Poorly Pekin

[kellybelly]

Hi, I have a Buff Pekin hen (offically known as "Honey" but often referred to as "mom" because she hatched our first ever egg). We have had her for about 6 months. We bought her as a broody hen along with some fertiles eggs and one of the eggs hatched and that egg became "bob" (we think Bob is a female but 100% sure yet). They are always together.

Honey began making some strange coughing/squeaking sounds around the time Bob was hatched but was otherwise well. As time went on the coughing/squeaking got worse and more frequent. I gave her flubenvet for 7 days and during that time her symptoms did improve but did not go away. After the 7 days the symptoms came back and eventually got worse. After I posted on a local poultry forum about the problem a member sent me some tylan (sp?) antibiotic for her with the dosage instructions. I gave Honey the meds in her water but I dont think she drank much of it or at least not regularly enough to help because nothing changed with her symptoms. I decided to try the Flubenvet again just in case it was more than coincidence that her symptoms did improve for awhile when we gave it to her last time. The same thing happened, the symptoms improved (not completely) but came right back when the course was done.

Symptoms:
Strange breathing sound upon close inspection (a bit gurgling or crackling)
Occasional beak gaping (left open like she's breathing through her mouth)
Occasional stretching her neck up with eyes closed
Sudden loud squeak, like a cough or sneeze but definitely not a sneeze
feathers down and a bit puffed
She seems to eat well but never has anything in her crop, it is always empty. In fact you can't even feel it.
she is thin under all her feathers

She does NOT have a runny nose or eyes....not yet anyway. Her bum is clean and she doesnt seem to have diarrhea (sp?) but I have 4 hens who free range so I might be missing something there...

I laid her on her back once to just stroke her and settle her down and the noises from her chest or throat became worse, even though she seemed very calm, and she opened her beak like she needed the help with breathing.

When I pick her up, (I know this is going to sound weird) it feel like something "clunks" a bit in her throat or upper chest area. By "clunk" I mean like a slight shifting or moving of something that makes a light bumping or clunking sound.

I really at at a loss as to what to do for her. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. She is a very friendly, sweet little girl and Bob would be devastated without his/her mom.

Here is the link to a short video of her with symptoms which was taken about 2 months ago.


Thank you,
Kelly

 

[mama24]

Could it be gapeworm?

 

[ChickenTender63]

this sounds an aweful lot like gapeworm. Do a search on here for gapeworm and see if it sounds like it to you. There are others on here who have had it and posted treatments for it.

Hope you get it solved and save her, good luck to ya

 

[kellybelly]

That was what I originally thought it was but wouldnt 2 courses of the flubenvet have sorted it out? I will do a search here and see what I can find. Thank you !

 

[franh]

Hi

Yes I think it might be gapeworm, it could be that it is resistant to Flubenvet and you need to try another wormer. Are you anywhere near pheasants/gamebirds as they seem to suffer a lot from gapeworm. You could try googling and seeing what a gamekeeper would treat his birds with?

Good luck

 

[kellybelly]

I have just called Janssen animal health, the makers of Flubenvet, to see if they think that the does or period should be increased for Gapeworm (as lots of websites seem to suggest) and they say no. They say the recommended dose and period should be sufficient but that because the hen is free ranging she might not be eating enough of the medicated food as she would be getting bits from the garden etc. So today I have given her a strawberry by hand with a touch of the Flub on it and then gave her the med. feed and made sure she ate plenty of it. She was already let out of the run this morning but tomorrow I will keep her in her run and that way I will be sure she gets the med. food only and try to continue that for 6 days, although she wont be happy being shut in! the vet from Janssen said that if it was gapeworm and if the egg count was high, she (and the other birds) would be re-infected within a matter of days and it would continue like that so we should use it on all the birds every month for approx. 4-5 months to break the cycle. The other birds seem to be not affected at all which is strange if it is gapeworm. We have never needed anything inorganic before but obviously we would have to do that if need be. If she still has symptoms immediately after this dosage then it's not gapeworm....

p.s. Franh: we do have alot of Pheasants in the area but I have never seen one in the garden. I know these gapeworms can come from earthworms and slugs too so maybe she got it from them. It is a good suggestion though to check for gamekeepers and see what they would do, thank you for that.