Leghorn hens acting strange

[waynec]

I posted this in the behavior thread but I think it belongs here, sorry..... We have 2 leghorn hens that will stretch out their necks with their mouth open and make a little 'pop' noise... then they stick out their tongue and move it in and out. They will do this over and over for a few minutes. They have done this on the ground and while on the roost, haven't seen them in the nest yet. They also seemed to breathe a little harder during this. We have no clue what is going on with them. Anyone familiar with this behavior??? Is this an illness symptom or ?????

 

[dawg53]

Take a Q-tip and gently stick it 1 inch down the throat and swab. Remove it and if you see a red in color "Y" shaped worm, it's gapeworm. But first, look down their throats using a flashlight and check for obstructions prior to swabbing with the Q-tip.

 

[Judy]

I don't know what it is, but I would check for gapeworm. Quite treatable with Ivermectin if that's what it is, and needs to be treated.

 

[waynec]

Thank you... we will check all the girls this morning.

 

[waynec]

How strange to look down a chicken throat! Saw no obstructions. Swabbed with q-tip but not sure if I went deep enough - got no wormy things just a little moisture. Yesterday I saw a reddish thing on top of the nest box but thought it was just some wierd poop, could it have been that worm? And how do you worm a chicken? Using the liquid wormer like they sell for cattle? I know I saw something about putting it on back of neck somwhere buy can't find it now. How much do I use and should I do all of the chickens & roos? Should we completely clean out house (12x8) also? Thanks again.