Sick Cochin

My Cochin hen is sitting there opening her mouth like hard to breathe or? What could this be? and how to treat?

My first thought when I read this is that she has the gapes. Comes from the worm that poultry can get infected from from certain hosts, likes slugs, snails, and a few others. That can be cured very quickly by using a drug in her drinking water. Most wormers for poultry do not cover gapeworm. There are some good threads on gapeworm and I will direct you to one that I had made, as I encountered this awful worm infestation in one of my birds. Sometimes only one bird may be infected....I will look for it and link it to you. You can get panacur from the vet....hope this is only what it is. If she is also gurgling, that would be another clue, the worms attached to the throat of the bird inside and cause an inability to breath properly. Check it out. This is the time of year, when it becomes wet out for sure when gapeworm worm infestations appear to rear their ugly heads. I haven’t seen any issues yet, but for surely, will keep an eye out. The symptoms are as you are seeing, the opening of the mouth, and closing it, trying to breath, to get past worms in the throat. Eeks. Nasty crap! Best wishes and have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

https://wcps.canadian-forum.com/t8697-a-topic-revisited-gapeworm-a-clear-and-present-danger?highlight=gapeworm

https://wcps.canadian-forum.com/t2015-gapeworm-tapeworm-and-other-worm-discussion?highlight=gapeworm

I was too late thanks for the info-is this contagious?

olesoftie wrote:I was too late thanks for the info-is this contagious?

Not too sure what you mean by too late for the info. Did the bird die? Gapeworm is not contagious. The hosts for gapeworm are the slugs, snails, beetles, stuff like that. Some birds may get it, from some hosts, but not all hosts carry the issue, only some too...so no, not really a contagious thing. I had a flock of about 45 birds and only one bird displayed the gaping caused by the parasites. That bird went on medication for a couple of days and it cleared right up. Clearly he was infected with the gapeworms...hope this helps, do try and have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

yes she died not sure if it was gape worm or pneumonia have had a lot of cold wet days here and she was quite old

It is sad when we lose a chook, especially when it is old age, they have been with us a long time, and sad to say goodbye. Cold does not really harm birds, but if they are wet and cold, this is a disaster in the making, just like anything, cold, can bundle up (lots of feathers on them thar cochins), but wet and cold...I would presume she was not wet, probably not really cold either. But of course, as we all know, as age comes, as does the lower defense against cold. Maybe it was just her time. I think if it was illness, there would have been other symptoms. Sorry for your loss, but do be aware of the gapeworm. It is not overly common, but generally is much more a happening when the weather be comes moist in the fall. Have a wonderful day, I mean that, find something to make you smile, there are many things....CynthiaM.