ETA: Just Feather shafts! :) Is this Tapeworm or just shedding dander/feather shafts? Caution: Poo

[chxmama]

Sorry to hear you lost a chicken.

My opinion would be that the segment you are seeing on the poop you posted is clean and dry looking and therefore more likely deposited on top of the poop after it exited the body rather than have come out with the faeces themselves. I also think that the segmented sections of a tapeworm illustrated in the picture above have been magnified to quite a high level and are not actually visible to the naked eye or certainly not clearly enough to see the segments, so I would be inclined to assume that you are seeing feather sheathing which has landed on the poop after it has evacuated the body or possibly even been blown in the wind and stuck to it.

I'm not sure if it is the same for chickens as it is for horses but a faecal worm egg count will not indicate a tapeworm problem in horses as the segments are relatively few in number and large in themselves so may not show up in the sample taken and looked at under the microscope, but my understanding is that each segment contains thousands of eggs which disperse at a later date into the pasture.

It might be worth considering getting a necropsy done on your chicken to determine the cause of death if you haven't already disposed of her.

After reading and looking at lots of pics, I am thinking that the segmented pieces are dry feather sheath being shed.
I may just do a maintenance de-worm since it's been so warm and wet rather than our typical frozen winters.

Here are a couple of interesting threads about people treating tapeworm in their flock:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/949369/tapeworm-valbazen-ineffective-graphic-poo-video-attached
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1010773/tapeworm-and-capillaria

Thanks for the links. Very helpful info.

 

[cafarmgirl]

That last pic, feather shaft. The second pic, definitely worm eggs visible there in addition to the segmented thing, can't tell you for sure that the segmented thing is or is not tapeworm but I'd certainly be very suspicious. We had tapes here last summer, we used Equimax to get rid of them, Zimectrin Gold works too. Look for Praziquantel in the ingredients.

 

[chxmama]

That last pic, feather shaft. The second pic, definitely worm eggs visible there in addition to the segmented thing, can't tell you for sure that the segmented thing is or is not tapeworm but I'd certainly be very suspicious. We had tapes here last summer, we used Equimax to get rid of them, Zimectrin Gold works too. Look for Praziquantel in the ingredients.

The things that look like worm eggs in the 2nd pic are feather shafts. I know the pic makes them look like worm eggs but if you could see them in real life, you would see that they look like the shafts in the last pic - translucent, sloughed off parts of the feather base. They are not completely circular , but like half of a shaft if that makes sense. To me they appear as the other shed shaft pieces, however, I could be wrong and will continue to check the girls droppings board.

Maybe I should just treat for tape. I planned to do a broad spectrum worming, but perhaps it would be wise to attack tapes and kill whatever may lurk?

Thanks for your insight!

 

[chxmama]

ETA:
Looks like the segmented things in the pics were from feather shafts. Collected a few eggs with the same thing on them it it was very easy to identify since I could hold it close and touch. Didn't really want to do that on the poo.

 

[tree_tyger]

ETA:
Looks like the segmented things in the pics were from feather shafts. Collected a few eggs with the same thing on them it it was very easy to identify since I could hold it close and touch. Didn't really want to do that on the poo.

Thanks for the update because I found some of the same segments on top of a poop, but definitely looked like it landed there after the fact (right under roosting bars) so that would make sense as they stand there preening, etc.