WORMS HELP!!!!!

Can chickens get hookworms?
What other kind of worms could make a chicken anemic/dehydrated?
 
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Diatomaceous earth doesn't treat infestations or expel worms, so no - it would be a waste.

I've used the product for about 12 years and pushed for it when people still laughed at it. It's good for what it's GOOD for but shouldn't really be advocated for that which it's not.

Food grade DE is great however in the dust baths, and you can even use it in the feed (less than 2% of total feed weight) in hopes of reducing parasites. But remove them it will not.
 
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Many kinds. Your best bet is to worm first with Wazine to paralyze adults, and then go back with the fenbendazoles, etc that cover the types of worms you have to worry about with poultry.

The exception is the tapeworm which only is treated by one type of wormer alone.
 
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Wow, your vet actually said that? They can live with the worms, but the worms scar their digestive tract and any place they scar is thereafter a place where nutrients aren't absorbed. They predispose the animal to secondary illnesse, inflame the ceca, make the bird more susceptible to cocci when they wouldn't normally be, can encourage secondary bacterial digestive tract infections which result in unthriftiness and sometimes death.

I guess chickens are just disposable.

Frankly, I don't like worms stealing my birds' health, stealing my money that I spend on food for them, stealing egg production, and sometimes stealing their lives. The more worms you allow - the more are there to shed eggs and thus infect your chickens over and over.
 
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Wow, your vet actually said that? They can live with the worms, but the worms scar their digestive tract and any place they scar is thereafter a place where nutrients aren't absorbed. They predispose the animal to secondary illnesse, inflame the ceca, make the bird more susceptible to cocci when they wouldn't normally be, can encourage secondary bacterial digestive tract infections which result in unthriftiness and sometimes death.

I guess chickens are just disposable.

Frankly, I don't like worms stealing my birds' health, stealing my money that I spend on food for them, stealing egg production, and sometimes stealing their lives. The more worms you allow - the more are there to shed eggs and thus infect your chickens over and over.

Very good point. I do try to treat for worms or other diseases rather than only depending on the DE. I'm am only concerned about some of the deworming products and how that affects the eggs I eat. I wait the required wait time before eating eggs and sometimes I had an extra week or two just to be safe. Chickens seem to be dirty animals and it's very difficult to prevent many things even if I clean their water bowls daily and remove straw from their coop regularly.
 
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Wow, your vet actually said that? They can live with the worms, but the worms scar their digestive tract and any place they scar is thereafter a place where nutrients aren't absorbed. They predispose the animal to secondary illnesse, inflame the ceca, make the bird more susceptible to cocci when they wouldn't normally be, can encourage secondary bacterial digestive tract infections which result in unthriftiness and sometimes death.

I guess chickens are just disposable.

Frankly, I don't like worms stealing my birds' health, stealing my money that I spend on food for them, stealing egg production, and sometimes stealing their lives. The more worms you allow - the more are there to shed eggs and thus infect your chickens over and over.

I also wondered about various people saying chickens can live with worms most of the time..I figure most vets think in terms of commercial chickens..They are not bred to live long and are for consumption by humans..so I think most vets probably are not thinking long term health benefits for chickens..My vet knows I dont' eat my chickens (I don't eat any chickens, beef, fish or anything else that could ever look at me) and that they are part of my family, so she's pretty good about helping me out when one is sick..
 
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Many kinds. Your best bet is to worm first with Wazine to paralyze adults, and then go back with the fenbendazoles, etc that cover the types of worms you have to worry about with poultry.

The exception is the tapeworm which only is treated by one type of wormer alone.

Thank you for your response..
Wazine says on the bottle dont' give it to sick or weak chickens, and that's what I have..a very sick/weak rooster.. I wondered if chickens could get hooks because I know you can't see those with the naked eye, and after I wormed him with the Panacur, I watched closely and never saw him pass any worms I could detect..
 
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I completely agree with your concerns, honestly. And truth be known, just the thought that worms are going to be shedding through the same kind of area as the eggs are forming.... yeah. I wait, too.

I also try to worm as little often as possible. Both for the sake of chemicals, and the sake of keeping the chemicals useful. (Worming too often causes resistance). Actually I was trained to read fecals for eggs, so this Christmas I'm getting a microscope to do my own fecal egg counts. (What a fun person I am at a party! LOL) But still - I'd rather not have to even do it twice a year if I could use DE inbetween, or cayenne, or both and get away with it. I just want good proof that my program is working if I don't worm.

And then of course there are always new incoming birds, etc.c
 
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What is the situation with your chicken, exactly? Maybe we can help. What symptoms are you seeing, what makes you think it's worms, etc?

By the way, you'll rarely ever see them pass worms as it's the worm's "job" to stay inside the chicken (where they can live) and expell their infective eggs. Also some worms are larval and are in places other than the digestive tract, so you sure won't see them there.

The only really effective way to "see" if your birds haven't worms, or rather haven't much of an infestation at all, is by doing a "fecal egg count". Feces are examined under a microscope by a qualified vet tech for eggs shed. That is a better indication of who's shedding them.

Now, if you see a worm in the droppings, you know that there's a problem. (Unless you've just used a wormer - then you know your wormer is really outdoing itself on doing its job.) In those cases, I always always always use Wazine first.

In fact, I only use wazine if:
- The bird is under four months old (then I only use Wazine)
- The bird is thin and/or has diarrhea
- The bird hasn't been wormed with in over 6 months
- The bird has an unknown worming history
- The bird or flock has shed a worm

Wazine only paralyzes and expels adult worms, not larvae. It's the most conservative approach as it's least likely to cause a heavily infested bird to go into shock or clog. That's why I use it in the above cases. But since it only paralyzes adults, its design is to be repeated as it leaves larva. So instead of repeating with Wazine, I repeat with a more broad spectrum wormer that kills (not just paralyzes) both adults and larva. Those would be ivermectin (pour-on for cattle 5%), eprinomectin pour-on, fenbendazole (Wormazole is one form - there are many), Valbazen, or levamisole. I tend towards fenben and ivermectin (generic). That way I do my best to stop the cycle. Then I worm twice annually with the broad-spectrum.

