Rooster gasping for air!

[Rijumj]

Hi,
I’m new into keeping chickens. My roosters has got symptoms of Gapeworm. Gasping for air. Rest of my chicken flock is fine. Gave him Kilverm poultry wormer but that doesn’t mention it kills gapeworm. Please advice should I use other medication and can I use it immediately without overdosing. The roosters health hasn’t improved. Worried that it would get worse.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC!

Where are you located in the world?
How old is your rooster?

Can you get a video of him - upload to youtube and provide a link.
If not, photos may be helpful.

Any swelling of the face, coughing, sneezing, mucous from the nostrils, bubbly eyes or pus in the eyes, anything inside the beak like yellow or white pasty material, any bad odors?
Is his crop emptying overnight?
Can he eat/drink at all?

 

[SulkyBantam]

Welcome!

Yes, that does sound like Gapeworm.
Is is not possible for you to get/be prescribed some specific gapeworm treatment?

 

[Newtie]

I have a hen showing the same symptoms. Does Fenbendazole work to treat them? I have plenty of it already.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a hen showing the same symptoms. Does Fenbendazole work to treat them? I have plenty of it already.

Where are you located in the world?
Gapeworm is fairly rare in poultry. Respiratory disease is often the cause of a bird's gasping.
To answer your question - Yes. Fenbendazole will treat Gapeworm. Dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.

 

[Newtie]

Thank you. I am in Virginia. This hen suddenly started gasping for air yesterday. No mucus, no nasty yellow crud, in fact, no other symptoms but the gasping and accompanying rattle noise. I can't feel anything in her throat. I had given her antibiotics yesterday thinking it was respiratory and have been feeding / giving fluids slowly via a syringe since. She's not too much better today but unfortunately our vet selection is limited. They aren't good with chickens.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you. I am in Virginia. This hen suddenly started gasping for air yesterday. No mucus, no nasty yellow crud, in fact, no other symptoms but the gasping and accompanying rattle noise. I can't feel anything in her throat. I had given her antibiotics yesterday thinking it was respiratory and have been feeding / giving fluids slowly via a syringe since. She's not too much better today but unfortunately our vet selection is limited. They aren't good with chickens.

I mean it's possible it could be gapeworm, you could treat her to see if she improves.
I would also check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight and that she's not got fluid or swelling/bloat in the abdomen below the vent between the legs, just to make sure that a crop or reproductive disorder is not a contributor to the gasping, rattling and symptoms you are seeing.

 

[Mazza]

My roosters has got symptoms of Gapeworm. Gasping for air. Rest of my chicken flock is fine. Gave him Kilverm poultry wormer but that doesn’t mention it kills gapeworm. The roosters health hasn’t improved. Worried that it would get worse.

Hi
I wanted to know how your rooster did on the kilverm treatment - could you give us an update?

 

[Mazza]

Where are you located in the world?
Gapeworm is fairly rare in poultry. Respiratory disease is often the cause of a bird's gasping.
To answer your question - Yes. Fenbendazole will treat Gapeworm. Dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.

Hi Wyorp Rock
I'm 99% sure my chicken has gapeworm - no other signs you mentioned for respiratory issues or swollen anywhere.
She was gaping and shaking her head a few days back with an occasional odd sound - like a sneeze/cough/choke combination. Now she's been gaping for 3 days solid. It's aweful to watch. She can't eat or drink and hasn't for at least 3 days. Last night she was still walking slowly but the fight has gone out of her.

I'm in rural Queensland, Australia and only found kilverm and avitrol tablets in the shops.
Avitrol tablets say it's not for dosing food producing animals.
Kilverm isn't prescribed for gapeworm. I called the manufacturers and they told me that their levamisol @ 14g/l isn't the same quantity as products prescribed for gapeworm.

Not knowing what else to do - and getting the "legally we can't tell you" on the phone from vets and labs and the Avian University in Brisbane.
I gave her 5ml by syringe 2 weeks ago. Slight improvement
A week later she was in distress again - another 5ml by syringe. Slight improvement for 4 days.
Then she got bad fast.
I've given her 5ml by syringe 3 days in a row with zero improvement.

She's not able to eat - I found a recipe online to feed her (water, banana, few grains of salt, molasses -i added hemp seeds - blended it up in a 250ml concoction) I gave that to her by syringe - 10ml an hour apart 3 times yesterday afternoon. Planning on giving her 10ml every hour throughout today (if she's still alive this morning)

Question - if she's still alive this morning - what do I do?
I doubt I'll get a tablet down her - I couldn't even get grain or a piece of a pellet into her.
I'm considering 6 avitrol tablets crushed and mixed into water? She was almost 5kg but she's wasted away so much I'm guessing she's down to 3kg.

No doubt I'm overdosing her but at this stage she's clearly in such distress I can't believe she's still holding on.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What are you calling Avitrol? Can you please post some photos of the product?

Is her crop emptying overnight?
@dawg53 knows more about worms and de-wormers than I do. I "think" that Levamisole will treat Gapeworm.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/levamisole-wormer-info-needed.1217453/post-22102503
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/gapeworms