Doing Fecal Floats at Home

[KsKingBee]

I made the plunge... and invested less than $300 for all I need to do my own testing at home. My vet is awesome and is very reasonable on her pricing, only $16 per exam, but now I can do my own testing without having to drive 25 miles and I can afford to do each pen independently. I have assisted in many exams so I feel pretty assured that this is going to be pretty easy, and if I do need to I can still run one in that I am unsure of.

 

[zeppley]

I've been doing this a few years now.

I have trouble even though I worked with microscopes in my professional career and have copies of Foreyt* 5th ed. and other pubs with photos of poultry-specific parasites. *note Foreyt is ~$50 used, and only has 3 pages of photomicrographs of avian internal parasites. Just saying....

You can do it, just know the learning curve is steep and long. It might be better if you have a centrifuge and a tea strainer! Note that bubbles and gunk can look a lot like parasite eggs or cysts (see http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/fecal-float.html#fecal-matter).

I've found these sites useful - they are for goats, but the types of parasites are similar.
https://hoeggerfarmyard.com/no-vet-ok-you-can-do-this/
http://fiascofarm.com/goats/fecals.htm
http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/fecal-flotation.html

My reading suggests that a few eimeria (coccidia) and a few worm eggs are to be expected and are not a problem. It's when you see a lot that you have a problem.

Here are some helpful ID sites:

http://avianmedicine.net/content/uploads/2013/03/36.pdf
https://instruction.cvhs.okstate.edu/jcfox/htdocs/clinpara/Index.htm
https://quizlet.com/subject/poultry-parasites/

Also, make sure you have a clear schedule - if you leave the samples in the flotation medium too long they warp and crystals form in the slide. This happens to me when I have more than a 3-4 samples to process.

You can also do a wet smear - this doesn't concentrate the eggs/cysts like the flotation process does, but it's a good quick and dirty (yes, a pun).

The hard-core use a McMaster sampling slide to monitor counts of parasite eggs and cysts weekly!
http://web.uri.edu/sheepngoat/files/McMaster-Test_Final3.pdf

I've been toying with the idea of a home PCR set up to identify bacteria and viruses, but that would get expensive and take up way too much of the kitchen

Good luck!

 

[KsKingBee]

Does this work for chickens as well, or just Peafowl? And what exactly does it test for? This looks really interesting.

It works for all types of birds. It is an exam of the feces to look for Cocci, worms, and worm eggs under a microscope.

 

[casportpony]

You can do your dog's, too!

-Kathy

 

[KsKingBee]

The bible reference book is the Veterinary Parasitology fifth edition by William J. Foreyt. I also found a good article by a Dr. at K State that was a good read.

I did make on mistake when buying my microscope, I did not buy a high enough magnification. You need at least an 80 power to 100 power scope, I bought only 60X and I can only see worm eggs. Cocci takes at least 80X so a new one is on the way. AM Scope has a really nice Vet Lab unit on sale (50%) off right now that I am planning to order this week for $277.

Again, if you like videos, Youtube has lots of them and different methods you can try.

 

[Leihamarie]

I know this is a semi-old thread now, but I'm joining the "DIY Fecal" crowd and am really happy to have read all of this. I just ordered this scope https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SGCEZCS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and a centrifuge and the supplies. Now I need to learn how to actually prepare and read the fecals, lol!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Congrats on the microscope purchase! Easy to do. Parasitology was my favorite as a vet tech, though I ran the entire lab, as well as being head tech, office manager and ran the adjoining boarding kennel. Almost 20 years and I finally burned out but carry the experience with me here on the farm. Monthly fecals are the West Knoll way!

 

[Leihamarie]

Hey all, I did some fecals today to determine whether to de-worm or not. I got some decent pictures of what I think are roundworms. Also, I found a pretty good example of poultry endoparasite images. https://www.rvc.ac.uk/Review/Parasitology/poultrEggs/Common.htm

My little home mini-lab. My centrifuge isn't in the picture but I have one and use it for my fecals.

the edges on this seem distorted and not like a classic example of a roundworm egg. There were a LOT of them. More than I've ever seen in a fecal exam. I ran 3 fecals on this particular chicken. I did a direct smear, a McMaster modified (the count was 1300epg) and a fecal float by centrifuge.

 

[KsKingBee]

What does EPG mean?
What are magnifications of pics?

All I can think of is Eggs Per Glass. We usually refer to eggs per slide or eggs per field of view. Depending on the amount being prepared you should set an economic threshold to ascertain the level at which you need to treat. More than 20 cocci per slide and I will treat, more than 5 worm eggs and again I will treat. That is when I use 2ml of fecal material in prep solution.

 

[KsKingBee]

I couldn’t find the floaters club on fb

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2038747579689873/