Hen lays shell-less egg then this worm comes out of her?? **PICS**

tamtam84

Songster
9 Years
Mar 19, 2010
212
17
114
SE Missouri
Yesterday I saw my 22 month old Australorp hen named Penguin lay a shell-less egg. The egg white came out first, then a few mins later she laid the yolk. No pieces of shell at all. The other hens gobbled it up which totally grossed me out. Anyway, this morning when I let them out of the coop, she didn't come running out like normal. She instead went straight to a nesting box for about 4 hours. When she came out of the nesting box into the run, she drank a TON of water. Then she pooped and I made sure to check it out and see if it looked normal. Normal it was not! This is what I saw in her poop -

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Is this some type of intestinal parasite? Tapeworm? I've never seen anything like this before so I'm clueless. I searched on here and couldn't find any pics of anything that looked like this. The only thing that has been different lately is that we introduced a new rooster about a week ago (a barred rock roo hatched this April) and he has been mounting her like crazy the past few days. Please help!!!

Here's some more info on her if you're interested -

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Australorp hen, 22 months old, normal weight for her.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Laid a shell-less egg then pooped out the worm in the pics above.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
Laid shell-less egg yesterday, pooped out the worm this morning.
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
None. I have 5 other hens and 1 rooster and they are all ok.
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
No idea. The only thing I can think of is that our rooster has been very amorous with her the past week or so.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
Eating and drinking normally until this morning, and not eating and drinking A LOT of water.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Runny and possible worm. See above pics.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
Nothing yet.
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
I can her to a vet if need be.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
Please see the 2 pictures above.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use.
They have a barn-style coop and I use pine shavings deep litter method. Their run is dirt with leaves.
 
Run a search for poop~someone has posted a link~ that page describes what poop means what and will likely ID your worm. You need to treat ALL your birds for worms.

Good luck!
 
Craazy...I have no idea. Are you sure it's a worm? I can't think of any parasite that looks like that...except maybe a hookworm or a leech. I don't think leeches can live inside of chickens. And I have no idea if chickens can get hookworms. My only advice is get her and the flock on some dewormer!
I'm so sorry you have to pick that up. Maybe you could bury it.
 
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Thanks for the fast replies! I figured we'd probably need to de-worm all the birds just to be safe from what I've read on here. I'll probably give my vet a call on Monday to run it by her.
 
Been YEARS, but I did work with parisitology for a while.... we didn't do chickens, but did do humans, dogs, cats, etc...

How big is this thing?
Can you see a definite head? If so... what does it look like (round/teeth-like/flowery appearance, etc)?
Did it move at all? If so... what type of movement?

My not help me, but I will take a shot at it... I do agree with above... treat ALL your birds.
 
Ronikins - Thanks for the link! I have seen that before but couldn't find it this time. Based upon that, I'm thinking it may be part of her intestinal lining? The 3rd to the last pic looks similar and it says "These last three pictures have shed intestinal lining in them - quite normal, not a cause for concern."


Flnatv - I couldn't really see a head at all. No movement at all. My husband poked around on it with a stick, and no movement and it kind of tore when he poked it. Seemed almost like it was a lining encasing something. Similar to a sausage? I know that sounds strange! After seeing the pics on the link Ronikins sent, I'm thinking it's part of her intestines.
 

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