Doing a fecal egg count at home

[junglebird]

I just read up on how to do a fecal egg count at home on this excellent website (if you're into goats and cheesemaking!): Fias Co Farm There's even an equipment list with links!

Only thing is, it's for goats.

Would parasite eggs in chickens look any different? Below are pics of worm eggs from that site and others also not specific to chickens. This is a random grab of parasites.

roundworm

gapeworm

tapeworms

Coccidia

and flukes

* This site was helpful, too: http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/fecal-flotation.html#float-parasite
* Damerow's book, "Chicken Health Handbook" also describes how to do the count, but doesn't provide pictures. She says:
500 eggs/gram is a moderate infestation
1000 eggs/gram calls for prompt treatment, but she also says you'd need a centrifuge to spin that many eggs

How do you do fecal eggs counts?

I've got 9 month old chickens who have never been wormed. I'll be doing this home exam to determine how we're managing, and whether we need to worm.

Edited to correct links above

 

[Chickielady]

May help, may not help, but about 6 years ago I bought a reasonable microscope that had 4 powers and a slide flip..and light.
It also had plastic slides and plastic tweezers, a kid's microscope kits at Toys R Us.
Waite, don't laugh !
I have used it over and over and then had friends coming over asking and wanting smears to be read.
We got glass slides elsewhere..but anyway we used this microscope to look at smears taken from our koi, looking for parasites, flukes and leeches.
I do not have it here to tell you the product name, but it worked great!!
I will surf Toys R Us and see if I can find it.

Check here:
http://www.toysrus.com/search/index...kw=microscope&origkw=microscope&kwCatId=&pg=2

I think the starter 450X is kind of what I have in storage, love it.
It goes 150, 300, 750 and 900 I think.
At 900 things get pretty strange !

 

[scbatz33]

parasite eggs will look like they look regardless of species. To count them, you do the slide in sections...like a grid...back and forth. The more eggs, the more concentrated the problem. If you see one egg, you've got worms.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I've been wondering about doing this myself too! Thanks for the links. I'll look for protocols designed for poultry and post what I can find.

 

[junglebird]

Quote:
Fantastic!

 

[junglebird]

Quote:
At what egg count do you decide to medicate? How do you determine which wormer to use?

I don't have practical experience, but from what I've read:
* it's important to type the parasites to determine which wormer to use
* A low egg count in healthy chickens indicates a working balance, not an indication to medicate (depending upon your philosophy regarding medicine and natural health).

If I were comfortable with the liberal use of medication, I would do the twice yearly broad spectrum worming program mentioned elsewhere on this site, and not bother with the fecal egg count.

 

[UrbanGrower]

Anyone have a recommended microscope, and other equipment one might need to actually do this? It interests me because I'd like to use it for plant pathogens as well.

 

[HathawayHens]

you need to identify what parasite eggs you are seeing... so if you have a high egg count, I would recommend calling around to some vets or your state poultry lab to see if anyone will do a fecal for you and ID the parasites. If you use the wrong medication, nothing will improve. There is no "one wormer" that gets every parasite.

 

[chuckzoo]

Quote:
Just a quick tip; A salad spinner makes a great centrifuge in a pinch.

 

[junglebird]

Hathaway, thanks, I'm thinking that if I can get a good photograph of the eggs, I can email to extension vet to get diagnosis. So far, fecals here seem to cost around $40, shich seems a little high to me (?).

Chuckzoo,

Love it! (And maybe now is the time to get a second salad spinner

) ... So, does this sound right: I put the sample and the solution in a little sealed container, spin it for a minute (?), then pour it into my test tube and set the slide cover on top?