# sick "Mechelse koekoek", this time it aint respiratory, looking for advice



## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

My koekoek koen is severely ill today. 
He is very lethargic, and for days it's been looking like he has nothing in his crop, while he is eating much and well, except for today.

He keeps his eyes closed most of the time, just spending time laying down... Even if he walks, he falls asleep where he stands...
He has a very red face and the two hanging things under the beak are darkred, also the bit of skin around the eyes. 

The crest above the head is still as pink as it can be. 
He feels hot. He does "talk" while he is making tokky noises. 
His cold has been completely gone since Wednesday. No sneezing or coughing. I'm very worried. 

We compulsory squirted two times today Sugar water into her beak. We did the same with some yoghurt. After that she started to eat a bit tiny crushed wallnuts. But... When we first did this and put her back into the coop, she didnt move, since we found her two hours later again laying down at the same place. She does sing however... No runny nose, no trouble breathing... She also stands a bit odd... With her two legs and toes on top of eachother. Her first stool was diarrhoea, now that's luckily back to normal. 
But that empty tiny crop and her behaviour botters me...
Especially since she normally acts as she is having adad...

Does anyone know what's wrong with her please?
How can we make it comfortable for her?
What can we do to cure her? - No vets available 'till Monday...

The chicken is a fairly new young one, we got her less then a month ago, along with 4 other different breeds. From day two we had them, they had several snot and respiratory diseases, he was always stricken the worst. +/- 2 weeks ago we took only him to the vet, because he was the only chicken that had a relapse. After the vet's visit he was back healthy the same evening and we are treating him and the others with some antibiotic drops in the water. Monday is the last day we need to use these. Wednesday he was fully cured of his snot and respiratory infection. What this is, i really got no clue but it aint looking good. If she continuous being at the state she is today, she will not make it untill monday i'm afraid. 

Could somebody please give me some advice?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The issue you have is that they have been having health issues. Yes, treatment helped but there was no diagnosis as to what the actual disease issue was. Even though you're not seeing respiratory signs this time does not mean this isn't part and parcel of the earlier episodes. 

Making a wet mash of their feed and encouraging her to eat that might get her through until the vet opens on Monday. 

I would ask what they can do to get an actual diagnosis of the problem. That can only happen with blood work or sometimes throat swabs can be used for some diseases.


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

Thank you for your reply. 
We will start mashing her feed in the hope she can regain some strenght.

She has seen two different vets. The first time we went to a female vet with all 5 of them since most of them were coughing and having a runny nose. The blue de landes, koekoek and 1 silky were striken the hardest the first time.
Diagnosis was "snot", antibiotics given, no parasites shown from feacal samples.
All the chickens cured, except her.

When we went to the vet with her the second time, they felt her crop, listened to her heart, lungs, and bowel movements, and again faecal sample. She received another shot - not sure what was in that one. 
Then we had to start all chickens back on the antibiotics. The vet noticed she was not alone. Almost all hobby chicken keepers and professional farms are dealing with sick chickens. What bothers me... IF that info he gave us was correct... Why don't they know what's causing it? 

But she was fine past days, sprinting around like a marathon runner.
If she lives, i will follow your advice and ask the vet to swab or do a blood culture.

It's hard to deal with it... She's my dad's chicken. We lost a year ago our last and old one of 7y (also dad's chicken), her respiratory issues became chronic. She fell dead when we were on vacation and dealing with a hot summer, a month after a strange colored diarrhoe. If my dad loses this one too, he 'll be crushed. 

My mother is worrying and wondering if perhaps some buxus hedge could play a part in it. I've seen her eating two leaves a day ago, i could not reach her in time since she had already swallowed it. I know she and her companions play alot inside these hedges hunting for bugs.

I was wondering, i would not do it before asking someone else first who knows a bit more about this... Is there something from meds or kitchen products we can give her to let the fever drop? Or does she has to overcome it while laying cooled.
Also, if there should be an egg stuck, how can (and must) i feel it? I'm afraid if one of my parents does it, they will be a bit too rough on the chicken. But i may not have scratches or wounds - since i'm under meds myself. Would a latex glove be ok to do that?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The issue is, is it a virus or bacteria? Unfortunately if it's a virus they can get a secondary bacterial infection that antibiotics can help. But they can't touch the viral load.

