Two-month long respiratory illness? Need advice

[meglynnie]

Following.

 

[darlingdarla]

That's why I was wondering about getting fecal float. Gapeworm is fairly rare - what I understand the symptoms are quite severe with the chicken coughing, gagging and gaping, they also are not able to eat/drink very well or at all either.
IF you can't get a fecal float, then you may want to de-worm her to see if that makes a difference. I would use Safeguard (Fenbendazole) dosage is .23ml per pound of weight given orally for 5 days. You can find that at Tractor Supply.

Do you have a video of her making those motions? If you do, upload it to youtube and provide a link.

I ordered Safegard yesterday, and I am working on getting a fecal float done.
I believe I need to treat the entire flock, I can give it orally to each bird but how would I go about mixing it into the water?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I ordered Safegard yesterday, and I am working on getting a fecal float done.
I believe I need to treat the entire flock, I can give it orally to each bird but how would I go about mixing it into the water?

You don't mix in it the water. It settles out. Dosage is by pound as described in POST #10 Treat each bird individually that way you ensure that they are getting the right dose so the medication is effective.

 

[darlingdarla]

You don't mix in it the water. It settles out. Dosage is by pound as described in POST #10 Treat each bird individually that way you ensure that they are getting the right dose so the medication is effective.

Alright, could I soak it into bread or feed and offer it individually?
And what about birds that weigh less then a pound?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Alright, could I soak it into bread or feed and offer it individually?
And what about birds that weigh less then a pound?

Try to get some 1cc (ml) syringes. Depending on where you live, your pharmacy may have them. It's pretty easy to direct dose each one if you do it early in the morning, take each bird of the roost and dose them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...er-construction-check-back-for-updates.73335/
You can try putting it on the bread, but you will want to make sure each bird gets it's piece of bread with the correct dose. They tend to want to steal bread from each other so if you have a way to separate them out that would be good.

For birds that weigh less than a pound? How much do they weigh?

 

[darlingdarla]

Try to get some 1cc (ml) syringes. Depending on where you live, your pharmacy may have them. It's pretty easy to direct dose each one if you do it early in the morning, take each bird of the roost and dose them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...er-construction-check-back-for-updates.73335/
You can try putting it on the bread, but you will want to make sure each bird gets it's piece of bread with the correct dose. They tend to want to steal bread from each other so if you have a way to separate them out that would be good.

For birds that weigh less than a pound? How much do they weigh?

I have two small bantam's (both ten months), the scale won't even register them, I'd guess the bigger one is pretty close to one pound but the small one is only a few ounces. I was going to weigh them with my food scale but I don't know how to dose them.
Can I ask how Safegaurd works to kill the worms?

 

[Noreaster Egger]

The yellow residue and progressive breathing issues sounds a lot like my leghorn that eventually succumbed to peritonitis. She stopped laying after a year, laid a couple of fairy eggs, and then the slow decline began. She showed no signs of ascites, but enough material was building up inside of her to put pressure on her organs/lungs. Hopefully it's something more simple and curable for your chicken.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have two small bantam's (both ten months), the scale won't even register them, I'd guess the bigger one is pretty close to one pound but the small one is only a few ounces. I was going to weigh them with my food scale but I don't know how to dose them.
Can I ask how Safegaurd works to kill the worms?

Do you feel the bantams may have worms?
Weigh them the best you can. You will have to do a little math, if you can give me the weights, I can help you with that if you need it.

How Fenbendazole works:
The molecular mode of action of all benzimidazoles, including fenbendazole, consists in binding to tubulin, a structural protein of microtubules. These microtubules are important organelles involved in the motility, the division and the secretion processes of cells in all living organisms. In the worms the blocking of microtubules perturbs the uptake of glucose, which eventually empties the glycogen reserves. This blocks the whole energy management mechanism of the worms that are paralyzed and die or are expelled.

Since cell division is also disturbed, worm egg production and development is also blocked by benzimidazoles, i.e. most of them also have an ovicidal effect.
https://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2512&Itemid=2785

 

[darlingdarla]

Do you feel the bantams may have worms?
Weigh them the best you can. You will have to do a little math, if you can give me the weights, I can help you with that if you need it.

How Fenbendazole works:
The molecular mode of action of all benzimidazoles, including fenbendazole, consists in binding to tubulin, a structural protein of microtubules. These microtubules are important organelles involved in the motility, the division and the secretion processes of cells in all living organisms. In the worms the blocking of microtubules perturbs the uptake of glucose, which eventually empties the glycogen reserves. This blocks the whole energy management mechanism of the worms that are paralyzed and die or are expelled.

Since cell division is also disturbed, worm egg production and development is also blocked by benzimidazoles, i.e. most of them also have an ovicidal effect.
https://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2512&Itemid=2785

Alright, I have chicks coming in eight days, so I need to be thorough, I'm going to treat everyone, another hen started wheezing a bit this morning, the Safeguard should arrive in the mail today.

Will I need to treat them again in a couple weeks or will this take care of it?

The big bantam is over two pounds (still can't believe it but I need to figure out a way to weigh her more accurately, I'm trying to borrow my friends scale)
And the little one is 21 ounces which also came as a big surprise.
I had to weigh them on my food scale, and I'll be working on weighing the others later on a real scale.

I've read that swabbing the hen's throats with a Q-tip could tell definitively if they have gapeworm, is this an accurate test? Is it worth doing before I give them the Safeguard?
I'm also working on getting a fecal float done, bear with me but I'm hoping to have that done by next week.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Alright, I have chicks coming in eight days, so I need to be thorough, I'm going to treat everyone, another hen started wheezing a bit this morning, the Safeguard should arrive in the mail today.

Will I need to treat them again in a couple weeks or will this take care of it?

The big bantam is over two pounds (still can't believe it but I need to figure out a way to weigh her more accurately, I'm trying to borrow my friends scale)
And the little one is 21 ounces which also came as a big surprise.
I had to weigh them on my food scale, and I'll be working on weighing the others later on a real scale.

I've read that swabbing the hen's throats with a Q-tip could tell definitively if they have gapeworm, is this an accurate test? Is it worth doing before I give them the Safeguard?
I'm also working on getting a fecal float done, bear with me but I'm hoping to have that done by next week.

I'm not sure how accurate it would be by swabbing the throat. I would say if an infestation is severe, you may find something.

No, you won't need to treat them in a couple of weeks. The Safeguard is given for 5 days, that should take care of it.

When you get the weights, post them, I'll help you with the dosages.