Pilgrim geese, all girls, started making a squeaky noise instead of their normal squawking. They are about 6 years old. Any ideas as to why they are doing this? —Bea
Bea , I involve Mom if she know what could be haywire with yourgeese , but she does n’t , so she require a admirer who ’s kept geese for a long time . Her friend say it sounds as if your geese might have gapeworm . However , this is just our supposition — it ’s always best to consult your veterinary or extension specialiser so he can examine your animals and verify a diagnosis .
Gapeworms are parasite that survive in the airways of birds . They ’re shining red and 1/2 to 2 inches long . There are two types : Syngamus tracheais the kind that will affect your farms chickens , guinea fowl fowl , turkeys and pheasants;Cyathostoma bronchialisis find more in water bird , wild raptors and some songster . They act and look a fate alike , so we ’ll refer to them collectively as gapeworms .
Gapeworm infestations block an unnatural bird ’s trachea with louse and mucous secretion that do it to cough , wheeze and pass off with its mouth open — wouldn’t you if you had something bewilder in your pharynx ? This behavior is hollo gaping , hence the name gapeworm . The fowl stretches its neck and gasps , make a hissing speech sound .
razz get gapeworm by accidentally eating worm ballock from ascertain in the ground or on earthworm , ground snails or slugs infested by gapeworm larvae . Once the orchis are in the shuttle ’s scheme , they think of and larvae migrate to the skirt ’s respiratory tract , where they set up house in its trachea and lay eggs . This is when wench begin the gaping action begins . Eggs pass through the raspberry and out in its dung . Another dame or an earthworm or slug or snail eats the testicle , and the cycle starts over again . Young chick are more susceptible than older ones and are much more likely to go bad from heavy gapeworm infestations . Older birds can adjust and might show minimum symptoms , peculiarly if they are n’t heavily infested with worms .
A few other diseases , such as pneumonia , also make birds gape , so if you imagine your cuckoo might have gapeworm , take a fresh sample of their droppings to your veterinary surgeon so he can run a faecal tryout for worm egg . Or take the sample to your countycooperative extensionagent , who can post it to your state of matter university for evaluation .
Several drug , including ivermectin and thiabenazole , are used to treat and prevent gapeworms , but it ’s significant not to handle your birds without a veterinary ’s advice . Treatments that kill the worms in infected birds can result in drained parasites being inhale , leading to fatal pneumonia .
It ’s operose to prevent gapeworm because costless - range birds have invariant access to potentially infect earthworm , snails and type slug . The alternative is to raise your birds in grit , crushed rock or concrete coldcock pens and keep them away from bare or muddy terra firma whenever you may .
Waterfowl , chickens , turkey and other domestic fowl can also harborroundworms , hairworms , threadworms , cecal worms , tapeworms and more . discourse these pests with your veteran or file name extension agent . They can say you what step to take to solve your present quandary and to serve keep your girls in the pink .
