Chicken ate tape worm!

[game warden]

I happened to see one of the chickens eat a tapeworm from a fresh "pile" left behind from one of the many animals in the yard. I tried to get her to drop it but could only get part of it from her. I was told to feed the 'flock' (5 hens) diatemateous earth and that would do the trick. I was also told there should be no tapeworms that pass into the eggs even before that. Can anyone confirm this for me? And if I were to feed the chickens this on a monthly basis as a preventative measure (like I need to do with the cats but am clearly behind schedule) would it be harmful to the birds?

 

[Judy]

I have no idea whether a chicken can become infested with tapeworm after eating a piece of one. I have never seen any documentation that DE is at all effective internally against any intestinal worms, and indeed have read posts that it is not. The only wormer that is effective against tapeworms is Valbazen:

http://wwwhealthybirds.umd.edu/disease/deworming birds.pdf

It is very unusual for any worm to pass into an egg; they are just not in the same compartments, so it involves a defect of some sort.