Herman
3 Posts
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Hello I just joined here, Im sorry my first post couldnt be
something more positive! I am a very new poultry keeper, and have
run into some problems regarding the health of my Birds. One dies
recently of a mystery cause. Another is looking shabby. Did some
trawling the net, and poultrytalk really seems to have a lot of
knowledgeable people so Im hoping you can help. Thankyou.
Basically the story is:
In Early december I buy four young hens, I was told the age was
20weeks. This is the first time I have had chickens, so I mightve
have missed precautions when buying. To begin with all the hens
were quite smelly, their droppings looked like undigested feed
pellets. After some time in their new spacious home and eating a
lot of grass, their droppings were now huge and healthy looking.
Like mini horse poo.
All except one, a "bluebelle" who always seemed to have runny
droppings. The hen was also always very timid, and almost
too-docile when picked up. But I just attributed this as to her
personality. She always ate plenty, despite the others being more
boisterous around the feed/treats.
One morning, I saw her stretching her neck and opening her mouth
repeatedly with no sound coming out. I watched for a while but she
seemed OK so I left. I cam back two hours later to find that she
had died. This was a big shock, as the hen did not seem ill.
I kept the "body" for a while, researching potential causes of
death. I found out about gapeworms, for which the symptoms fitted.
(The gaping and sudden death)
I tested with the Q-tip/cottonbud method. Interestingly, on the
first day I tried to look down her throat, but mouth was frozen
shut, just couldnt open it. But by now the muscles had relaxed I
guess.
I noticed there were two passages in the throat, and I was unsure
of which was the windpipe. I slid the tip down the large passage
towards the rear first, very deep but it came out clean. I then
carefully fed the bud into the smaller hole just below the tongue,
this was more of a tight squeeze but I again got it in deep. When I
pulled it out this time however, I noticed the tip was covered in
blood, just the cotton tip that is. So it had come into contact
with a bleeding area, I didnt feel any obstructions so I dont think
I created any wounds to let out blood.
Now, this is poultry basics I guess, but I dont have a clue which
of these two passages is the windpipe and which is the food passage
(oesophagus?). The blood I found was just blood, no worms. I looked
VERY carefully.
So now I need to find out what this means. If you guys think it may
be some kind of parasite/gapeworms then I will buy some flubenvet
dewormer ASAP . If you think the blood was the fault of me sticking
q-tips in places where it shouldnt be, then the death is a mystery.
Perhaps choking?
One of my other hens (a brown hyline) has made spluttery/cough
noises for the whole time I have had it, she has also become
scruffy, lost head feathers and become a more matted dull colour.
However she is still very bold/agressive so whatever it is, it
hasnt made her physically weak (yet).
The spluttering cough sounds seem to again potentially corellate
with Gapeworms. I have tried a cotton bud in her throat - obivously
not very deep but it came out clean. Getting to the bottom of these
issues is really important for the health and survival of my
remaining birds!
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DnA Poultry
19 Posts
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Hello and Welcome!
Thats really sad, it sounds as if they were unhealthy stock. I
would recommend worming them with Flubenvet straight away, dont use
other wormers as they dont treat for Gapeworm. The symptoms you
have described would all point to Gapeworm, the stretching of neck
and opening and closing of beak is a sure sign. And it can lead to
death quickly with many symptoms going unnoticed, a course of
flubenvet should clear up and infestation.
At the age you brought them they should have been wormed already,
and if they werent then a bad case of gapeworm could have
developed. I dont think you would really 'see' the parasite by
looking down the throat after death but ive never tried it so could
be wrong!
I really hope you get to the bottom of it, but def get your
remaining birds on Flubenvet!
All the best,
Angie
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Herman
3 Posts
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Thanks for the reply.
do you know where I could find some slightly detailed information
about the anatomy of a birds throat? I still dont know if the
smaller passage I found the blood in was the windpipe or the
gullet!
I was told on a different website that you could test (alive) birds
for gapeworm by putting a cotton bud down their throat. Ive tried
this on my Brown Hyline which has some soughing symptoms, but it
came out clean. I only found blood in the dead bluebelle when I
looked in the smaller passage just below the tongue.
My other two birds, a Black Rock and a Buff Sussex are extremely
boisterous and beaming with good health. The borwn hyline has
become a little shabby looking, but otherwise fine.
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