Peafowl dying

[debi1]

Hello I have had peafowl for a number of years, Last year they seemed to get a resperatory disease gasping and eventually not being able to roost. ,I worm them so I don't think that's the problem,
They seem perfectly normal and healthy and when they turn 3 they come into distress There doesn't seem to be any outward signs on their bodies. They are free range all summer and have there own barn in the winter. We built them a brand new barn and they are with no other species.
In the summer they live in the trees and I know when one starts to get sick as he roosts lower in the trees eventually not able to roost at all. It seem strange they all get sick at 3 years old

this batch were hatched by seemingly healthy parents who eventually died if this disease the babies seemed fine now they are starting to gasp .Can this disease be passed through the eggs?

I have contacted 2 vets around here they don't seem to be interested in helping, one even told me I know more about peacocks than him

Please any help would be appreciated

 

[Trefoil]

You don't say where you live. Many states have a state university where you can send dead birds for diagnosis, and some states will take birds from out of state. Call your agricultural extension office and inquire. It should be in your phone book under county extension. Failing that look under state numbers.
How long does it take them to die once they start showing weakness? What have you tried in treating them?

 

[debi1]

I live in Saskatchewan Canada on a farm. I use Ivermectin for deworming and have tried tylan powder.I have also tried penicillan as a last resort, When they start gasping its about 2 months before they no longer fly and then they die.
Its heartbreaking as they seem so healthy for the first years.
I have save the body of my peahen that died last night and found out there is a university that will look..But in the meantime do you have any idea what can be happening?
Thankyou

 

[Trefoil]

The only thing that comes to mind is parasites. I'll give you a hopefully helpful site and wish you luck.
Even a non bird vet should be able to do fecal checks. I would have one (at least) done asap. They should also be able to check for gram + and/or- infections.
KATHY WHERE ARE YOU???
If you have had birds for a while and only been worming with ivermectin, you need to get some safeguard for goats (1oz per 15-20 lbs of food or better yet individually using syringe without needle orally. Or albendazole 50mg/kg of bird. There are a bunch of threads on here discussing dosages, just remember not to always use the same wormer.
In the long run its going to be much cheaper and more effective to find out just what their problem is and treat that rather than keep trying and hoping to hit correctly. Can you post a pic of the bird and its poop? Because it takes them so long to die I think points to it not being fatal in itself, whatever they have is wearing them down until something actually kills them. All I can think of to do it to try & keep them alive until you can find out what it is. Add 2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar per gallon of water for them, except when giving medications, you can try adding 4-5 drops of oregano essential oil to a teaspoon or more of olive oil and giving 5-6 drops of the mixture orally.

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
Good luck and please let us know what you find out.

 

[enola]

casportpony is our peafowl person on this site.

 

[Birdrain92]

Hello I have had peafowl for a number of years, Last year they seemed to get a resperatory disease gasping and eventually not being able to roost. ,I worm them so I don't think that's the problem,
They seem perfectly normal and healthy and when they turn 3 they come into distress There doesn't seem to be any outward signs on their bodies. They are free range all summer and have there own barn in the winter. We built them a brand new barn and they are with no other species.
In the summer they live in the trees and I know when one starts to get sick as he roosts lower in the trees eventually not able to roost at all. It seem strange they all get sick at 3 years old

this batch were hatched by seemingly healthy parents who eventually died if this disease the babies seemed fine now they are starting to gasp .Can this disease be passed through the eggs?

I have contacted 2 vets around here they don't seem to be interested in helping, one even told me I know more about peacocks than him

Please any help would be appreciated

Some diseases can but I don't know about respiratory infections. Can you post pictures of fecal material and the bird? With wormers you need to rotate medicines. Do you skip days and then worm again as well? That's another important part in worming with some medications. Most respiratory diseases are caused by moldy wet areas or high dust that can cause lung and sinus irritation.

 

[barkerg]

I live in Saskatchewan Canada on a farm. I use Ivermectin for deworming and have tried tylan powder.I have also tried penicillan as a last resort, When they start gasping its about 2 months before they no longer fly and then they die.
Its heartbreaking as they seem so healthy for the first  years.
I have save the body of my peahen that died last night and found out there is a university that will look..But in the meantime do you have any idea what can be happening?
Thankyou

What You are describing sounds like gape worms, highly contagious worms, they usually infect the throat area and the birds will start yawning and shaking their heads with runny noses as infection sets in, Its the infection that the worms cause in the throat that is fatal, I might be wrong and Yes, we need Kathy. Ivermectin will not treat gape worms, you will need albendazole (valbazen cattle wormer) or fendbenzadole (Safeguard for goats) if either are available in Canada. Kathy will be on here soon with the better diagnosis and dosage recommendations. In the mean time see if either meds mentioned are available in your area as they are broad spectrum parasite killers and I would advise that you put them into your future med schedule.

Gerald Barker

 

[Birdrain92]

What You are describing sounds like gape worms, they usually infect the throat area and the birds will start yawning and shaking their heads with runny noses as infection sets in, Its the infection that the worms cause in the throat that is fatal, I might be wrong and Yes, we need Kathy. Ivermectin will not treat gape worms, you need valbazen or fendbenzadole if either are available in Canada.

Gerald Barker

Good point. Maybe call a vet to ask what wormers can get rid of Gapeworm. Just to try and make things faster.

 

[Garden Peas]

Hmmm, would be a good idea for @debi1 to do a search on BYC about gapeworm, as there is not only excellent information other places in the forum, but also and perhaps equally critical, some threads that discuss a variety of respiratory infections and even fungal infections which can more or less mimic gapeworm. (I was surprised at all that I read!)

And send a PM to @casportpony -- I expect she'll be along any minute anyway. I'm only posting this because I also leaped to the gapeworm conclusion until I read some of the other amazing threads out there...

Oh yeah, and in the meantime, find Kathy's excellent instructions for preparing a deceased pea for shipping to lab so that one doesn't deteriorate past the point of gathering useful information. We can speculate all over the place, but having an experienced avian expert do a PM on the dead bird will be (hopefully) defiinitive.

Best wishes and hope you can get it figured out quickest

 

[casportpony]

@debi1, ivermectin is pretty much useless as poultry de-wormer. Get yourself some fenbendazole (Safeguard or Panacur). I think the liquid is prescription only in Canada, but the horse paste is over the counter. Dose of liquid or paste is 0.23 ml per pound orally for five consecutive days. This dose of fenbendazole will treat most worms.

Albendazole (Valbazen) could also be used, but I'm not sure what dose is needed to treat all worms.

-Kathy