I'm getting a sense you are outside the US. Is there any kind of agriculture office that also deals with animal husbandry you can talk to? If there is something going around infecting fowl they are the ones to get an answer from

Your girl could be internally laying which is different than a stuck egg. It's where the ovum enters the abdominal cavity instead of traveling down the oviduct. There is little that can be done for that other than spaying. Antibiotics can address the bacterial infection they can get from it but that's just a temporary stop gap.

As to a temp, you can dissolve a 325 mg aspirin in a gallon of water.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

The very first thing I would do (IMO) is treat for cocci. I always think most common first. Put it in her water and mash. Try to keep giving her a teaspoon of water by dribbling it on the side of her beak or tube her. The med needs to be given asap and needs to be "forced" until she eats or drinks. Cocci can be opportunistic when their systems are worn down, like following an earlier illness.


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

I live in Belgium. The government has an office. But i'm very afraid to contact them. There have been some cases of birdflue in the country with hobby keepers. If they would ever suspect anything like that, all 5 of our sweeties have to be put down immediatly... Even while no other chickens are in the area where we are living. Can't let our fresh lovely flock to be killed only a month after we got them  

I understand there has to be determined first if it's a viral or bacterial infection. Like humans... No use to use antibiotics with a virus... I hope the vet can tell me finally Monday what's wrong with her... 

Animal medication is extremely difficult to obtain. The law changed one or two years ago. Not even antibiotics for chickens can you get at the pharmacy. You'll always need to pay a visit to a vet. So treating for coccidia is a bit difficult at the moment. If there are some kitchen mats i could use to feel her also more at ease, would be great.If saving her would mean spaying, i'd go for it.

She has now a new symptom. When i saw her three hours ago, she was back standing with the rest of the flock. But...I tried catching her and brought her inside. She had the strength to let me run a round around the coop surprisingly... The reason i brought her inside was that she continuously had her beak open, tung stretched, gasping nonstop... She didnt make any sound while doing that. But her head moved for-and backwards. I thought first she was shoking or had to vomit. No sound of any strange sounds coming from her mouth or lungs. 

Could buxus flies or the buxus hedges itself also cause symptoms like this or poison them? There has been last two years an outbreak of buxus flies... I know my dad's sick chicken eats them while they are flying... 

Thank you both for giving me some advice. Our 5 chickens mean alot to us.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The fact you're having issues after having brought in new birds suggests that the new birds are the cause. I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet or not but there are respiratory diseases chickens don't exhibit until they are stressed. Being moved is a stressor and brings the bug out.

We do get how important they are to you. None of my birds is under five years old now. Not sure how young Karen's birds are now but I know she's got some very senior citizens in her flock.

All of the things you have listed for this hen are not good signs and as much as I don't want to say it, there might not be any more you can do for her except keep her comfortable.


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

Thank you Robin and Seminolewind for your honest advices. I realize i have to wait for what tomorrow will bring. Thank you for being honest with me. Will try to keep her comfortable. I could tell from reading other forum posts everyone has a heart for chickens here. 

We all do feel a bit dissapointed in our family because it's been 27y and every time we are buying new chickens, even if the flock died of old age sometimes and we bring in a couple of new youngsters to start over, always... Always.. they are sick... Even before my birth, my parents tried buying every time from several different breeders, animal stores or farms, without having a healthy new chicken. After Louise died previous summer, we started over with the two silkies, one harco, the bleu de landes and our little -sick- koen, the koekoek.

As long as it does not spread to the other ones, i'll be releaved. We have to keep hoping since that breed mechelse koekoek used to be one of the strongest ones in Belgium, she can battle it. If not, we will burry her. I have to admit, if we would ever sell our house... The buyer needs to hire a digging machine... Can't count all the housecats and 50years old generations of chickens that have been burried... That way they are still with us. Some pps call it crazy, but at least they will rest in peace.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The one thing this group can be proud of is that they never look down on anyone who has an emotional attachment to their birds or other animals. It's just not what we do.

