Not sure what I am looking at. Worms or Flies?

[Diggidy]

I have noticed on a couple of occasions brown poop that is white on the outside. I didnt see it drop, so i am not certain how old it is, but it was dropped within 45 minutes.

On the outside of the poop there are some very small white things that look like larvae. They are maybe 1/16" in length. When i look into the poop i havent noticed any worms or other larvae.

Any ideas what i am dealing with?

 

[Eggcessive]

You may be seeing tapeworm segments in your chicken's droppings. The white in the poo is urates or kidney waste. Tapes are difficult to treat, but Dawg53 is very knowledgeable about them. Valbazen treats them. I would try to look at some fresher stool samples, and post a picture here.

 

[dawg53]

I have noticed on a couple of occasions brown poop that is white on the outside. I didnt see it drop, so i am not certain how old it is, but it was dropped within 45 minutes.

On the outside of the poop there are some very small white things that look like larvae. They are maybe 1/16" in length. When i look into the poop i havent noticed any worms or other larvae.

Any ideas what i am dealing with?

Post a pic please.

 

[Diggidy]

Here are the poop pics. You can see one small white spot on each and it was moving slightly. I looked up the tapeworm pics and think you may be right.

 

[dawg53]

They are tapeworm segments. Purchase Zimectrin Gold equine paste wormer. Withhold their feed for 24 hours, water is okay. After 24 hours are up, dose each one of your chickens orally with a regular "pea" size amount of the zimectrin gold paste. You can put it on a piece of bread and give a piece to each chicken individually. Keep them separated when you do this or they will steal the treated bread from each other. Then you wont know which ones got properly dosed or overdosed. Repeat dosing them again in 10 days. Discard eggs for 24 days start to finish.

 

[Diggidy]

Thanks for the response. I have a few questions if you dont mind.

1- Is the medicine really hard on the birds?
2- Can they eat soon after they get the meds?
3- Should i worry about eating their existing eggs? I figure hard boiling will be safe.
4- Do the segments spawn new worms/should i do anything to the ground in their run?

Thanks!

 

[dawg53]

Thanks for the response. I have a few questions if you dont mind.

1- Is the medicine really hard on the birds?
2- Can they eat soon after they get the meds?
3- Should i worry about eating their existing eggs? I figure hard boiling will be safe.
4- Do the segments spawn new worms/should i do anything to the ground in their run?

Thanks!

1. No, as with any medications, dont overdose your birds.
2. Wait about 2-3 hours after dosing them with the wormer, then feed them gradually. You dont want them gorging feed after withholding their feed for 24 hours risking possible impacted crop or gizzard.
3. Like I mentioned, it's best to discard eggs. There's wormer residue, however slight, in the eggs and there could be an adverse reaction if someone has a sensitivity to the residue. It's up to you. Personally, I discard the eggs.
4. Each segment contains hundreds of eggs which are deposited into and onto the soil. The tapeworm eggs are eaten by insects, then the infected insects are eaten by chickens. Keeping everything as dry as possible helps deter external and internal parasites. Putting sand in your pen/run helps and wont wash away due to rain, and sand dries quicker than dirt/mud.

 

[Diggidy]

They pretty much refuse to eat it. Thought they would be more hungry.

 

[enola]

They will eat it whenthey get hungry enough. Did you take ALL food away fom them for 24 hours?