Deworming with Zimerecterin gold, questions

[chickengoesmeow]

I had a hen die last week, and the necropsy results revealed she had an abundant tapeworm infestation. No worms or eggs were noted in the gross pathology, but there were 50+ eggs reported in the fecal float. I have never seen any worm segments or eggs in their poop (I have been checking every day since I got the results back three days ago, and I scrap their poop daily so I feel like I would've noticed), but I still ordered some Zimecterin gold for them anyways. Apparently it was severe enough the lab included it in her cause of death, but to be honest I'm not sure how much I trust their diagnosis. They are saying she died from a mix of tapeworms and fatty liver, and while she did have both, her lungs were severely hemerrahaged and falling apart which seems like a bigger issue to me.

I am planning on going ahead and treating them just to be safe, but I have some questions.

1. Should you restrict their food for 24 hours beforehand? I've heard some people say you should, some didn't mention it.

2. Should you give it to them plain or with food?

3. What's the recommended egg withdrawl?

4. Adding onto the egg withdrawl question, I read on another thread here that you can never sell eggs or meat from birds treated with praziquantel because it's not approved for poultry. Does this apply to chicks hatched from eggs from parents treated with praziquantel? Could I still sell chicks if I made it clear their parents were treated with praziquantel? As I am interpretting it, the issue is with people not knowing the eggs/meat have traces of praziquantel for allergy reasons or drug interactions so wouldn't saying they were treated avoid this?

5. Can I give it with food?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about your hen.

Zimectrin Gold is dosed by weight, so just give it by direct oral dose.

You can give the medication first thing in the morning.

Links to the threads that you read about withdrawal periods? It would be helpful to know what was said/worded.

There is no set guideline for withdrawal period of Praziquantel in poultry for the USA. You will have to do your own research and make a determination on your own whether you want to observe a withdrawal period or not and how many days.

I'm not sure I understand the question about chicks/hatching.

You may not always see signs of worms in poop. With Tapeworm, it's more likely to see Proglittids, but not always. And the hen that died may have been the only hen to have Tapeworms.

Dosing information:::
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/treating-tapeworms-under-construction.1220309/

 

[chickengoesmeow]

I'm sorry about your hen.

Zimectrin Gold is dosed by weight, so just give it by direct oral dose.

You can give the medication first thing in the morning.

Links to the threads that you read about withdrawal periods? It would be helpful to know what was said/worded.

There is no set guideline for withdrawal period of Praziquantel in poultry for the USA. You will have to do your own research and make a determination on your own whether you want to observe a withdrawal period or not and how many days.

I'm not sure I understand the question about chicks/hatching.

You may not always see signs of worms in poop. With Tapeworm, it's more likely to see Proglittids, but not always. And the hen that died may have been the only hen to have Tapeworms.

Dosing information:::
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/treating-tapeworms-under-construction.1220309/

Here's the thread I saw people talking about the withdrawl details: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/worming-chickens-with-zimecterin-gold.1314819/

 

[dawg53]

I've dealt with tapeworms many times. It's strange that you never observed tapeworm segments in the feces of that particular bird. The segments are shed from the tapeworm internally from inside the host (chicken) and excreted in feces. The segments work their way into the soil where they open up and release thousands of tapeworm eggs to be eaten by insects. The infected insects are eaten by a chicken. The small white in color (sometimes yellow in color) segments seen in feces are a dead giveaway that a bird has tapeworms. Keep in mind that not all insects are tapeworm infected.
Since your hen had an abundant amount of tapeworms internally, I'd expect internal damage throughout the body.

Keep in mind that not all birds will have tapeworms in your flock. It's entirely possible that only ONE bird was infected with tapeworms because that ONE bird ate an infected insect. There is no need to treat other birds that do not show segments in the feces. Luckily, your other birds havnt eaten an infected insect.
It would be a different story regarding any types of poultry roundworms. In that instance, ALL your birds would need to be wormed. You'd need to use Valbazen, Safeguard or Levamisole to treat roundworm infections.
Roundworms have a Direct lifecycle, tapeworms have an Indirect lifecycle.
Generally there is a 14 day withdrawal period after using Praziquantel.
I've eaten eggs after the withdrawal period, I'm still here typing.