Recurrent worms issue in our ground- please help!

[Fortheloveofeggs]

Hi all,
I hope ye can help! We had a lovely small flock of hens (blackrocks and rhode island hybrids). One by one they all got very dirty bums and passed away despite my very best efforts to treat them and resolve the problem. I washed a lot of chicken bums!
We have had no chickens in over 6 months and in the meantime we covered our whole run in lime and thoroughly disinfected the (plastic) house for the millionth time. 2 weeks ago we took in two older rescue hens in need of a home. To my dismay one of them has a dirty bum this morning and has lost weight already. I am gutted! I have taken them out of the run now and will try to re home them.
Please, has anyone any advice about what is going on and how to solve it?! It must be our garden/soil is the problem. We live in a very rural area. Thanks in advance!

 

[Shadrach]

Hi all,
I hope ye can help! We had a lovely small flock of hens (blackrocks and rhode island hybrids). One by one they all got very dirty bums and passed away despite my very best efforts to treat them and resolve the problem. I washed a lot of chicken bums!
We have had no chickens in over 6 months and in the meantime we covered our whole run in lime and thoroughly disinfected the (plastic) house for the millionth time. 2 weeks ago we took in two older rescue hens in need of a home. To my dismay one of them has a dirty bum this morning and has lost weight already. I am gutted! I have taken them out of the run now and will try to re home them.
Please, has anyone any advice about what is going on and how to solve it?! It must be our garden/soil is the problem. We live in a very rural area. Thanks in advance!

What is it that makes you think the problem is worm related?
Have you had a fecal float done for any of the birds?
You write you have a plastic coop. Most plastic coops are portable. Have you tried moving the coop to another area of ground?

 

[Debbie292d]

A picture would help if you can. Other things can cause dirty butts than just worms. Next time you bathe their butts, look around the vent for signs of worms or mites/lice.

What do you feed them? Do they free-range or stay in their run? Sometimes diet can cause diarrhea and thus dirty butts.

If you had treated them for worms, they need probiotics, like yogurt, buttermilk, powders you can buy, fermented grains, etc. That would most likely help any crop/digestive issues/diarrhea too and I'd give them some regardless.

A fecal float is a great idea to find out what this is!

 

[Fortheloveofeggs]

Thanks for replies! The only suggestions we’ve ever been given is perhaps a chronic worm problem, given the weight loss and that it has led to the death of several hens who should have been healthy. And no other obvious issue. But thinking about it now, i have never seen a worm! Our previous hens had a huge run..essentially free range. For a time i thought maybe it was plants/grass in that run was the problem. But these new hens have been in a smaller run with no grass for the couple of weeks (until we mend some holes in fence outside) and seem to have contracted the same problem. Their house is inside a large cage run so moving the house will be a huge job but perhaps we will have to of I can’t find a new home for these girls quickly. They eat layers mash atm and we also give them a corn feed too. And grit.
ive never heard of a fecal float. I was sorry that i didnt have any of the dead hens tested but maybe a fecal float would do??

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks for replies! The only suggestions we’ve ever been given is perhaps a chronic worm problem, given the weight loss and that it has led to the death of several hens who should have been healthy. And no other obvious issue. But thinking about it now, i have never seen a worm! Our previous hens had a huge run..essentially free range. For a time i thought maybe it was plants/grass in that run was the problem. But these new hens have been in a smaller run with no grass for the couple of weeks (until we mend some holes in fence outside) and seem to have contracted the same problem. Their house is inside a large cage run so moving the house will be a huge job but perhaps we will have to of I can’t find a new home for these girls quickly. They eat layers mash atm and we also give them a corn feed too. And grit.
ive never heard of a fecal float. I was sorry that i didnt have any of the dead hens tested but maybe a fecal float would do??

A fecal float would tell you what the worm count is for a particular hen.
It's the time scale from assumed fit to very sick that makes me doubt worms are the problem.
If you've wormed them what wormer did you use and at what dose?

 

[Fortheloveofeggs]

Hi thanks again for replies. now I hadn't wormed these hens until today. But i had wormed the previous hens. my friend gave me something called fenbendazole.
thinking about it more and more, it is weird that Ive never seen any worms in their poos or on their bums. What else could cause them to waste away over time with very dirty bums?

 

[nuthatched]

Hi thanks again for replies. now I hadn't wormed these hens until today. But i had wormed the previous hens. my friend gave me something called fenbendazole.
thinking about it more and more, it is weird that Ive never seen any worms in their poos or on their bums. What else could cause them to waste away over time with very dirty bums?

Diet, crop issues, reproductive issues.