Is this possibly gapeworm?

[ElCerritoPlace]

I have a 1 yr old Blue Orp, this winter she would gape after or while eating, but otherwise showed no other symptoms. She didn't do it all the time so I thought it was just her MO. Other than that she seemed fine. Now she' is not acting like a normal chicken. She prefers to stand around not forage in the run, doesn't express a lot of interest in food. She's shaking her head, and gaping more frequently, not only while eating. Stools are fine. I looked down her beak this morning didn't see an;thing abnormal or a worm. Afterwards she held her beak open for some time.

So my questions are, if it is indeed gapeworm, why have my other hens not gotten it? And are the possibilities good for them to contract it? If I cull this hen, and do a necropsy and find worms, should I treat my remaining flock, do eggs persisting -25 weather? And last but not least, would you eat this hen?

Thanks.

 

[dawg53]

She may simply be adjusting her crop, or may have an impacted crop or gizzard, or something stuck in her esophagus. Another cause could possibly be the onset of a respiratory disease. Gapeworm are rare in chickens. If she had gapeworms, she would be dead from suffocation by now.

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

I didn't think it was this winter, since as you said its not that common. But how do I tell if she has an impacted crop or gizzard and what can I do for that? I don't see any other symptoms that lead me to believe that it could be a respiratory disease. She appears to be breathing with out any wheezing or running nose or any other discharge.