I also do sometimes use more natural products inbetween in hopes of reducing numbers. These products do not directly kill or paralyze worms, nor do they treat an infestation, but they can possibly either indirectly kill parasites in the digestive tract (not elsewhere) or possibly repel them. Maybe. It's worth a shot to me.

DE food grade only in the feed less than 2% of total food weight, not bulk.
Cayenne sprinkled on the feed daily.
VermX, a self-proclaimed worm repeller used 3 consecutive days a month. (they won't email me back exactly what worms their product expels, and their literature never claims to, but it could be very handy stuff if you know what it's forte' is)

There's some info for you. If you reply, I hope we can help you with your boy.
 
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What is the situation with your chicken, exactly? Maybe we can help. What symptoms are you seeing, what makes you think it's worms, etc?

By the way, you'll rarely ever see them pass worms as it's the worm's "job" to stay inside the chicken (where they can live) and expell their infective eggs. Also some worms are larval and are in places other than the digestive tract, so you sure won't see them there.

The only really effective way to "see" if your birds haven't worms, or rather haven't much of an infestation at all, is by doing a "fecal egg count". Feces are examined under a microscope by a qualified vet tech for eggs shed. That is a better indication of who's shedding them.

Now, if you see a worm in the droppings, you know that there's a problem. (Unless you've just used a wormer - then you know your wormer is really outdoing itself on doing its job.) In those cases, I always always always use Wazine first.

In fact, I only use wazine if:
- The bird is under four months old (then I only use Wazine)
- The bird is thin and/or has diarrhea
- The bird hasn't been wormed with in over 6 months
- The bird has an unknown worming history
- The bird or flock has shed a worm

Wazine only paralyzes and expels adult worms, not larvae. It's the most conservative approach as it's least likely to cause a heavily infested bird to go into shock or clog. That's why I use it in the above cases. But since it only paralyzes adults, its design is to be repeated as it leaves larva. So instead of repeating with Wazine, I repeat with a more broad spectrum wormer that kills (not just paralyzes) both adults and larva. Those would be ivermectin (pour-on for cattle 5%), eprinomectin pour-on, fenbendazole (Wormazole is one form - there are many), Valbazen, or levamisole. I tend towards fenben and ivermectin (generic). That way I do my best to stop the cycle. Then I worm twice annually with the broad-spectrum.

I also do sometimes use more natural products inbetween in hopes of reducing numbers. These products do not directly kill or paralyze worms, nor do they treat an infestation, but they can possibly either indirectly kill parasites in the digestive tract (not elsewhere) or possibly repel them. Maybe. It's worth a shot to me.

DE food grade only in the feed less than 2% of total food weight, not bulk.
Cayenne sprinkled on the feed daily.
VermX, a self-proclaimed worm repeller used 3 consecutive days a month. (they won't email me back exactly what worms their product expels, and their literature never claims to, but it could be very handy stuff if you know what it's forte' is)

There's some info for you. If you reply, I hope we can help you with your boy.

Hi..Thank you for all the information..
The situation with my rooster is for some unknown reason, about 3 weeks ago he apparently fell from his roost one night..That's about a 4 ft drop..I had a bucket in there on it's side with bricks to keep it from rolling so he could go in it when he wanted to during the day. He apparently hit one of the brick edges with his back hen he fell, and next morning when I went out there, he was only able to use one leg..After 2 days, a swelling on his lower back appeared..He stopped eating, got too weak to stand on the one foot..
I feared being down, he would get pneumonia so put him on antibiotic. I don't even know that would keep him from getting pneumonia..At day 5 of that med, vet said I could use an oral version of a steroid on him so we started that. The swelling reduced on his back considerably, but not entirely..The antibiotic seemed to make his appetite growand he ate well, but it was though out there, and he wasn't really drinking much of the medicine water. His face started going white and dry looking, so I started giving him the water with an eyedropper, but he wouldnt take much..Not even an ounce the whole day. He was eating watermelon and grapes a lot though..So day 7 of antibiotic, I stopped that, thinking it was drying him out..Got him weaned off the steriod a few days later..Face continued to get whiter and dryer, rooster got weaker.. He appeared to be dehydrated and anemic..Vet said it could be worms..She said I could give him Panacur.. He got weaker after that.. Though he ate pretty good yesterday, this morning he was panting hard when I went to get him out of his bucket.. I tried ice in jars near him, had a fan on him..Got some yougurt and water into him, and he picked up some grit, then for the fiorst time in all this time I saw him take 6 sips of water on his own..But he was panting still...Thought he was too hot, maybe feverish..His comb and wattles still pale, but not purple or blue as if he wasn't getting oxygen...Got the bright idea to bring him in the house where it is cool..His panting got worse, and I discovered his nose was stopped up, and coming in the house made it worse..He could'nt drink or eat at all..He kept fading out like he was super tired. I took him back outside, and within a few minutes he was able to breathe through his nose a little again, and I got a little water in him, and he ate a few grains..But still breathing through his mouth mostly, which seems to bother him..
At bedtime, for the first time, he did not turn himeslf and work his way to the bucket opening..I went in and put him in his bucket..I don't expect he will last the night..HIs lungs are clear..but having a stuffed up nose exhausts a body and you can't sleep well..
Poor little guy has fought for so long, and to think he wil probably pass on because of a stuffed up nose is just mean..
 

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