Sick Silkie.

[Henwen]

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and from the North UK. I have been reading the forum a while and intended to join,just didn't expect to need advice on a sick chick, so soon!


I have a Silkie pullet between 4 and 6 months old. Just before Christmas she started to look bedraggled and lost weight. From observing her I notice that she has difficulty swallowing and gapes a lot. S he does eat and drink, not eating quite as much as normal, her feathers have become very thin on her head. She is not particulary droopy, no sign of lesions in her mouth/throat, cannot see any worms, she is pretty bright and since taking her into a warm shed she has perked up but still this difficulty in swallowing. She was on Baytril for a week and recently started a worming regime again, (done about 3 months ago) Recently se4nt samples of hen poo off to the lab as we were worried about diarhoea in a recently aquired hen, all came back as normal, with very, very low count of worm eggs, no salmonella etc, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated as my chooks mean a lot to me. Many Thanks.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I wish I had some help, all I can offer is

I did wonder about gape worm, but you see nothing down her throat

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Gape worm. You will not necessarily see it.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Many wormers do not affect gape worm. Need to make sue you use one that does.

 

[BWKatz]

Per MSUcares:
Gapeworms are best prevented by administering a wormer at fifteen to thirty day intervals or including a drug at low levels continuously beginning fifteen days after birds are placed in the infected pens. One drug that is effective for eliminating gapeworms is fenbendazole, however, its use is not presently approved for use in birds by the Food and Drug Administration.

Hope this helps.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sure sounds like it could be gapeworm....

you can do a search on BYC in the search bar for it

 

[Henwen]

Thank you for the replies. My first thought was Gapeworm. I use FLUBENVET as a wormer, this is her fourth day of treatment and no sign of improvement. he is bright but so thin. I am giveing her plenty high protein feed and she tucks in with relish but then has to go off and swallow, swallow, swallow and neck stretching. I will keep going with treatment.Anymore input greatly appreciated.

 

[spish]

if you get a cotton bud stick (those for your ears) and gently swirl one round in the hens throat (gently!!) then look at the tip of the cotton bud. you should see some wormy things with forked ends if she has gapeworm (they sit in the throat i believe)


i wormed my chickens with flubenvet but had to do 2 rounds to combat the gapeworms (gave them a 2 week break in between then restarted the treatment)

 

[Henwen]

I have both Ivomec injectable 1%(cattle) and fenbedazole 2.5% (sheep and cattle) Should I give one of these? Have also just noticed a Marans with the same symptoms, had a look down her throat but again nothing to be seen, she is gaping and bobbing her head and great big swallows much, much worse than the Silkie is doing.Not a problem to not eat the eggs would rather have the hens healthy than worry about a few eggs. What dosage would I give of either of them) I did notice a 3 drop for bantam size and 5 drop for larger would this be about right? Thankyou.

 

[Henwen]

Strange but the Marans is okay today, she must have had something stuck in her gullet!Have not tried the cotton bud as yet, reluctant to do so and trying to gear myself up to do it. Bit scary when you have not done something like this before.Any comments on the Ivermectin/fenbendazole?