FowlRancher
Chirping
Yet another de-worming thread on this forum, however I would just like to verify the things I've gleaned off of this website as well as ask for help with what I think are severely ill chickens (at least one of them!)
So I made a mistake, we saw some "1 year old hens" for sale locally of different breeds which we wanted. It was a nice situation to be able to pick and choose a grown hen to augment our egg production. Our excitement got the best of us and we didn't fully inspect their coop or run, we didn't ask the lady and health questions, we didn't really inspect the chickens either we just paid her the small amount she was asking and happily took our 4 new laying hens home.
Upon arrival I set them up in an XXL dog crate near the existing coop to let them integrate with my flock. It's important to note at this point I had zero knowledge of medicating chickens and de-worming was never a concept. Up until this time my existing 3 Rhode Island Reds were healthy and happy laying almost every day.
With my limited knowledge I dosed all of my chickens water with Apple Cider Vinegar in their sole water sources, and fed them fresh garlic every day for 4 days. Everything seemed fine and then it was time to integrate them with the flock. I let them loose together, they pecked, they ran around and sorted things out.
The next morning I found something out of my nightmares...
The poop is bad. I don't know much about chickens but I knew this was bad. The poop is green, bloody, and filled with unknown worms. (From my research I think these are common roundworms.)
I've read that sometimes chickens will purge sections of their intestinal lining normally/naturally but with worms in the mix this is obviously something more severe.
I'm about 90% certain it was one of two new chickens, as they were the ones sitting, unmoving on the perch that would have had them pooping here. With my still limited knowledge I quarantined both of them, upped the dose of ACV, and did a relatively deep clean of the coop which included spreading a dusting of DE powder on everything afterward.
I naively thought to myself, "Hey, maybe I cured them and they are just purging their systems?" and didn't see another poop like this for another 24 hours. With the chickens "Cured" I put them back into the coop. The next morning I found two more piles like this, bloody, and severely wormy.
At this point I called around to a few local vet offices that claimed to treat birds and "exotics" but I could not afford to go that route with these new hens that are likely on the verge of death. This is where my research rabbit hole has taken me, with many, many thanks to the knowledge shared on this website!
Since I am in Canada in this great year of 2022 (lol) I seem to have very limited "official" options for de-worming. In fact the only approved laying hen de-wormer I could find in Canada is Piperazine Dihydrochloride 53% (in powder form) which only treats roundworms.
I wanted to be certain to purge my entire flock of these parasites, since at this point their wormy poop was sure to be spread around the local hen populace. I then learned of Safe-guard AKA Fenbendazole. I could not afford to wait or order the oral solution people recommended for goats, but the paste was available locally as well (Strength of 10% I calculated to be 100mg per 1g of cream, so administer .25ml of paste per pound of bird weight.)
I can also buy Ivermectin locally for off-label use but want to avoid that route for now if possible.
For de-worming I have learned that you must do two cycles, especially with Piperazine Dihydrochloride. I have also learned that Piperazine Dihydrochloride does not kill the worms it simply paralyzes them and allows them to pass, after which the worms die as they can not survive longer than 10 minutes out of their host (assuming they are round worms).
Yesterday I administered Piperazine Dihydrochloride to all of my chickens as their sole water source and it will stay there until at least 24 hours have passed and they have all drank. This morning I did find a few wormy but very normal looking poops around the coop which I can only assume are the "regular" and unnoticed worms the chickens probably all had before in smaller quantities (Isn't nature beautiful?) but I have not found any more dramatically bloody and wormy poops like the one pictured. I'm expecting the bird that left this bloody mess is going to be purging a ton of worms?
My research has also lead me to believe that I should administer the more mild Piperazine Dihydrochloride as the first treatment, and the follow up at day 12-14 should be a stronger more broad spectrum de-wormer, in this case Fenbendazole since it will actually kill the parasites as opposed to paralyze them.
Assuming I do this while cleaning the coop as best I can every day, as well as a deep, deep clean after the final treatment with a complete sanitization of their coop and run... Should I be able to take care of these worms?
So out of this I have a few questions/statements I'd like to confirm.
Side Note: I'm worried that it may be too late for whichever chicken it is that took the nasty poop in the picture. That seems quite severe to me and the other two that I didn't take pictures of looked even worse and more wormy. The most suspected chicken has been on its own for a couple days and seems to be improving in terms of moving around, clucking, eating, drinking, etc. but I've heard of many similar cases where the chicken will die within a few months anyways.
Anyone care to chime in?
EDIT: Additonal, additional note, I did notice one of the suspected chickens throwing up a clean liquid or bile kind of gunk. Which I also read is a sign of a severely ill chicken. Could this be sour crop or even coccidiosis that I should treat at the same time with Amprolium?
