Broody hen now has worms

[Phlimm]

I am not sure if these are related or not.

I have three hens who all share a coop that is 8x8x7 and they free range in the back yard all day.

Recently the black one became broody. Sat in the nesting box (plastic crate on its side) all day and night. For the last 2 days I have closed the coop off so she cannot get to the box. Other hens are laying under a tree.

Just as I was putting them in the coop tonight, the black one pooped out a mass of writhing spaghetti looking worms...about 3-4 inches long, maybe 10 of them. Within 1 minute they were all gobbled up by the three chickens.

I am assuming this is something I need to take care of soon. But is it related to her sitting all day long? What causes the worms? What do I use to get rid of them? I assume I'll need to treat all three hens. Are eggs OK to eat during treatment?

Is this something that can transfer to us humans or our cats in the house if we step in poop and track it in?

Ugh.

Thanks.

 

[dawg53]

I am not sure if these are related or not.

I have three hens who all share a coop that is 8x8x7 and they free range in the back yard all day.

Recently the black one became broody. Sat in the nesting box (plastic crate on its side) all day and night. For the last 2 days I have closed the coop off so she cannot get to the box. Other hens are laying under a tree.

Just as I was putting them in the coop tonight, the black one pooped out a mass of writhing spaghetti looking worms...about 3-4 inches long, maybe 10 of them. Within 1 minute they were all gobbled up by the three chickens.

I am assuming this is something I need to take care of soon. But is it related to her sitting all day long? What causes the worms? What do I use to get rid of them? I assume I'll need to treat all three hens. Are eggs OK to eat during treatment?

Is this something that can transfer to us humans or our cats in the house if we step in poop and track it in?

Ugh.

Thanks.

The worms you saw are most likely large roundworms. Chickens pick up worm eggs from the soil, if their feet touch the ground they'll get worms. Worms that chickens get are host specific, meaning only chickens can get them. There are many types of worms that chickens can get; not only large roundworms, cecal worms, capillary worms, tapeworms to just name a few. When your hen excreted the large roundworms, it means she has an infestation and you'll need to worm all your birds. Worms will eventually kill a chicken. I recommend using valbazen cattle/sheep wormer. It's a broad spectrum wormer that kills all known worms that chickens can get. It slowly kills worms over several days effectively preventing toxic dead worm overload in the chickens system like other wormers can cause.
Valbazen can be ordered from Jefferslivestock.com if your feed store doesnt carry it.
Use a syringe to administer it orally undiluted. Dosage is 1/2cc for standard size, 1/4cc for smaller birds. Redose them again in 10 days. There's a withdrawal period of 24 days from start to finish.

 

[Phlimm]

Thank you for the quick reply. One other question I had after my post - what about the eggs I have now? Are they OK to eat? Can the worms get into the eggs?

Also, and this is going to be a bit embarrassing - I have no idea how to pick up my hens. They always run away from me even if I have treats, I cannot get close enough to grab them. How will I administer the meds? Can I just soak some bread pieces in it and make sure each one gets dosed? Separating them into the coop is easy enough if I can do that.

Oh yes...how often will they need to be treated? Losing 24 days of eggs is significant...especially if they go and get worms again in a month.

Thanks a lot again!

 

[dawg53]

Thank you for the quick reply. One other question I had after my post - what about the eggs I have now? Are they OK to eat? Can the worms get into the eggs?

Also, and this is going to be a bit embarrassing - I have no idea how to pick up my hens. They always run away from me even if I have treats, I cannot get close enough to grab them. How will I administer the meds? Can I just soak some bread pieces in it and make sure each one gets dosed? Separating them into the coop is easy enough if I can do that.

Oh yes...how often will they need to be treated? Losing 24 days of eggs is significant...especially if they go and get worms again in a month.

Thanks a lot again!

The eggs you have now prior to worming are good to eat. It is possible a worm can get into an egg, but very rare. Grab your birds when they are sleeping after dark while on the roosts. Have someone hold them while you administer the wormer. Simply pull the hens wattles down, her mouth will open and shoot the liquid in the hens mouth and immediately let go of the wattles so that the hen can swallow the liquid on her own, if you dont, she might aspirate.
The problem with soaking the bread is that the other hens will try stealing the bread from each other and you'll never know which one got dosed, then the worry of possible overdosing. If you can seperate and dose them 1 by 1, that will work. The dosage on the bread is the same as given orally. As far as continued worming goes, that's up to your soil conditions. Warm/wet soil requires more frequent wormings than dry, cold mountainous or desertlike soil conditions. Here where I live, the soil is warm and moist most of the year and I worm every 3 months or less sometimes. Some people worm twice a year or once a year, sometimes longer. It's really up to you when you want to worm your birds.

 

[Phlimm]

Thank so much for this invaluable information! I live in Phoenix so our soil is hot and dry except when we water the lawn. I guess we will cut that back a bit to only when needed. Having only 3 chickens, cooping each one separately will be much easier so we'll go with the bread method for administering medication.