Without knowing for certain what is infecting your flock I would strongly recommend not bringing in any more. It is possible that the bug was there already from earlier birds that started the problems. With many of these poultry diseases a thorough disinfection of buildings and grounds is needed to kill off the infecting agent. If you keep bringing birds in it will just keep the thing cycling through the flock.

Once you seem to have things under control and want to bring in more it will be absolutely necessary the new birds be quarantined for a month. If the new birds are going to get sick it's usually during that time. If they are released after quarantine and get sick then you'll know it's your property that is the cause.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

Have you wormed your chickens?Some of the signs you describe made me think worms.I had a rooster I loved dearly who got sick all the time.I took him to the vet's a couple of times,he would get better for awhile and get sick again.He was the only sick bird and I decided to cull him this last time.I think some birds are sickly,like some people.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Can you post some pictures of your birds? I think they are lovely. I had a hard time finding any information on line that was in English. But they look like really special birds. Only one person in the US sells chicks and wants $65 per unsexed chick.


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

The chickens should have been dewormed and received all shots the seller guaranteed us. We bought this flock from a gardning centre which normally should deliver good chickens...
Also the vets did a redeworming and shot them with meds + revaccinated them and antibiotics.

The sick koekoek still lives today. Since it's my dad's chicken, he was so happy at his fathersday today, the greatest gift that girl could give him was that she made it today and improved a bit.

We're having hope that if we can boost her immune system and trice a day get her inside and keep injecting (we restarted yesterday night) respiratory meds, she will make it without a problem untill tomorrow. We let her sit on our legs, suddenly this evening she saw the bowel with rice we just all ate as a dinner. She started "clucking" and bam, how did she fast started eating and gulping it. That was not our purpose... We took the bowel away after she ate four bites. We still injected every time also 2 shots with yoghurt in her throat and flushed it every time with some water doing some crop massage. Now she's also eating her grain all by herself and we see her graze grass. But she's exhausted poor thing...
Not sure if she's strong enough to survive a ride to the vet tomorrow. I think the best we can do for her right now is powerfeeding and let her rest. We can't put her separated in the barn because she flies over it. Vets sadly do not visit chickens at home 

She might run around alot more active compared to yesterday, but while eating she shuts her eyes and falls almost immediatly asleep. Since the stool is back to normal today, perhaps it could have been some dehydratation. It is still strange however even if we feed her crop full trice a day, nothing seems to be in it between the feeder times, where does it all go or where does it land i wonder...

https://preview.ibb.co/dqZ2ha/FIEN_EN_PLUIS.png
https://preview.ibb.co/dbuPvv/goudje.png
https://preview.ibb.co/k6WR8F/Koentje.jpg
https://preview.ibb.co/fmcoNa/muis_en_co.jpg
Here are some photo's of our flock Karen. The gold one is the harco. About the bleu de landes - French chicken- do i find as good as no info about her species myself. But she turned since her crest is all red three days ago into a much friendlier chicken.I took them somewhere in the begining of this week. Our "mechelse koekoek" was so active when i took that picture, strange how it can turn bad so fast.

But i have good hopes he'll live. And with a bit of luck, he's strong enough for a 10' ride to our vet. She has also regained her curiosity. Lovely to see how she reacts if a bug flies by or if my dad plays with her opening his mouth and chatter his false teeth. She "toks", lifts her head and looks at (and also in) his mouth and then gave my dad the look "crazy man". All the family went bursting out of laughter hihi.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Do you have any estimate on how old the bird is? Just because we have birds over ten years old doesn't mean that most make it to that age and this might be her life cycle.

Rice without seasoning isn't a bad thing. And if you mix some of her feed in to it she will be getting some of the nutrients she needs plus the calories from the rice.


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

She is still very young. Has not layed her first egg. Also the crest above the head is still as pink as it can be as the only one. Her two -what's it called again...- thingies that are hanging under the beak did develop a red colour this week but now they're also back pink. I'm relieved the rice aint a bad thing for her. All birds we bought are very young. Ironically she was the only one when my dad chose her, that was eating at the moment and so friendly, when we bought her.

