. Are the other two showing similar symptoms? If not, gape worm seems unlikely.