Please Help! How do I know if my chickens have worms in the early stages?

[Kelliekevin]

So I`ve noticed in the past week that my girls seem to be going throught there food really quick, normally I fill their container once a week as that is how long it would take them to eat the whole conatiner and now it`s every other day! Does this mean they have worms? They don`t seem to be losing weight and their combs look nice and red but then it has only been a week since I noticed the food thing. There is no way that a small rodent is gettting in and eating their food because my coup is like fort knox and plus the chipmunks are still in hibernation as we still have 3 feet of snow here. I haven`t seen any worms in there poo, would they eat them? If they do have worms and they just got them how will I know, do I have to wait till I see them in their poo? One last question, how did they get worms if they do have them?

 

[foreverlearning]

Earthworms and droppings from other birds can harbor intestinal worms. Worms aren't something you need to freak out about. There are two ways you can go about this: One way is to treat them regardless, the other is to find out for sure before treatment. Call your local vets and see if they do fecal floats. They do not need to know it is for chickens, if they do it for dogs they can do it for you. My local vet charges $10 for fecal floats for my entire flock. If the tests show up positive then you would want to treat with Valbazen (for goats, the only one to kill all worms). You can order it online or pick it up at a feed store there is no need to pay vet prices for it. The fecal floats also do not require the chicken in question to be seen. If the tests come back negative it might just be that their hunger increased with longer days and warmer weather.

 

[Kelliekevin]

Thank you so much for your reply! It wasn`t until after I sent<my first post that I realized it probably is because of longer daylight hours! LOL I feel kinda silly now! Thanks again!

 

[foreverlearning]

That's ok, now you know what to do if you ever fear that again.