Might still be a respiratory issue... While putting them all on the stick, he made that swallow movement again he made yesterday. Have not seen him do it the entire day. Luckily she stopped doing that after a couple of seconds. 
He/she is a bit confusing since my dad gave her a boys name...


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Respiratory diseases in poultry never go away. Surviving birds remain carriers for life. Antibiotics simply mask symptoms. 
Stress brings relapse requiring more potent antibiotics over time, then disease resistance to the antibiotics occurs. 
The only way to end the disease cycle is to cull the sick flock, disinfect everything, wait up to 9 months (depending what respiratory disease it is) before repopulating with new chicks from a health inspected hatchery.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

None of those chickens appear to be koekoek. Maybe next time?


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

Payed a visit to the vet today. She has indeed a relapse from her previous respiratory infection, only the symptoms are showing otherwise then they did before. Nothing wrong thank heavens with her intestins, internal laying or crop.

She received anti-inflammatory med injections this time alongside with vitamins. We are now having 3 days in a row appointments to get her every evening a shot. Stool clean. Lice clean. Throatswab clean. After the shot she started eating all by herself again. Still falling asleep where she stands so still not out of the woods sigh... Bird flue and "hedge-poisoning" as we call it here were also ruled out.

The agent that killed Louise (the last living chicken) one year ago should've been wiped out as we immediatly cleaned and severely desinfected several times, also during the year, the sleeping barn and the grassy running area after she passed and also right before the new flock came.

We call https://preview.ibb.co/k6WR8F/Koentje.jpg in our country the "Mechelse koekoek". There are species with feathers on the toes and others -like our koekoek-,having none. I know she does not looks like a real koekoek bird, but that's how we call this color and breed in Belgium. Crazy Belgiums 

Hopefully tender, love and care will be enough to let her live, along with the vet visits. If it comes to pass most of our flock will die or she will die, we will not replace them.

------
Wednesday morning, she suddenly started to improve very well. The treatment seemed to work finally. She ran around the coup more active and started eating all by herself.

Today she's eating so much that every time her crop is full trice a day and she drinks again. She almost runs around as before she got ill, but she's still exhausted. It will take some weeks for her before she has her normal energy level back. She's also walking with the entire flock. Try catching her She will outrun you with ease but then turns towards you for a cuddle.

She is used to be transported on the moms legs, she enjoys being in the car it seems because she looks outside every time. We still have to continuou the shots, so she does not have any more relapses, she wont make it a next time if she got back ill i'm afraid.

Tuesdayevening, the colleage vet told the female coworker we usually visit with her, that the chicken became so bad he doubted seriously she would make it till the next morning. But then she improved. 
We're very relieved.  I hope it stays like this. The only disadvantage of her being cured: she will miss the car rides


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

She's much better. Almost as good as the old chicken when we bought her.
She is finally out of the woods.
Saterday she received her last shot. For safety, they dewormed her with a tube into the stomach.
Now we need to squirt her a mixture of oral medication for 10 days.
She runs around very much and finally eats and drinks enough.
She is very lively but there is permanent damage at her lungs.
Luckily it is not so bad and she won't have much side-effects from her lung damage.
They are positive she will live a happy life like the other chickens.
Thank you everyone for your advice.
The only negative side of her becomming better is she's going to miss the car rides so badly, she really enjoyed them


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If you can avoid stress and bringing in other birds the flock should do OK. I agree with dawg, I think this is one of those chronic respiratory diseases that chickens can harbor. 

I know you're all relieved that she appears to be making a full recovery.

Nothing says you can't take her for an occasional car ride. After all we take our dogs and some of us our cats.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Good for her! If she lived here we would just take her out for a Starbuck's coffee.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

FYI-chickens love table scraps and any other people food and they really love it.In the winter on the really cold nights,I fix rice with a little milk and sugar or cheap box of mac-n-cheese before tucking them in.The process of digestion produces heat helping the chickens stay warm on those bitter nights.My GLWs love baby lima beans and they will fight the other chickens for them.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

If I come back as a chicken, let it be one of yours!


