Now two chickens gasping. Please help! Video.

[ladywolf]

Both chickens can only eat mash. wormed with Wazine about a month ago. Treated for coccidia before that. Now on Fenbendazole at .5g per litre of water. No weepy eyes or runny noses. We moved and landady had someone else caring for her chickens/coop and they had not been. The coop was caked three inches thick with poop and the floor had rotted out. Her coop was our only option (we are building our own now). Her chickens free range during the day and we have a flock of 17 wild turkeys that frequent our property. We also have horses and a cow. Any ideas at all? Please? We really don't have any chicken savvy vets around here...

Below is a video of the two chickens.

http://s1218.photobucket.com/user/ladywolfnh/media/video-2013-12-06-13-02-21_zps6116c16a.mp4.html

 

[Farmer Viola]

Okay so.. the only symptom they have is the open mouth breathing while stretching their neck out? Any other symptoms? She does look very pale in the face.

Have you tried looking in their throat/mouths for gapeworm? Gapeworm lives in their throat and would look like little red lines. What is Fenbendazole for? is it a wormer? Have you actually seen worms? There are different wormers for different types of worms...

does their breath sound rattly in their chest? If you listen to their lungs does it sound clear or congested?

I would give them organic apple cider vinegar in their water (1tsp/1gal) and would try to feed garlic if they will take it (natural wormer, immunizer) as a first response without knowing anything yet..


edit: here is some info I found.. http://birdhealth.com.au/flockbirds/poultry/diseases/open_mouth.html

 

[Eggcessive]

Gapeworm, a serious respiratory infection, or aspergillosis would be things that could be causing this. What kind of fenbendazole doe you have? They need to be treated with 50 mg for 3 straight days--don't try giving this in water because they need all of the drug. Then in 10 days, treat them for 3 straight days again--that should get gapeworm. Do they have eye swelling or eye bubbles? If they are silent and gasping they could possible have aspergillosis, but I would treat for gapeworm first. Below is the fendbandazole that you need for accurate dosing.

 

[Eggcessive]

Respiratory infections such as mycoplasma, infectious bronchitis, laryngotracheitis, and coryza can resemble gapeworm, but usually have the extra symptoms of facial swelling, thick nasal secretions, and coughing/sneezing. Some of these are viruses, but some are bacterial and need antibiotics. If you can get Tylan Soluble Powder to put in the water or Tylan 50 injection for shots, I would start it. Erythromycin (Gallimycin) or oxytetracycline would also work. Here are 2 links to click on for more info:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disfungi.htm

 

[ladywolf]

I have the powdered Fenbendazole in the water. I will pick up the SafeGaurd at TS today. Already ran a course of Oxytet and it did nothing. There is no sneezing, facial swelling, nasal discharge.

THANK you so much. I hope this works!

Will write back if I cannot figure out the dosing but I should be OK- do it at work for dogs, cats and horses all the time! Chickens are just new to me.

 

[casportpony]

According to the study that I read, the amount that Eggcessive recommened for gapeworms, 50mg, is enough to treat a 5.5 pound chicken, you should weigh each bird and dose according to their weight at 20mg/kg for 3 days, which is .2ml per 2.2 pounds. Here is that study:

Sourece: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6750887
Efficacy of fenbendazole against helminth parasites of poultry in Uganda.

Ssenyonga GS.
Abstract

Fenbendazole 4% (Panacur, Hoechst) administered in feed was used to treat chickens infected with Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum and Railletina spp. It was also used to treat Syngamus trachea in broiler birds. There was a marked drop in helminth egg counts in the faeces on the second day of treatment and the faeces became negative by the seventh day after the last treatment. Post-mortem examination 15 to 21 days later showed that the drug was 100% effective against Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum at 10 mg/kg. However, for complete removal of Railletina spp. 15 mg/kg was required. Similarly 20 mg/kg fenbendazole was effective against Syngamus trachea. It was concluded that fenbendazole is suitable for the treatment of the important intestinal and tracheal worms of poultry, a dose of 15 to 20 mg/kg for 3 consecutive days being recommended for use under field conditions.

 

[casportpony]

Just finished watching the video and the gold laced one looks very sick to me, possibly dying. Are then in a warm house? If not, they need to be.

-Kathy

 

[ladywolf]

They are in our half bath. Winona (the red-laced Wyandotte) has been sick the longest while we've tried to figure out what is going on. She has been getting poly-vi-sol, she got a round of oxytet, has been getting fenbendazole in her water (which did make some improvement). She barely eats and then only a mash. Dapple, the Cuckoo Maran just began the symptoms in the last few days. She was just brought in last night and started on the vitamins. ALL the chickens are getting the fenbendazole in their water, but now that I have the SafeGuard I may just dose them all.

 

[casportpony]

Have you weighed either one? An average adult Wyandotte should weigh 2.7kg (6 pounds), average adult Maran should weigh 3.2kg (7 pounds). If they weigh that much the Wyandotte would get .54ml Safeguard and the Maran would get .64ml. The sickest one probably weighs much less and since this has been going on for a long time I doubt that it's gapeworms.

If either one is not drinking/eating they need to be tube fed fluids, then fluids w/baby bird food or they will probably die from dehydration and/or starvation.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Read this thread, the threads in it and watch the videos:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding

-Kathy