[gingerplant]

When I went to let my ladies out this morning, my Coco (bantie buff laced wyandotte) looked very peaky and stayed in the hen house.  She let me pick her up which is unheard of - usually highly neurotic and noisy. Silent, gaping mouth, gasping for breath, very runny eyes (one almost blocked), and gurgly noises... and what I thought was streaks of blood on her beak, but which I think now was probably gapeworms (? -not sure, never seen her).  Does it sound like gapeworm to you guys?

I feel awful as I had to go to work, but first flubenvetted the feed for all of them (made me late for work!), quarantined her with some water, layers pellets and corn (bad idea in retrospect - she'll probably eat that in preference to medicated pellets, if she eats anything) and am desperately hoping she'll be ok.  Have warned the kids she might die :-(

They are all free range in a large meadow area of the garden with access to compost heap, and there are pheasants and wild birds around.  I didn't have time to clean them out this morning (usually a weekly event) but wonder if I should try to do it this evening in case there are worms around in bedding?  What do you think?

I also feel really guilty as just last week we were saying how we must worm them :-(
What do you reckon chances of survival are?  Is there any point in clearing bedding, or will the worms/eggs be everywhere in their grazing area already?
Keeping everything crossed...

PS  "Lucky" the little chick I rescued on day 1-2 is doing fantastically well, and looks to be a hen!!  So not all bad...

[Aunt Sally]

It sounds very much like gape worm.  The worms block the trachea and are red in colour.

Flubenvet will treat it but is sounds like a bad infection.  I might be tempted to take her to the vets for some Panacur - fenbendazole which will act faster and may only require 1 dose.  It's not licenced for poultry so a vet would need to prescribe it.  They might advise another dose 1 week later.

[Aunt Sally]

Clean the run and coop to remove all traces of chicken poo !

And treat all the other birds with flubenvet !

[gingerplant]

Phoned the vet - the receptionist spoke to him/her and they said they'd only give flubenvet & like it sounds like she'll probably die (which I sadly probably agree with), so maybe I need to source a poultry-friendly vet (though they did say that they see chickens and are happy to do so)... if she's still alive by the time I get home.
Otherwise, I will try to work out some way of getting more flubenvet into her, perhaps with a syringe & I could mix it with something?
Worth a try...
Thanks a lot for the advice.  Think positive thoughts.
The other birds have been treated with flubenvet this morning (i.e. replaced all their feed with prepared/mixed feed - hence late for work!) so hopefully they won't succumb.
Don't think I'll be able to wash the hen houses till the weekend, but will try at least to remove poo.
I've always been quite pragmatic about my chickens (not a problem dispatching them when necessary etc.), but am quite upset about this one - she looked awful and I felt very helpless.

[Aunt Sally]

You can give her at least a double dose each day of flubenvet for gape worm and in fact that is the recommendation.

As it has to get to her lungs instead of her digestive system I see no problem giving her a double daily dose in a syringe.  You will need to do some clever sums and weigh her to calculate the dose.

If you are using the 1% formulation of flubenvet you would use about  0.4 - 0.5g per day for a medium sized hen.  You'll need to know how much smaller she is.

Please remember this is just my personal advice and in now way a professional opinion.

[gingerplant]

No problem, sounds like a good plan.  Very happy to do some DIY - I'm a paediatrician so used to dosing by weight ;-)   She probably weighs less than 1 kg, but tbh I'd say the risks of underdosing are worse than overdosing...
Just phoned our au pair (she doesn't really "do" chickens apart from checking for eggs, but will go and look at them if necessary! - would certainly try to avoid touching one at all costs  and Coco is still alive, looking out from her rabbit hutch :-)

[Aunt Sally]

flubendazole is a very safe drug for chickens and quite difficukt to overdose them.

Please keep in mind that she will need to cough up dead worms and these could in fact kill her anyway

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[bantam novice]

Good luck Gingerplant.

[gingerplant]

Thanks everyone.  She still looks poorly, very weak and gasping, and her poor eyes are really swollen and runny and nose is crusty, but is alive, and I've syringed a dose of flubenvet diluted in water so hopefully that'll kill the blighters.  She even laid an egg today  .  My 4 year old let her out of her quarantine pen  but she managed to run enough to resist catching for a bit (though was caught in the end... by a reluctant gloved up au pair - I'm impressed! - means she can't be 100% well!) so she's surviving.

dh and I cleared out both coops this evening and although it was too late to wash them, there was certainly no fresh poo left anywhere.  The other girls thankfully look ok so far...
Keeping everything crossed.

I did wonder whether it might be another sort of respiratory infection due to crusted eyes and nose, but having seen the red streaks this morning I think it's gapeworm, and I think that all that mouth-breathing and gasping is probably enough to make all her secretions dry up and go crusty.
Hope she makes it through the night
Will stop rambling like an overprotective mummy now!

[Aunt Sally]

I've syringed a dose of flubenvet diluted in water so hopefully that'll kill the blighters. 

If she survives then do that for 7 days at least.  14 would do no harm.

[gingerplant]

Even worse this morning. Blood clots spattered over the inside walls of the coop, and Coco looking terrible.  Starting to think she may have a respiratory infection instead, but don't get home till 11pm tonight (grrr work)... may be able to get hold of some antibiotics at work (human ones!) but feeling even more gloomy now...  tbh I'm amazed she's survived this long - she's a tough and healthy little bird underneath it all.

[gingerplant]

Do you experienced people out there think it might be infectious laryngotracheitis?  I'm starting to worry that it is ...
In which case is the best course of action to cull my whole flock and start again? 

[Aunt Sally]

That sounds bad

You have to consider the "kindest" thing to do for her.

You do need a proper diagnosis and would need to see a vet for that and possibly have a PM done.

[gingerplant]

Thanks Aunt Sally
Yup, was thinking of that tonight if still no better.  Can't see her pulling through this and is cruel to let her carry on....
I think treatment will probably be futile, but a PM would be worth it for the benefit of the whole flock...

[bantam novice]

I would agree with that, Gingerplant.  I'm so sorry