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

Things suddenly took a great turn to the worse without leaving any sign or clue.
The koekoek was so healthy he gained very much weight.
No signs anymore any chicken had anything.

We only noticed the silky for two weeks making a "smatching" sound - sound you make if you are eating and it tastes good and others can hear it. She layed days on her nest, didnt want to come off, we put her outside every time, convinced she was breeding. I took her Thursday inside,thought a cold floor would cool her off. Then i noticed right away she was sneezing very much, 8 times a minute. We spoiled her a bit after cleaning her nose and nursing, letting her rest on a towel on me a hour. She sneezed in my face suddenly, smelled foul, never smelled anything like it. 

Put her back to the flock after i went washing myself and taking a mouthbath also - she sneezed in my mouth, bah- can't blame her, the cuty. Yesterday it got worse. 8x/min sneezing, even with air balloons out of her nose. Then it can stop and suddenly rebegin after an hour. So today we went to the vet with her. 

She received the same injections as our koekoek. She improved immediatly.
No others chickens were affected only her... And we got a whole cure for the entire flock this time to bomb the bug for 7 days...

In the afternoon... Jezus... 
I found the koekoek who was doing so well, and gained in a week time very much weight and crossed healthy with full crops, almost choking... She was gasping air again, this time from two meters distant she maded crackling sounds with her airways like she was drawning in her own mucus. I immediatly lifted her up and took her inside, she closed her eyes, i thought i lost her and she was dying, suddenly she opens her eyes, starts sneezing sneezing sneezing coughing coughing crackling sound gets worse- and then...

BAM... She spitted up oranje wires????? On me, on the floor, on the chair, almost same foul smell as the green/watery substance out of the silkie her nose.

I've never seen anything like it. Looked like orange slimy wires, a bit like oister... She stood up, didnt make any more cracklign sounds, listened with my head on her body after having cleaned myself, couldnt hear anything strange, i put her back outside after having cleansed and desinfected myself, and put her back to the flock. She started running around and the tok tok tok chicken sounds sounded still a bit hoarse but not cackling anymore or breathing trouble.

Does she has a chance to make it till the weekend? - Vet was sitting only before noon in the weekend.
Does anyone know what is affecting them?
Would Acetylcysteïne for humans have any effect on them? If yes, is there somewhere a dose known for chickens?

Again an hour later, i noticed the second silkie sneezing... but no runny nose... My main concern now are the koekoek and the silkies. We can't separate them from the others. We don't know what to do know.
Any advice please?

I just hope that koekoek didnt poison himself... they had plattered the windows of their barn with a substance that causes no harm- plaster i think. I saw the koekoek as the only one eating and swallowing a little piece. I immediatly cleaned up every piece i could find. 

Not so sure we can keep the half of the flock alife now anymore... 75y old family members have never seen any infection like this bug... I feel like a blood culture could be a last resort now, but some of my family members are now at the point since we already spent over 200 euros vet costs that we perhaps should let some of them die because it's also natures work...


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I didn't say anything before but I will now, a throat swab is not a definitive diagnosis without a lab doing studies.

Your flock is sick and there is probably nothing you or anyone else can do, especially without a good diagnosis. If that means involving the "state" because you really want to find the answers you should contact them. It is not bird flu so they won't want to cull the flock for flu being the cause.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

With the foul odor you're smelling, I'd bet a dollar to a donut your birds have Infectious Coryza probably in conjunction with Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG.) As I mentioned before, your birds will never be cured. Cull, disinfect everything, repopulate in 9 months.


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

I agree. However, there's a "positive" new development today... There is still hope for the flock... Next to the respiratory disease, worms...

Found for the first time today clearly worms in a stoolsample... While we checked for weeks - and yesterday - every day, all the stool samples we and the vet searched, came back negative.

Today, yawning worm and the worm humans sometimes have in the intestinal tract were found by the dozen...

