Hi dawg53,
Fleas are the host for infective tapeworm eggs for most animals, chickens too if they manage to eat one. Chickens eat all types of insects, that's how they are infected with tapeworms and other types of worms. That's called an"indirect" lifecycle when the worm egg(s) have a host. A "direct" lifecycle is when the chicken pecks the ground, which they do constantly, picks up worm eggs directly from the soil. The only way to slow or stop the worms lifecycle is to worm birds on a regular basis. Worming birds regularly kills the worms, then they cant lay eggs to contaminate your soil. It's that simple. It's an ongoing battle for an age old problem. Some worm eggs can survive in soil for years, even in frozen soil. There are some folks here in this forum that believe since they live in the frozen upper midwest or north, they dont have to worm their birds or have never wormed their birds as long as they have owned them. It's true that their soil may be frozen 10 months of the year, but during the two warm months of the year, microbic growth and reproduction of organisms are greatest. That's when their birds will get worms. Then in a month or two they wonder why their birds become lethargic and die off, or they die from some type of respiratory disease...root cause due to worms weakening their birds immune system. I've seen it happen and it's preventable.