So I made a mistake, we saw some "1 year old hens" for sale locally of different breeds which we wanted. It was a nice situation to be able to pick and choose a grown hen to augment our egg production. Our excitement got the best of us and we didn't fully inspect their coop or run, we didn't ask the lady and health questions, we didn't really inspect the chickens either we just paid her the small amount she was asking and happily took our 4 new laying hens home.
Upon arrival I set them up in an XXL dog crate near the existing coop to let them integrate with my flock. It's important to note at this point I had zero knowledge of medicating chickens and de-worming was never a concept. Up until this time my existing 3 Rhode Island Reds were healthy and happy laying almost every day.
With my limited knowledge I dosed all of my chickens water with Apple Cider Vinegar in their sole water sources, and fed them fresh garlic every day for 4 days. Everything seemed fine and then it was time to integrate them with the flock. I let them loose together, they pecked, they ran around and sorted things out.
The next morning I found something out of my nightmares...
The poop is bad. I don't know much about chickens but I knew this was bad. The poop is green, bloody, and filled with unknown worms. (From my research I think these are common roundworms.)
I've read that sometimes chickens will purge sections of their intestinal lining normally/naturally but with worms in the mix this is obviously something more severe.
I'm about 90% certain it was one of two new chickens, as they were the ones sitting, unmoving on the perch that would have had them pooping here. With my still limited knowledge I quarantined both of them, upped the dose of ACV, and did a relatively deep clean of the coop which included spreading a dusting of DE powder on everything afterward.
I naively thought to myself, "Hey, maybe I cured them and they are just purging their systems?" and didn't see another poop like this for another 24 hours. With the chickens "Cured" I put them back into the coop. The next morning I found two more piles like this, bloody, and severely wormy.
At this point I called around to a few local vet offices that claimed to treat birds and "exotics" but I could not afford to go that route with these new hens that are likely on the verge of death. This is where my research rabbit hole has taken me, with many, many thanks to the knowledge shared on this website!
Since I am in Canada in this great year of 2022 (lol) I seem to have very limited "official" options for de-worming. In fact the only approved laying hen de-wormer I could find in Canada is Piperazine Dihydrochloride 53% (in powder form) which only treats roundworms.
I wanted to be certain to purge my entire flock of these parasites, since at this point their wormy poop was sure to be spread around the local hen populace. I then learned of Safe-guard AKA Fenbendazole. I could not afford to wait or order the oral solution people recommended for goats, but the paste was available locally as well (Strength of 10% I calculated to be 100mg per 1g of cream, so administer .25ml of paste per pound of bird weight.)
I can also buy Ivermectin locally for off-label use but want to avoid that route for now if possible.
For de-worming I have learned that you must do two cycles, especially with Piperazine Dihydrochloride. I have also learned that Piperazine Dihydrochloride does not kill the worms it simply paralyzes them and allows them to pass, after which the worms die as they can not survive longer than 10 minutes out of their host (assuming they are round worms).
Yesterday I administered Piperazine Dihydrochloride to all of my chickens as their sole water source and it will stay there until at least 24 hours have passed and they have all drank. This morning I did find a few wormy but very normal looking poops around the coop which I can only assume are the "regular" and unnoticed worms the chickens probably all had before in smaller quantities (Isn't nature beautiful?) but I have not found any more dramatically bloody and wormy poops like the one pictured. I'm expecting the bird that left this bloody mess is going to be purging a ton of worms?
My research has also lead me to believe that I should administer the more mild Piperazine Dihydrochloride as the first treatment, and the follow up at day 12-14 should be a stronger more broad spectrum de-wormer, in this case Fenbendazole since it will actually kill the parasites as opposed to paralyze them.
Assuming I do this while cleaning the coop as best I can every day, as well as a deep, deep clean after the final treatment with a complete sanitization of their coop and run... Should I be able to take care of these worms?
So out of this I have a few questions/statements I'd like to confirm.
- The worms in the poop pictured are roundworms.
- Day 1 treatment is Piperazine Dihydrochloride 53% in sole source of water at dosage mentioned above for 24 hours minimum.
- Day 12 treatment is orally administered Fenbendazole at dosage mentioned above to treat for broad spectrum of parasites.
- I should be finding lots of dead worms in their poop while I'm cleaning the coop.
- 14-20 day withdrawal period from eating eggs.
Side Note: I'm worried that it may be too late for whichever chicken it is that took the nasty poop in the picture. That seems quite severe to me and the other two that I didn't take pictures of looked even worse and more wormy. The most suspected chicken has been on its own for a couple days and seems to be improving in terms of moving around, clucking, eating, drinking, etc. but I've heard of many similar cases where the chicken will die within a few months anyways.
Anyone care to chime in?
EDIT: Additonal, additional note, I did notice one of the suspected chickens throwing up a clean liquid or bile kind of gunk. Which I also read is a sign of a severely ill chicken. Could this be sour crop or even coccidiosis that I should treat at the same time with Amprolium?
