A worm in my egg? Photos!!

[AlineD]

OK, so it looks like I found a worm in an egg that I cracked open today. It doesn't look so much like the photos I've seen of roundworms in eggs; the worm-like object was very delicate, broke apart easily and was whispy and fibrous. It tapered off so much at the end you could barely see it. Not like spaghetti. But it was not connected to the yolk at all, and well, it sure looks wormy, doesn't it?

My chickens are only 6 months old. They've never been wormed, but they get ACV and garlic. They act completely healthy, and there have been no signs of worms in their droppings. Is it really possible they are so heavily infested as to infect their eggs?










I was able to separate out the strand from the white(it broke apart some when I did that), but separated it looked like this:






Any thoughts?

 

[krista74]

I'm no expert, but it looks like worms to me. And in my chicken reference book it does say that it is possible for heavily infested chickens to get worms in their eggs.

I think it may be time to consider getting some worm treatment for them. I don't know what you have access to in the US, but here in Australia we have a liquid wormer that you can simply add to their drinking water.

Good luck!

Krista

 

[dawg53]

It almost looks like a tapeworm strand, but it's not. It's a chalaza strand. Tapeworm strands have segments and I didnt see segments under magnification of the strand in the pics. It's unlikely your 6 month old hens would have tapeworms and a tapeworm strand that long would indicate they've had them for awhile. It would be more common for them to have large roundworms at 6 months old. Additionally there's no doubt that you'd see tapeworm segments in feces and you havnt mentioned anything about seeing segments in the feces.

 

[lazy gardener]

Also, a normal round worm is tough. So, unless that is a decomposed roundworm, I agree with PP that it is chalazae. Not your usual chalazae, but still chalazae. If you wanted to be on the safe side, you could take some fecal samples to the vet for a float test. If you know who that egg came from, be sure to include some of her poo. I would consider doing that before buying worm medication, and treating your whole flock, then having to throw away a lot of eggs.

 

[AlineD]

After reading as much as I could about worms, and looking at photos, I was kind of leaning toward not-worm, too. I agree- no segments visible. So your comments are very helpful. It is sure a weird strand of chalazae, and I still wonder if somehow it could be some other kind of debris, but I suppose the main thing is that it is hopefully not worms. I definitely have NOT seen worm evidence in their droppings, and I looked especially carefully this morning. No tapeworm segments. As I mentioned before, the birds seem very healthy and active. And I live in dry Wyoming, so I think such an infestation is unlikely. Sooooo... I'm going to try Rooster Booster and some other more natural worm deterrents (DE, Verm-X, garlic, cayenne, etc.) right now...keeping in mind the more serious stuff (Valbazen, Safeguard) for later.

Any votes on the best broad-spectrum non-worm-specific de-wormer?

Any other folks who want to weigh in are most welcome.

Thank you to those who replied!!

 

[dawg53]

After reading as much as I could about worms, and looking at photos, I was kind of leaning toward not-worm, too. I agree- no segments visible. So your comments are very helpful. It is sure a weird strand of chalazae, and I still wonder if somehow it could be some other kind of debris, but I suppose the main thing is that it is hopefully not worms. I definitely have NOT seen worm evidence in their droppings, and I looked especially carefully this morning. No tapeworm segments. As I mentioned before, the birds seem very healthy and active. And I live in dry Wyoming, so I think such an infestation is unlikely. Sooooo... I'm going to try Rooster Booster and some other more natural worm deterrents (DE, Verm-X, garlic, cayenne, etc.) right now...keeping in mind the more serious stuff (Valbazen, Safeguard) for later.

Any votes on the best broad-spectrum non-worm-specific de-wormer?

Any other folks who want to weigh in are most welcome.

Thank you to those who replied!!

DE and Verm-x are ineffective as a worm preventative and/or treatment. Garlic and cayenne pepper are ineffective against worm infestations.
What's an infestation? It's when you see worms in feces. Their innards are loaded with them that they have no other place to go but out the rear end.

 

[krista74]

My apologies for 'getting it wrong' on this occasion. I am still learning too!

I would still give them all a good worming treatment though - I do my girls every 6 months just to be on the safe side. Proactive instead of reactive, lol.

Have fun with your chickens!

Krista

 

[firebaughs]

Chickens are weak in terms of filtering toxins, so 'preventative' is not good. Unless you see worms in the poop, don't worm.

 

[dawg53]

Chickens are weak in terms of filtering toxins, so 'preventative' is not good. Unless you see worms in the poop, don't worm.

While you're waiting for worms to be excreted in poop, what exactly are the worms doing internally?
Worm excrement inside the chicken is toxic to the chicken. The wormer is toxic to the worms.

 

[firebaughs]

I give mine natural worming herbs/nuts... But if i saw one in the poop i would give them harsher meds. But mine free range. They worm themselves.