Low shedder- “adult chicken parasites”

[hwrights04]

Also how do I differentiate between if it’s possible cecal worms or capillary worms??

 

[coach723]

The vet that did your fecal should have been able to tell you what kind of parasite they had. If you use Valbazen then two doses 10 days apart will cover most of the worms (except tapeworm). If you use the Safeguard liquid goat wormer or horse paste then to cover all worms (except tapeworm) you would need to treat for 5 days in a row, for roundworm only, including cecal, it would be two treatments 10 days apart.
Most recommendation are to toss eggs for 10 - 14 days following dose. Many people ignore that, little info on how much residue actually ends up in eggs. Do what you are comfortable with.

 

[hwrights04]

The vet that did your fecal should have been able to tell you what kind of parasite they had. If you use Valbazen then two doses 10 days apart will cover most of the worms (except tapeworm). If you use the Safeguard liquid goat wormer or horse paste then to cover all worms (except tapeworm) you would need to treat for 5 days in a row, for roundworm only, including cecal, it would be two treatments 10 days apart.
Most recommendation are to toss eggs for 10 - 14 days following dose. Many people ignore that, little info on how much residue actually ends up in eggs. Do what you are comfortable with.

Thank you! When I asked the vet what kind of parasite, he said “adult chicken parasites” and that he couldn’t tell from the eggs

 

[coach723]

I generally try to be non-judgemental, but that was a lazy answer from the vet. There are entire books that cover parasitology with plenty of pictures, it's necessary to know in order to treat with the most effective medication for the particular parasite and species it's infecting. There are a couple of images below for example, first is a drawing intended mostly for size comparison between various eggs. Second a pic of an actual slide. There are more images in this thread, you can scroll through if you just want to see the pics, not a super long thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poultry-fecal-flotation-procedures-and-pictures.848229/
So they SHOULD have been able to tell you precisely what parasite they saw.

 

[dawg53]

If you use either safeguard or valbazen as directed by Coach723, both wormers will take care of cecal and capillary worms as well as other types of nematodes.

 

[hwrights04]

Thank y’all very much @dawg53 & @coach723
And I agree @coach723, it was a frustrating and not very helpful report from the vet.

 

[Matzwd]

That looks like a tape worm segment to me. They wouldn't likely have seen it in a fecal float. It is possible that the"adult chicken parasites" they mentioned were something else entirely (maybe even coccidia, which can be normal in small numbers). Can you call the vet and ask them the actual name of the parasite they detected?

 

[Sue Gremlin]

There are all kinds of treatment protocols out there online, so it's no wonder that it's confusing! Fortunately intestinal nematodes are pretty easy to kill with fenbendazole (tapeworms and gapeworms aren't as easy) so you can go with the lower doses, 1 mg/kg orally x 5 days as stated in this FARAD digest:
http://www.farad.org/publications/digests/122015EggResidue.pdf

In the United Kingdom, fenbendazole oral suspension is approved for treatment of gastrointestinal nematodes in laying hens at a dose of 1 mg/kg (0.45 mg/lb), PO, for 5 days with a 0-day egg withdrawal and 6-day meat withdrawal.19 Because fen-bendazole is approved for laying hens in the United Kingdom, there is an MRL for residues of fenbendazole and its metabolites in eggs. Because it is not approved for use in laying hens in the United States, the detec-tion of any fenbendazole residues in eggs is considered a violation, and the egg withdrawal period established for fenbendazole in the United Kingdom should be ex-tended to ensure that drug residues in the eggs of treat-ed hens are depleted below the detection limits of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Currently, FARAD recommends an egg withdrawal interval of 17 days for hens following oral administration of fenben-dazole (1 mg/kg).

The egg withdrawal is a difficult question to answer, since it's not registered in the USA for use in egg-laying chickens, as explained above.

Here's some info about its use in soluble form in the drinking water in Europe: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/overview/panacur-aquasol-epar-summary-public_en.pdf. Essentially it's saying there is no egg withdrawal as established in Europe if you dose them with 2 mg/kg in the drinking water for 9 days.

In order to establish what's safe and effective in the eyes of the US-based FDA, you have to do studies and measure egg residue and this information is just not available. I don't mean to be dodgy about this question, it's just that there are very few legal choices in the USA for treating backyard chickens for internal parasites.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Also how do I differentiate between if it’s possible cecal worms or capillary worms??

These are differentiated by looking at their eggs in the feces. Whoever did your fecal exam should have been able to tell you this. I would be happy to look for you if you want to mail me some of your chicken poop. PM me.

 

[hwrights04]

These are differentiated by looking at their eggs in the feces. Whoever did your fecal exam should have been able to tell you this. I would be happy to look for you if you want to mail me some of your chicken poop. PM me.

Great info and great links! I really appreciate you! We will go ahead and avoid their eggs for a couple weeks to be on the safe side. Especially since we have small kids that eat the eggs too.
I got each of them weighed and am going to go ahead and start the safeguard tonight.
Going to pm you!