I am so demoralized at this point...

[FunnyBunny89]

These past few months have been such a long tapeworm battle, and I thought we finally reached the end but today, I found another poop in the yard full of worms. Just two nights ago, I discovered lice on my chickens while they were on the roost. I am in the middle of a horrible cold, raising 3 young children (my youngest isn't 2 yet) and this cold knocked me and my husband on our a**es.

I have been told to completely strip the coop and clean it but with the rain, I have only been able to do it in stages. The nesting boxes have been empty for two days and my hens are not happy about it. I still need to vacuum all the feathers up and spray the rest of the coop.

I sprayed all my chickens around their vents with premo guard (where I saw the lice). The instructions say to spray every 2-3 days for a while so I guess that's what I'll be doing...

I've been treating the tapeworm issue with equimax, and I know it works but they keep getting reinfected somehow.

Oh! And this afternoon, I found blood on one of the roosting bars

I am so emotionally drained right now... I know being sick doesn't help but seriously, is there a light at the end of this tunnel?

This is my first flock. I raised most of them as babies. I have two wonderful roosters and so far, nobody has died yet. They were all good layers too!

I just wish someone could come here and help me I feel like I'm going crazy trying to keep them healthy by doing everything as right as I can. I have read so much and taken so much advice, and the bugs just come in and eff it all up!

 

[dawg53]

If you get the chance, please post a photo with worms in the poop. I'd like to identify them to ensure you're dealing with tapeworms rather than one of the several types of roundworms which might require a different wormer to eliminate them.
I forgot to add that worms can cause blood in feces if left untreated.

There's an easy way to deal with lice or mites inside a coop. Please read post #3 in this link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mites.1336970/#post-21863007

 

[Stravager]

Hang in there! Being sick and feeling tired and having to deal with sick children/family/animals is really tough. Just one small step at a time. Please do post poop pictures!
I'm not familiar with your story, so I don't know what you've tried for the worms, but if the birds have access to free ranging insects sometimes that's where the reintroduction comes from. That or wild birds pooping....

 

[FunnyBunny89]

If you get the chance, please post a photo with worms in the poop. I'd like to identify them to ensure you're dealing with tapeworms rather than one of the several types of roundworms which might require a different wormer to eliminate them.
I forgot to add that worms can cause blood in feces if left untreated.

There's an easy way to deal with lice or mites inside a coop. Please read post #3 in this link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mites.1336970/#post-21863007

My phone sucks for close ups so I took multiple pics of the same poop. It's definitely tapeworm. It's the same tapeworm my dogs got a couple months ago too... and that was vet confirmed. I just found this poop in the coop and took it out. I'm going to treat the hen I think it came from with Equimax in a few minutes. The Equimax definitely works, because I went from 12 hens being infected back down to 1 or 2 at a time. But I am so tired of looking for and collecting wormy/eggy poops... we have a lot of wild birds around here and my chickens do free range, so idk if I'll ever actually get rid of it.

I just remembered, on top of all this, that I need to start them all on a round of corrid because yellow and foamy poops are showing up as well. I had a case of coccidiosis show up when I first brought them out to the coop at around 9 weeks old, and corrid cleared it up. I'm guessing it's in the environment. I was waiting to try and get them in better shape from tapeworm before I moved on to another round of corrid but at this point, I don't want to wait too long. Do you think coccidiosis is the cause of the bloody stool?

Ya know, the previous owner of this property told me she tried to have chickens and kept losing them without knowing why, so she gave up. But she was an older lady who probably didn't have the wherewithal to diagnose her chickens. It seems like the environment here is just hostile! I feel lucky at this point that none of them have died yet *knock on wood* The oldest ones I have are 9 months old.

Also, I dusted a few hens with Permethrin using a duster, I just poofed it on their butts where I could see the lice. Tomorrow, if I have the time and energy, I'm going to dust the whole coop and shut them out of it for a few hours.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Hang in there! Being sick and feeling tired and having to deal with sick children/family/animals is really tough. Just one small step at a time. Please do post poop pictures!
I'm not familiar with your story, so I don't know what you've tried for the worms, but if the birds have access to free ranging insects sometimes that's where the reintroduction comes from. That or wild birds pooping....

Thank you so much! Words of encouragement sound so sweet in my head right now... I'm always on the brink of crying about it all. Ugh.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you so much! Words of encouragement sound so sweet in my head right now... I'm always on the brink of crying about it all. Ugh.

I'm sorry you're having such a rough patch. Hopefully you'll get the help and advice you need here to get a handle on your chicken woes and get them squared away soon! Being sick on top of it with little ones to care for just makes it even harder. Hopefully you and hubby will be back on your feet soon and able to deal with these issues with courage and fortitude, and everything will look much brighter. Hoping the best for you and yours!

 

[FunnyBunny89]

I'm sorry you're having such a rough patch. Hopefully you'll get the help and advice you need here to get a handle on your chicken woes and get them squared away soon! Being sick on top of it with little ones to care for just makes it even harder. Hopefully you and hubby will be back on your feet soon and able to deal with these issues with courage and fortitude, and everything will look much brighter. Hoping the best for you and yours!

Oooh, thank you

 

[dawg53]

You're correct, they are definitely tapeworm segments. Insects are the vector for tapeworm infections in poultry. It's nearly impossible to eliminate insects in the environment, but not all insects are tapeworm infected.

You are also correct that wild birds can be a carrier from eating infected insects, then excreting their contaminated feces onto your property. I've had this happen many years ago when I lived in south Georgia. It was a constant battle and at the time, due to migrating Robins during the Fall. I had about 20 chickens and at least half of them were tapeworm infected.

I caged infected chickens in the garage for treatment and inspected poop each morning under roosts inside the coops each morning before letting the chickens out for the day. That way I could easily see which birds excreted the contaminated poop containing segments. I also had the time to follow them around the yard while they foraged first thing in the mornings inspecting their poop for segments, then I could catch the bird and cage her for treatment. I was an official chicken poop inspector.

It was an ongoing battle but perseverance eventually paid off. Also, we got freezing temps which killed off the vector for the tapeworm eggs which are insects. The soil froze and killed and wiped out the eggs also.

Tapeworm infected birds can cause blood to show up in feces, same with other worms. I know this from experience. It's not coccidiosis in your birds, it's the tapeworms.

I've dealt with lice and mites as well. Just follow the instructions in post #3.
You'll get through all this eventually, I did.
Here's pics of caged tapeworm infected birds in my garage many years ago:

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Something I would recommend is that if your property is contaminated I would spray your entire property with permethrin. No permethrin will not kill tapeworms, but it will kill the insects that carry them. When we moved here we had to go scorched earth and sprayed three times a year with permethrin. Our property was infested with ticks and sand fleas which both carry tapeworms so I wasn’t messing around. Not to mention the ticks were so bad my dog had 40 ticks on her just from being outside for 30 minutes (she had just taken her flea and tick med a week before). My kids couldn’t play outside without being doused in deet and still I would find ticks on them. I couldn’t do chores without being covered in sand flea bites even with jeans and boots on. It was horrendous to say the least. We now spray once a year in the spring and haven’t had any issues.

 

[dawg53]

Scorched earth is the way to go. It eliminates worm eggs in the soil, all types of poultry worm eggs.