Urgent Help!!

Janb · **Posted:** Fri Aug 25, 2006 2:05 pm

Can anyone tell me what it means when a peahen breathes through her beak? Lady Penelope stood out in the rain nearly all day yesterday and today is definitely not herself. I have just noticed that she is breathing by opening her beak. I am quite worried about her and there are no other breeders nearby for me to ask.
Janb

Peacocks Australia · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:14 am **Posts:** 310755

Hi Jan, sorry for the delay, the likely culprit is "Gapeworm" (Syngamus trachea) was she wormed before you purchased her? have you wormed her? if not please do so A.S.A.P and you will need to do all the others. Is she being chased buy a "Peacock"? this is quite common this time of year with new Peahens, particularly young ones.

Please let us know how she goes?

Thanks
Peacocks Australia :lol:

Janb · **Posted:** Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:29 pm

Thank you so much for your reply PA. I was really concerned about her and had no idea what the problem could be. I have today tripped into Geelong to purchase the necessary worming stuff. No, I don't think she would have been wormed prior to her sale to me as her owner had died and his widow returned to her homeland leaving instructions for his peafowl to be sold. And no, I did not worm her when she arrived, big smack on the wrist for me, I am still learning the necessary skills. I was not able to buy tablets from any of the livestock health suppliers so had to make do with liquid. On arrival home I immediately made up some for Lady Penelope and put it into the isolation pen with her. Problem is that the volume, at only 200 ml, is too small to put into a normal peafowl sized water container so I have put it into a saucepan lid which I sat on top of the normal water container. I am not convinced that she will be able to drink from the lid as such a small amount of liquid doesn't rise very high in it. I may have to feed the required amount into her using a syringe, minus the needle of course! For the other peafowl who are in separate enclosures I have tonight put a small container on top of their usual water holders, but I am not sure they will drink from them, the colour is red!! We will see tomorrow morning, if they are thirsty enough, and if they will drink it. If not, I will have to approach the local vet and ask if he can order in some tablets which I can wrap in food. Once again thank you for your help with this scary situation. I'll keep you informed.
cheers
Janb

Mrpeewee · **Posted:** Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:27 pm

Hi Jan,

I suggest administering the wormer direct to beak through a syringe (minus the needle) that way you can be 100% sure they all recieved the correct dosage. Peafowl should be treated for worms 4 times a year at the change of season. I suggest you get a wormer that covers every worm type from tapeworms through roundworms, capillary worms, caecal worms etc, etc. A good one is worm out from vetafarm but several other brands are just as good.

Let us know how you go.

Matt

Janb · **Posted:** Wed Aug 30, 2006 6:10 pm

Thanks Matt
We have in fact admistered her treatment via the syinge (minus needle) over the last 2 days. She appeared to rally up until this morning when she began opening her beak wide to breathe in again and dropped her wings down to the ground. Tomorrow morning, if not better, we will take her to the vet. He, apparently, will put a tube down her throat direct to her crop and will inject Panacur, which is a sheep drench I know because we have sheep, but hopefully he knows more than I, and we will see her get well. I am feeling so bad at stressing her like this, she is such a sweetie.
Janb

Janb · **Posted:** Thu Aug 31, 2006 5:28 pm

Hi folks,
Have today taken her Ladyship to the vet as she was not improved, even though we have dosed her for worms. Seems she has a lung infection, not worms! He gave her a jab of antibiotic and said if she was still alive on Saturday but still not well we will have to give her a course of antibiotic tablets. I have fingers, toes, everything crossed that she will be ok as she is such a sweetie. We have manhandled her so much over the past 5 days and she is putting up with it all. Maybe she is too sick to care! Thanks to all for your input and support during our first experience with a peafowl health problem.
Will let you know how she is on Saturday.
cheers
Janb

Janb · **Posted:** Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:10 pm

I know, I said I would let you all know how her Ladyship was on Saturday (tomorrow) but I need to talk to somebody about her today (Friday). At 4.30 pm, which is 24 hours after her antibiotic jab, Penny does not appear to be any different to yesterday. This morning I was very excited when I saw her searching for food in the hay on the floor of her isolation pen. I gave her soft bread and she seemed to be eating it with gusto. Unfortunately that was it!! For the rest of the day she has ignored lettuce, soft bread & sunflower seed. But.....she is still with us!! Still breathing in through her open beak, which is more obvious when she is laying down. Good grief, this is like having a sick child and feeling completely helpless. Wish she could talk! Hope things are better than today, come tomorrow morning.
cheers
Janb

snowbald · **Posted:** Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:03 pm

Janb,

I know how frustrated you feel. Hang in there --- follow your vets instructions and hope for the best.Did the vet do a dropping test for Gapeworm.

Owing to birds resistance being very low, they can go from real good to very bad in no time at all.

I treat my birds for what ever at the very first sign that something may be wrong, ie I move the bird into a smaller hospital cage which has a heated area,no drafts,lots of cool water, and no other birds to annoy her.

I tend to tempt the sick bird with a number of tit bits, apart from their normal rations, to try and keep them eating, ie lettuce, silverbeat, grapes, watermelon etc etc.I do not feed a lot of bread to birds--- too much yeast in the crop.

So hang in there and keep your bird draft free,warm and quiet, and follow your vets instructions and I hope all will be well for you.

Best regards,
Snowball :-D

Janb · **Posted:** Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:39 pm

Thanks for your response Snowball. We took Penny back to the vet this morning. She had not worsened but had not improved either since the antibiotic injection. This morning he wormed her with Panacur just so we have covered all the bases and showed me how to give her the antibiotic tablets she is to have for the next 4 days. He was not at all optimistic of her recovering. We can only try.
A very sad
Janb

Janb · **Posted:** Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:26 pm

Hi folks,
Well, we have been treating Penny with her antibiotic tablets for the past couple of days and she does not seem to be responding. Yesterday I thought she had improved but this morning she had regressed. This is so frustrating and I feel completely helpless. Vet advised if she did not improve within 48 hours from Saturday morning then she would not recover from her lung infection. We have passed the 48 hours and I am losing faith that she is going to get over this. Sometimes she will eat slivers of watermelon and peach, today she seemed to ignore everything but 9 grain bread. Not drinking much at all. I note when I insert her tablet into her neck that her breathing tube has little white lumps on it at the opening. The vet called them little postules of infection. I guess that would mean she has a sore throat and would explain why she doesn't eat or drink very much. I gave her 10ml of water via syringe tonight after giving her the antibiotic tablet. Her last tablet will be Wednesday morning, I will contact the vet again either Wednesday or Thursday and see what he suggests. I do fear for her as I don't think she is going to get better.
Janb

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