Do my chickens have worms?

[dolihen1]

My 2 month old chickens always rush to the spot where I keep their water dish, and I finally discovered why. Yesterday when I was cleaning the water dish, I found little worms on the bottom of the dish. They look like little maggots without the dark heads or tails ( I don't know which is which). I've never seen them in their poop, or in the wood chip litter when I clean their brooder. ( They should be outside by now, and will be soon). To tell the truth I never looked very hard at the poop unless is is fresh and I wipe it up with a paper towel. Do they have worms, then eat the ones they poop out? Could they be fly larvae, since the garage doors were open most warm days? What should I do?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My 2 month old chickens always rush to the spot where I keep their water dish, and I finally discovered why. Yesterday when I was cleaning the water dish, I found little worms on the bottom of the dish. They look like little maggots without the dark heads or tails ( I don't know which is which). I've never seen them in their poop, or in the wood chip litter when I clean their brooder. ( They should be outside by now, and will be soon). To tell the truth I never looked very hard at the poop unless is is fresh and I wipe it up with a paper towel. Do they have worms, then eat the ones they poop out? Could they be fly larvae, since the garage doors were open most warm days? What should I do?

Whether or not your chickens are wormy is a mute point. Any chicken who spends time free ranging will in all likely hood be wormy.

You know your area better than I, but I would recommend a regular worming regiment either every 3 or 6 months.

 

[Pork Pie]

I'd think that if they have been kept in a brooder then it could well be that what you are seeing is some kind of insect larvae.

 

[dolihen1]

They are still in the brooder, and will not be free range. They have a very nice coop waiting but some bad weather has delayed their transfer. We had 80-90+ degree weather for a week and flies were around that week. I am hoping that I saw insect larvae, but will look into your worming advise. Thanks for responding,

 

[dolihen1]

I hope you are right. I cleaned the brooder last night and saw just a few maggot looking worms under the water dish, and two in the actual wood chip litter. I even looked at a few of their behinds and they were clean. Also no worms in poop, and I looked closely. Thanks for responding!

 

[azygous]

I agree with CT. If you've noticed flies buzzing around the brooder, it's most likely fly larvae you're seeing. It doesn't take long for the maggots to hatch, and chickens find them an exquisite delicacy.

 

[dolihen1]

So it seems, fights almost breakout when one of them spots one. They stand on the scooper when I am cleaning the brooder in case they see one, and they have really good eyesight!

Thank you all for responding.

 

[casportpony]

Try not to let the area get so wet... Moist bedding is a host for all sorts of things that could be harmful to your birds.