Something's wrong with one of my hens

[BWchicken]

She's a bantam EE almost a year old. Started out with head shaking, gaping (with her head tucked in, not stretched out), lip smacking, intermittent panting, face scratching. Thought it was respiratory, brought her inside, gave Tylan 3 days. The tylan seemed to perk her up a bit, she's not gaping quite as much, but she's still not right. Here are her current symptoms: lip smacking/clicking, face scratching, occasional panting, she lays down more than usual, seems to be breathing harder, occasional droopy wings, eating less, and she looks pale sometimes. When I just touch her crop/neck area, she starts lip-smacking and gaping way worse. She doesn't want to eat her dry crumbles but will eat some scrambled egg, wet crumbles, applesauce, etc. When she eats, there's lots of beak rubbing and beak smacking/clicking between bites.

I've looked in her mouth best I could (maybe for a split second or two), and didn't see canker, but I can't see down her throat. She struggles and scrunches her neck. I wormed with Safeguard goat liquid about a month ago, but I'm not sure how effective that stuff is mixed in water, it all settled to the bottom of the waterer. So maybe I should re-worm with ivermection pour-on in case this is gapeworm? Or does this sound more like canker or fungal infection? Because I have no idea. I have nystatin powder (medistat), never used it before, but can order metronidazole if needed.

eta: Almost forgot, her crop is emptying, her poop is pretty normal (a little soft), I don't see any lice/mites. I don't feel any eggs, but she's not laying right now after a short broody stint about a week ago. I'm giving her polyvisol drops and a little electrolytes in her water. I really love this little bird, can anyone help her?

 

[BWchicken]

Well, I'm about to worm her with ivermectin pour-on in case this gapeworm. I hope I'm doing the right thing, I don't know what else to do.

 

[chuckzoo]

Many of the symptoms sound like gape worm but I am not expert, I just read all the emergency/disease posts to try and educate myself in case I have an emergency or sick hen.

If I were in your shoes I'd use the Ivermectin.

 

[BWchicken]

Okay, thanks. I did do the ivermectin about 4 hours ago. One drop on her neck. We'll see what happens, no change yet. How long should it take to kill gapeworms?

 

[chuckzoo]

I honestly don't know, but do not eat any of her eggs if she is laying for about two weeks after application.

Keep us posted on how it's going.

 

[joletabey]

Good luck!!!

 

[BWchicken]

Well, I don't know if it was the ivermectin, the polyvisol, the probiotics, or the electrolytes, but she seems to be a lot better. No gaping, only some very occasional lip smacking, and more appetite and energy. Today, I let her out of her hospital cage to run around the room a bit, and she kept pacing and looking out the window, trying to figure how to get out there. Being inside has her really stressed since she started feeling better. So I put her back out on the roost with the others tonight. I hope they still remember her.

I'm a little concerned about the climate change for her, she was in the a/c for a week, and the coop was 90 degrees at 9pm tonight. So I put in a bigger fan, that seemed to help. Supposed to be high 90's again tomorrow (heat index over 100), so I'll keep a close eye on her. My poor hot babies, I hate to see them all panting like they do. I do what I can to help keep them cool, but it's hard in this kind of heat and humidity. They're all bantams, and I've heard they handle the heat better than LF, but you wouldn't know it to look at them.

Thanks for all your replies and advice!

 

[babsbag]

Quote:
I didn't know that about bantams, but last year that was all I had (except 1) and they seemed to do fine. Now this year I have 5 more LF and they really seem to struggle in the heat. This has been our first week over 90 this year (weird for No. CA) and they are having a very rough time. They are in the shade all the time and panting. Poor babies. The banties seem to be acting just like they did last week when it was cool. It is going to be a loooong summer for them.