I think Emerald may have gape worm. Yesterday I noticed her shaking her head and gaping. I thought at first she may have something stuck or have scratched her throat. Topaz and Sparkle sometimes vigorously shake their head for a day then return to normal.
Today she was gently shaking her head and gaping and wasn’t interested in treats apart from corn or sunflower hearts. She wasn’t her normal self, not running to greet me but sitting around a lot. She was however eating plenty of pellets and drinking.
I googled gape worm and the symptoms fit. I had seen her eating a slug about five days ago (I remember because it was sticky and stuck to her beak which I found quite revolting) and gape worm can be passed to chickens by host slugs, snails and worms.
Worming with flubenvet is the recommended treatment. I had only wormed the girls three months ago but decided it best to worm the whole flock again starting today.
I usually put the flubenvet in mash or treats but as Emerald isn’t interested in these at the moment it posed a bit of a problem. I decided to close off part of the run and separate her to make sure she got her share as I think that while not feeling great she isn’t willing to compete.
This was easier said than done and it was tricky getting her and her alone in the separated section. Eventually my husband came to see how I was doing and between us we got her in and a couple of the other girls out again!
I decided to put the first dose in some yogurt as they all love yogurt (live probiotic). I mixed one scoop of flubinvet (using the measure spoon provided) between five ramekin dishes and placed four at intervals in the run and the fifth in with Emerald alongside a bowl of water. All the girls tucked in apart from Emerald who wasn’t interested.
I sprinkled some pellets on top of the yogurt and she picked them off the top. I had to go out to do a late delivery and when I returned my husband had sprinkled some chopped grapes into her dish. Still no interest. Finally I sprinkled corn and sunflower hearts in and mixed it up to coat them with yogurt and powder.
Emerald ate most of this so will have got a share of the flubinvet. A change of plan is clearly needed. Tomorrow I will do what I did the first ever time I wormed them. I will coat sunflower hearts in a little olive oil then sprinkle with the powder so it sticks to them. While eating the seeds they get the powder too.
I will continue to separate Emerald to make sure she gets her share as she is the most important one to get treated.
I will also call in at the vets tomorrow to order more flubinvet for the next worming and to check if I need to treat again in three weeks time as with when they had worms before. I assume the egg cycle is similar for gape worm to any other type of worm.
Once Emerald rejoined the flock she was first to head for the high perch ready for bedtime.
Emerald just before bedtime
Most of the time you can tell there is a problem when the girls have a pale comb but not with Emerald. She has the smallest comb I have seen in an adult hen and it is always pale. She looked just like this when she laid the one and only egg that she has laid since I have had her between being broody and starting the moult.
I hope the worming soon gets her back to normal.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Oh dear! no experience of gape worm but I remember Bonnie having the gaping symptoms last year and it sorted . ..But she does seems to spring back to good health a lot .I hope this is the same in your case .
After just one treatment she does appear better already. Having gooled it I felt the head shaking alongside the gaping seemed to fit with gape worm. It’s usual to find some worms after a couple of days of treatment so we shall see. There always seems to be something when things have been running smoothly for a while!
You certainly seem to be doing everything right! Hope she is soon back to normal. I need to worm in the next couple of weeks, and this has given me a timely reminder: thank you.
This morning went like a dream. Emerald was already in the separate part of the run so I simply shut the gate. I mixed the sun flower hearts with a little olive oil and the powder. I sprinkled them on the patio for the flock but gave Emerald hers in a ramekin. She wolfed them down in minutes and I returned her to the flock with the job done with ease. I don’t know how evenly the flock got their share but I do know Emerald got her share and that is the most important thing. I will continue like this as it means I know Emerald gets the treatment she needs. I just want to see her back to normal as quickly as possible. Thank you for your encouragement.