Cecal Worm Management

[twobirds]

Hi, I am a first year chicken person. We have had a few bumps in the road I'm trying to sort out. A few weeks ago I noticed my 6 hens were all thin - their keels were sharp. They were eating well and laying. I noticed more loose, stinky, cecal type dropping than usual so I had a fecal sample run and it had cecal worms (Few, 3-10) and tapeworms (many, >30). I don't think I saw tapes in the droppings, though. I have goat safeguard and equimax paste. Here are my 2 questions:

1. Searching through the threads I've seen a several different doses for the safeguard, and maybe the dose is different for different types of worms? I wondered if someone could confirm the dosing specifically for cecal worms.

2. The raised coop has shavings and we didn't know to have a droppings board, so I remove the droppings every morning. The run has a base of dirt and we have started the deep litter method. Until about 2 weeks ago the run tended to be pretty wet - we now have that fixed and it stays completely dry. Would you recommend we remove the top layer of the litter and dirt in the run to help prevent re-infection with the cecal worms? The girls have supervised free range time each day and I have seen them eat earthworms out there which I saw can also cause infection, so I wonder if cleaning out the run is worth it? (I have 3 sons I can put to work if it is worth it )
I really appreciate your help!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Casportpony is the more experienced worm expert here. SafeGuard 1/4 ml per pound of weight given for 3-5 days in a row is a good treatment for cecal worms. For tapeworms praziquantel is the drug that treats them best. Equimax horse paste has that. There are a couple of different wormers that contain it. Tapes are difficult to get rid of totally. Maybe Kathy will chime in with better advice.

 

[twobirds]

Thank you, Eggsessive! I'll go with that dose of the safeguard. Do you or anyone else know if it is more likely that the tapes caused the weight loss, or the cecal worms?