My hen has worms - gross poop pictures : She's being treated for scaly leg & mites too: How bad is t

[StephieSky]

The short version of a long story: My new hens aren't healthy. They have scaly leg mites and other issues in addition to the worms. I'm treating them with DE, Sevin in their nest, Vaseline & foot/leg washes on their legs. Those are coming along okay.
I recently noted Liza, the wyandotte looking hen, had a wiggler in her poo.
I picked up Wazine this a.m. and dosed the water. I have Duvet Ivermectin (spelling?). I was just afraid to use the Ivermectin first.

My question is this: The worm before was a tiny wiggly white thing in her poop. I knew it was worms but not what kind. Today's worm is HUGE. It must be two inches long and its not moving. I think its a dead worm. Does Wazine work that fast or is she overloaded with worms and do I need to worry about her going septic?

Is there anything I can do to flush her system completely?

I'm feeding BOSS, plain probiotic yogurt, mealworms and as much greens and layer mix as she'll eat.

 

[StephieSky]

Nevermind. I panicked. I didn't know wether to go back to work or not. I went ... and everything is fine. They just have a lot of worms but they don't even seem sick from the wormer this evening. EWWWWWWWWWW! Those are the nastiest worms I've ever seen. I was sure my hen was going to go into shock but she's just her usual old self other than she seems less hungry. I pressure washed the patio to within an inch of its patio life and scrubbed everything up clean tonight too.

 

[cafarmgirl]

The Wazine is only going to get the round worms and there are a lot more worms they could be carrying. But, if they are heavily infested your better off anyway starting with something that isn't going to result in a big worm kill off fast. The Wazine paralyzes the worms and they are passed out of the body. Other products actually kill the worms.

It is also my understanding that ivermectin has become pretty ineffective in chickens, so you might consider doing a follow up treatment with something effective like Valbazen or Safeguard.

 

[Michael Apple]

The Wazine is only going to get the round worms and there are a lot more worms they could be carrying. But, if they are heavily infested your better off anyway starting with something that isn't going to result in a big worm kill off fast. The Wazine paralyzes the worms and they are passed out of the body. Other products actually kill the worms.

It is also my understanding that ivermectin has become pretty ineffective in chickens, so you might consider doing a follow up treatment with something effective like Valbazen or Safeguard.

X2. Valbazen liquid kills all intestinal worms and is 1/2 cc oral dose for a standard breed. Safeguard is 1cc. StephieSky, you wormed once with Wazine. Now follow up with vitamins-electrolyte powder (different dosage depending on brand) and Probios 1 tsp per gallon of water for 3 days. Then in 7 days, worm with Valbazen or Safeguard. Follow up with vitamins-electrolytes, Probios in the water again for 3 days.

 

[StephieSky]

I have been to everyplace in a 3 city wide hunt today before I gave up. Good thing its a great day to dust off the motorbike.

I found Durvet High Performance Poultry Pak and bought 2. It says its both a vitamin and electrolyte supplement.
I hope they like it. The grape Pedialite is not popular. I may end up drinking the rest of it myself lol
The Safeguard is 375.00 for the jug when I finally found it!!! Wow ...
Valbezen isn't dispensed to just anyone. I finally found that too. But again its the huge one and quite expensive.
I bought a few treats.

So I came home frustrated and went shopping online. I have an order in for a much smaller bottle of Safeguard. One I can afford! lol A 10 pk of 1cc plunge syringes so I can get it just right. The bigger ones make me nervous. It seems like it would be pretty easy to make a mistake if the exact dosage is somewhere between one marking and the next.. I also ordered them their own harness and leash combo. I've been using the ones for my cats and they work really well but adjusting things every time is a total pain!

Thanks oodles and bunches for the help
I'm going to share the things I'm buying with my friends friends that I got my hens from. Clearly they know as little as I do. Hopefully it will encourage them to take better care of their chickens and I'm pretty sure its not illegal to share livestock meds for livestock. I'll be very careful not to tell them how to use it specifically. I could too easily get it backwards or totally wrong. Just offer to share if they join BYC and get educated. This is so appreciated!

I also ordered the ProBios 240g dispersible powder. I can't find that locally neither.
Everyone wants to sell me stuff I've never heard of, so I'm getting good at looking like I don't need help in the feed store even though I'm kind of lost.

I get free 2 day shipping options on my PA. So it should be here by Tuesday at the latest for those that only ship during business hours.

 

[pwand]

I bought safeguard horse paste and treated my birds. It was about $20.

 

[Michael Apple]

I've found liquids much easier to measure and administer than pastes.

 

[StephieSky]

I'm going with suspensions first in all things that can be given in a suspension because Liza is really flighty. She gets easily spooked and she's got a very suspicious little hen brain.

So far I've had luck with her by getting Gracie first. Liza just stands around and watches me like i'm the antichrist. But when I do her first Gracie runs off, she's a clever bird for a chicken. And then Liza is even more disturbed and stressed because she doesn't like to be w/o Gracie.

I just let them out and changed over their water to just water. OMG are they happy not to be confined to the cement patio.

I'm going to put the vitamin & electrolyte in their kennel/coop water but let them run around in the yard too. In the yard I have two other places they can always get water from. A small ground sunk rock with a deep hole I found that I brought home for my cats water and a giant pot that I planted my grandma's rose in. They drink from these all the time. The rose is safe. Its an old wild type that doesn't need anything but a place to grow.

Here they are ten minutes ago. They do love this particular flower bed!



Liza looks distressed but she's not. I've checked her so many times when she does this she no longer runs off. She just likes to lay in the cool grass and work on her tan


My next question is: Should I cover the other water sources so they can only drink the supplemented water for the next few weeks? I'd rather just cover the bottom of the pot and the rock than keep them confined to that little patio area. It drives Gracie nuts. She thinks she can hop a 6' fence but she hasn't figured out how to do that yet. She might hurt herself attempting it.

 

[pwand]

I've found liquids much easier to measure and administer than pastes.

I use a syringe to measure mine, it fits easy on the end of the tube and squeeze it and measures easily, that way I know what my birds are getting. You can gently pull down their wattles and they open there beaks easily.

 

[StephieSky]

Well this is what wormed chicken poop looks like from chickens who have worms to spare

Well thats a bad picture but its pretty revolting to collect this stuff. So thats the best I can do.
I'm collecting it out of the yard and kennel with a putty knife and putting it inside an old bottle with some paint thinner in it. I just want to get as much of it out of here as possible. I don't know but this looks kind of extreme to me. I hope they're going to be okay. They seem okay. Still eating, drinking and foraging and just being happy acting hens.