New chickens have tapeworms. Guidance please.

[Patoot]

No my girls don't have roundworms. They DID when I first got them 3 years ago, they did and I treated them. That was the only worming they ever got. I have not seen any evidence of worms in my current girls and only evidence of one egg-like looking thing in one poop of the new birds. I only have a "what-if" about my girls because they sometimes have looser poops (which now seem normal after looking at the broad spectrum of normal poops I found yesterday) and they are thinnish. They still lay eggs regularly, have healthy feathers, bright waddles and combs, and are very active with no sign of illness or distress. The new ones are also acting normally too and are active, eating well, drinking, and are vocal.

I don't want to possibly harm them by using Z-Gold. I just thought it was better to get the treatment started instead of waiting for an order of Valbazan to start. Maybe it's best to wait a week and order the Valbazan than to do the Z-Gold now. I guess I got confused reading all the posts on here regarding worms. I thought a lot of people said Valbazen didn't work for their tapes and they went to Z-Gold which took care of it right away. Maybe I misread or maybe the variables were a bit different. I just want to do right by them.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Mine have only ever had tape worms, and zimecterin cleared it right up.
A little dab for each one

 

[Patoot]

So here's an update.

I just went out and inspected poop like a mad woman. There is no evidence of any worms in the older girls' poops. Seems fine. I only examined 2-3 of them. I got about 7 poops from the new girls and put it all on a paper plate and went to town pulling it apart. First of all, there is no more watery green segmenty poop like the one I saw yesterday. All were solid with normal green or green/white coloring. Maybe they were just stressed from the travels or something. Anyway, I didn't see anything that looked remotely like the tapeworm poop picture. I found one round little thing about the size of the tip of a pencil, but I'm not sure if it was from inside the poop or if it was on the ground and got stuck to it. The one egg looking sac thing from yesterday's poop was in a box so I know it wasn't from the ground. The only other thing I saw on the poop was a critter crawling around on top of it. It looked like a red mite or something. I'll have to google it to be sure. I inspected the girls and didn't see any lice or mites, but I know I wouldn't have been able to see this guy since it's the same color as they are. Anyway, I'm now inclined to think they do not have tapeworms. If that's the case, is it best to do preventative worming or not? I called the guy I bought then from and he said he never worms his chickens and has never had a problem. To be honest, all his chickens looked very happy and healthy. Many were free ranging and had beautiful feathers and looked great. He seemed to genuinely care for them and even picked up a big male turkey to give him some attention while we were there.

So I'm thinking that I will keep an eye on the poops and look for anything suspicious. If I see anything that looks at all like it shouldn't be there, I'm going to take it to the vet to be sampled so I know what I'm dealing with. I might just do that anyway. Does that sound like a good plan of attack? I'm also going to see if I can figure out what that red little guy was.

 

[dawg53]

Yes, taking fecal samples to the vet would be best.

 

[dutchbunny83]

If you do worm, I would go ahead and worm all of them.
Sometimes it doesn't show up in poop or they could get it when the other's are passing them.
It'll also be easier to remember when to worm them again if you do all of them
Though I know it's tough to go 24 days without eggs...

 

[Patoot]

Thanks for the additional replies.

The girls aren't together yet so I don't think the new girls could pass on their potential worms or vice versa. They are in the same backyard, but not the same dirt, food bins, coop, water dish, etc. The new girls are still in quarantine and they are much smaller than the big girls and would be bullied for sure. They need to get bigger first.

 

[Patoot]

Phew. I think I'm good. I did an uber thorough poop check this morning before the morning droppings were displaced. I got a big ole plate of it. Very appetizing. I examined the new girls' stuff and then the adult girls. I spread it all super thin on the plate and examined it like I was searching for gold. Nothing. Not even anything that looked like the thing I had seen before. Everything looks great! Solid poops, correct color, no wormies...nothing weird at all. Woo hoo!

Thank you so much for all your help.