I think my chickens have worms!!!! what do I do?!

[SCchickens2011]

I have aflock of 15 chickens. In the past few days i have had two chickens die and one more is about to die. I picked her up to look at her butt because it was all poopy and some yellowish poop stuck on it and i saw these little maggot like worms coming in n out of her butt! They are gross and i almost puked. What do i do? Is the rest of the flock at risk? Should i throw out all eggs from the past few days? The ones that have died are the oldest and so is the one who is sick. But i dont know what kind of worms or what to do for the rest of them. They are free range also and i have horses, a cow and sheep can they get worms from the chickens poop if they eat it by some chance? Please help as this is a super emergency!

 

[dawg53]

They arnt worms, they ARE maggots. It's called "fly strike." Type "fly strike" in the BYC search box above and you'll see plenty of posts on how to treat it. Good luck.

 

[SCchickens2011]

They arnt worms, they ARE maggots. It's called "fly strike." Type "fly strike" in the BYC search box above and you'll see plenty of posts on how to treat it. Good luck.

the problem is that i don;t have flies right now, in fact it has been raining for days, we have lots of eartheowms where we are, and my chickens have been free rangeing every day, so i think that these are some type of round worm or maybe caecal worms but they arent; long, they are very short they look like maggots but i have seen actual moggots and they don't exactly resemble a maggot, no black head like a moggot usually has. I bought Safeguard and am going to dose all of them tomorrow. What i have read about caecal worms is that they are not transmitted to shhep horses cows dogs or cats. Luckily i just wormed my horses 2 weeks ago, my cat the other day and my dog doesn't go where the chickens are. I bought Safeguard for the cow just in case, and we will use the suspension for our ewe and lamb as well. Tomorrow will be a busy day. I plan to clean my coop out, again, i just cleaned it a few weeks ago, total clean and re-shave! but i'm doin it again. and i will go from there. If i can i will take a pic of the area these are in on the chicken so anyone can see and give advice. Fenbendozale says its supposedly okay for you to still eat eggs, but just the idea that the girls may all have worms grosses me out so i think i will discard them for a couple weeks until i am sure the isue is under control. I will keep posting.

 

[Teila]

Howdy SCchickens2011

Sorry to read of your losses and the issues you are currently experiencing.

I agree with dawg53 in that they still sound like maggots and I believe that not all fly maggots have black heads, depends on the type of fly.

I know it is grossing you out and I totally understand, but is there any chance you could get a picture of the worms/maggots for identification purposes?

 

[SCchickens2011]

Howdy SCchickens2011

Sorry to read of your losses and the issues you are currently experiencing.

I agree with dawg53 in that they still sound like maggots and I believe that not all fly maggots have black heads, depends on the type of fly.

I know it is grossing you out and I totally understand, but is there any chance you could get a picture of the worms/maggots for identification purposes?

if they are maggots what does that mean for everyone else? Im still gonna worm n clean but will the rest of the girls be okay? I do have a couple with poopy butts so i will wash them off too so i make sure they are clean. Are eggs comprimised at all? I am pretty sure the sick one isnt laying

 

[SCchickens2011]

Update... the sick chicken was dead this morning. Looked for the culprits and found none on the outside. I can only assume they were inside at this point due to the death. I will continue as stated earlier and just treat as if i have both issues.

 

[dawg53]

Update... the sick chicken was dead this morning. Looked for the culprits and found none on the outside. I can only assume they were inside at this point due to the death. I will continue as stated earlier and just treat as if i have both issues.

Sorry for your loss. I recommend that you open her up and vertically slice open her intestines. You'll know if she had worms or not by looking inside the intestines. You mentioned that the worms were coming in and out of her butt. First of all, worms cannot survive outside the host. Secondly, why would worms dislodge themselves from the digestive tract when they are fat, dumb, and happy absorbing nutrients and reproducing?
If you DO find worms, I recommend that you worm all your birds, there will be worms eggs on, or in your soil.
If you open her up, be sure to post pics of the worms...if they're present.

 

[SCchickens2011]

Sorry for your loss. I recommend that you open her up and vertically slice open her intestines. You'll know if she had worms or not by looking inside the intestines. You mentioned that the worms were coming in and out of her butt. First of all, worms cannot survive outside the host. Secondly, why would worms dislodge themselves from the digestive tract when they are fat, dumb, and happy absorbing nutrients and reproducing?
If you DO find worms, I recommend that you worm all your birds, there will be worms eggs on, or in your soil.
If you open her up, be sure to post pics of the worms...if they're present.

Thank you. I have already disposed of her. I am just going to treat as if it were both issues. I will keep posting. I appreciate all input. Thank you again!