tape worm question

[lizro]

Got rescue hens 5 weeks ago, they are about 18 months old; wormed them with Panacur, got plenty roundworms. All good. (today is Tuesd) Sunday I noticed little white moving things on a dropping which I am pretty confident is Tapeworm - I have read lots of threads and compared photos. I have ordered Equimax and found advice re how much to give on the forum.
I am picking up the droppings every few hours from the garden and most still have a few tapeworms and there are some in the grass which I am picking out with my fine forceps! Might change my name to paranoia. My question is - will these tapeworms keep coming out of the hens even tho I have not given the worming paste and this is the third day of visible worms in the droppings. Are the worms coming out because I started the hens on a daily dose of AVC which I put in their mash? Other than picking up the droppings and any worms from the garden should I do anything else? I will give the Equimax as soon as. Thanks in advance for any advice. Liz.

 

[Eggcessive]

Dawg 53 is the best worm expert on BYC. He has many threads or posts on the subject. Here is the search page for tapeworm, and you can read many of his posts here by clicking on these different threads: https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=tapeworm

 

[dawg53]

My question is - will these tapeworms keep coming out of the hens even tho I have not given the worming paste and this is the third day of visible worms in the droppings. Are the worms coming out because I started the hens on a daily dose of AVC which I put in their mash? I will give the Equimax as soon as. Thanks in advance for any advice. Liz.

ACV wont do squat against tapeworms or any other worms, period. You need to give them the Equimax NOW. Give a "pea" size amount of the paste orally to each chicken and repeat again in 10 days.

 

[lizro]

Yes I will give the Equimax as soon as it comes - hopefully tomorrow as ordered yesterday. Is it usual to see so many worms in the droppings even before the wormer is given?

 

[dawg53]

Yes I will give the Equimax as soon as it comes - hopefully tomorrow as ordered yesterday. Is it usual to see so many worms in the droppings even before the wormer is given?

Those are tapeworm segments, not the tapeworm itself. Each rice like segment you see contains hundreds of eggs. Each segment works its way onto and into the soil where the eggs are released. The eggs are eaten by insects, then chickens eat the infected insects and become infected.
After administering the equimax, the praziquantel will kill the tapeworm itself. It will be digested and absorbed as protein in the chickens digestive tract. It might be possible that you'll see pieces or stringy segments excreted in feces. Tapeworms are flat and segmented aka cestodes.
If you've dosed the equimax properly as I mentioned, you will not see segments in feces thereafter. However, it's possible your birds will continue to eat infected insects and the tapeworms lifecycle will start over again and will require reworming with the equimax.
This is why it's imperative to quickly treat for tapeworms to eliminate their lifecycle or you could be treating your birds for a long time to come.

 

[lizro]

Dawg53 thank you very much for the very helpful reply.
Just a last question if you don't mind. Some of the eggs in the droppings move and climb up the blades of grass so are these immature tape worms. Some just look like eggs with no movement. I saw a post somewhere about dwarf tapeworms that can live in humans. I hope we not got those ones.
Really appreciate your advice. Thank you.

 

[dawg53]

Dawg53 thank you very much for the very helpful reply.
Just a last question if you don't mind. Some of the eggs in the droppings move and climb up the blades of grass so are these immature tape worms. Some just look like eggs with no movement. I saw a post somewhere about dwarf tapeworms that can live in humans. I hope we not got those ones.
Really appreciate your advice. Thank you.

It's possible this can occur. An ant or grasshopper would love a tapeworm segment to snack on lol.