Suddenly the koekoek's symptoms all match... Also the orange wires he spitted out yesterday... We looked with a magnifier glass today when we recovered the sheet of paper from yesterday we cleaned it up with from the compost container to affirm...

Positive... From now on I never rely any more on stool samples with the vet... If i ever am to bring a new flock in, all of them on the same day when we buy them will we bring them to the vet for deworming, vaccination and shots even if they do not have them or are not ill or the vendor claims they've had it already...  

Which rises now the question: how many chickens of the place we bought would still live with other owners... Next week we're going to the place where we bought them and report it to the ones responsible for selling the chickens. Not that they can do anything about it... The garden centre where we bought them got them delivered in all their shops over the country from higher order above...

The koekoek is still hoarse but much better today. We took the antibiotic water today and replaced it now by the dewormer. We're going to let them drink 2 days of it, then we will for the certainty start back the antibiotic and continuou the dewormer along the antibiotic. Silky is not breeding anymore and hanging out with the big silkie again outside. Fluffy has her comrade Fien back 

Koen has sadly irreversible damage at his airways, but we don't think it is that bad that he would live a painfull or uncomfortable life. Since she's still growing and became again very active again, i'm sure healthy parts can take over the respiratory function. 

We will keep nursing her and let her live. Not going to put her down as long as she does not suffer... Too bad actually as a lung patient myself that i cannot share my meds with her... Wouldn't have minded that


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Are you saying that you're dealing with Gapeworms also? If so, they are very difficult to get rid of. It will require high doses of wormer given orally every third day in a weeks time frame, then repeated every 3 to 4 weeks for life. Gapeworm have a direct and indirect lifecycle; meaning birds can pick up infective eggs directly off the ground by pecking the soil as they always do, or by eating an earthworm or other insects that contain infective gapeworm eggs. 
I forgot to mention that since you also saw worms in the stool, they are most likely either large roundworms which can grow up to about 5 inches long or they are cecal worms which only grow up to 1/2 inch long. Tapeworm segments look like small grains of rice. These are the only worms that can be visibly be seen in stool samples and they are white or off white in color. I've dealt with all of them except gapeworms and eyeworms. I know how to treat all of them.
I think you have a classic case where worms have weakened your birds immune system to the point of them contracting respiratory disease(s) through NO fault of your own.
Here's information about gapeworms:
http://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2653&Itemid=2942
IMO: IF my birds had gapeworms, I would cull them and then shift my coop and pen to another part of my property. 
Here are pics of gapeworms, IF that's what you've observed:


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

yes :s The ones on the picture you showed in your post are exactly like the ones we recovered from the spitting up koekoek... The other worms we've seen looked very tiny as a bit rice, a family member confirmed that was also a worm and no undigested part. Looking closer under magnifier glass we saw one of a cm.

Moving the pen is impossible at the moment, we have a big pen and a big garden next to the pen, but every single piece of free ground has been planted with crops and potatoes. Every day we clear their wastes out- and inside the walking- and sleeping area's in- and outdoor.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Wow. First case of gape worm I've seen. 

Acetyl....(Mucomist) -I don't think I would give a chicken this. It would probably be toxic. Try Vick's vapor rub, a tiny smear in each nostril.

Worms are everywhere. You can't eliminate them. You have to worm your chickens monthly. I know that there's a good wormer in Europe. I know they use it in GB. The worms need to go.

With the foul snots I think Dawg is right. I am not sure if antibiotics will cure it. 
Just remember, if you go somewhere with chickens, you need to wear different shoes, and have your chicken shoes only for your chickens. Chicken vitamins are cheap. Ours come in a package to treat 50 gallons. I use approximately a pinch for 4 liters. And dust your chickens for lice and mites!

I think it's a super good idea to get a blood test (or snot test?) After all this you do really need to find out what it is.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

mellinda said:


> yes :s The ones on the picture you showed in your post are exactly like the ones we recovered from the spitting up koekoek... The other worms we've seen looked very tiny as a bit rice, a family member confirmed that was also a worm and no undigested part. Looking closer under magnifier glass we saw one of a cm.
> 
> You might be dealing with tapeworms since you stated they looked like tiny rice bits. Each rice bit you see is an egg segment. Each segment carries hundreds of tapeworm eggs inside it. Chickens get tapeworms indirectly from eating earthworms and other insects containing tapeworm eggs.
> Flubenvet will not kill tapeworms. You need a wormer containing praziquantel to kill tapeworms. Once you get the wormer containing praziquantel from your vet, ensure that you withhold feeding your chickens for a full 24 hours prior to giving them the wormer, only water is okay. Repeat this procedure again in 10 days.
> Here's a photo of chicken feces showing tapeworm segments:


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

One of your important issues here is health. If they are in good health they can fight diseases off better. Which means worming, powdering for lice and mites, a quality chicken/hen/layer feed, vitamins, and some nutritional treat. 

Hope the test can tell you what it is because some diseases can pass the disease on to new chickens even after they are healthy. And some can be spread by hatching eggs from infected hens.


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## mellinda (Jun 24, 2016)

Blood test confirmed nothing new. The blood work of the silky showed raised leukocytes, low vitamins and minerals and the bacteria that caused them to have the snot-infection. Nothing viral, no other signs of other health problems. Confirmation by the vet it was gaping worm koentje spitted up... 

I've been ill a couple of days after the silky sneezed into my mouth  but it was worth it  the darling seemed fully cured yesterday. She is still comming inside for her squirts of yoghurt. She eats again very well. Monday she was so ill i thought we lost her, after vet visit she did not recover as koentje did. 
We decided to take fluffy inside the house aswell, her comrade the big silkie. Oooh, such a great friends  

Fluffy knew Fien was not well, and encouraged her to start eating again. Rubbing her head, tokking gently, layed her head over hers -while normally it's the other way around-, pushed her, shared the grain and then fien started eating. Not much but fluffy seemed as happy as we were about it. When fluffy (dutch: pluisje) started drinking she walked and started drinking also. 
She has to exercice enough also every day on vet prescription, so we encourage her to walk every day.

She might be cured, her breeding eagerness is not all gone, but at least now she does not spend so much time anymore breeding and walks again with fluffy outside the coop and pen. They both still sleep against eachother and call eachother. 

The foul smell came from the bacteria inside her and her stomach that stopped working, just like the koekoek.
The entire flock went tuesday, while monday the silky had her last shot. All were dewormed for the several types of worms, tapeworm, and gapingworms with that tube in the throat and given something intracutan to remain strong. The silkie needed only in total 2 shots to be cured, compared to the koekoek. Koentje the koekoek has layed also her first egg. In a couple of days her crest turned lovely deep red. Vet was so kind she only charged the meds again from Fien's visit and the visit with the entire flock.

In meantime we desinfected the sleeping place of the chickens, cleared every stool outside the pen and threw white chalk over the grass and in the pen. Vet told us it is important we keep continuou them on antibiotics for this and half next week since we now know we're battling bacteria. We needed to give them the deworming at morning and the antibiotics later in the day in the water and keep this up untill next Wednesday. 

We need to keep paying attention on the gaping worms... They will come back... We were advised we needed to repeat the dewormers later in july. As soon as the respiratory infection is down, we are going to temporarely quit it. So that they are not weakened anymore from the antibiotics and they can develop back their immune system. 

My mom's bleu de landes lays more and more windeggs, but that has stopped since we now feed her calcium. The koekoek also has layed two eggs with not so much shell, but she's laying, singing the whole day and misschieving. We got her back. Only this time the bleu de landes protects the little ones. Also if we see cats, the bleu de landes charges and chases them away before returning to the little ones. The bleu de landes also guarded koen when she was ill. The harco is still as crazy hyperactive as it can be and the champion of digging and fluffy and fien are still as soft as silk and very cute. Fien also seems to enjoy bathing. I feel a bit sorry for her however, i thought she smelled a bit like stool but it was the foul oder comming out of her beak...

Thank you for the advices.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I'm glad they all seem to be getting better, and the blood test finally told you what is wrong. You sound like you have a nice vet.


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