red worm - gross

[missmaisie]

I've had my 2 pullets for only 2 weeks - came from a hatchery. I mix DE in feed pellets. Less than a week after arrival, I found roundworms in poo. Can they pick up worms that quickly from yard? Anyway, I used Verm-X, a natural wormer, for 3 days per directions. Haven't seen white worms in poo. thought all was well
Then today found long reddish worm in poo when cleaning out hutch. at least 4" long and ending 1/2" was larger greyish looking. gross!
now what? is bird passing worms because of natural wormers or is poor thing so infected that worms appearing?
I know which bird because butt is dirtier but I am treating both.
any suggestions?

 

[mypicklebird]

Red worm? Roundworms are whitish to pale pink. If the poop is old, has contact with the ground or composing chicken poop and bedding- I wonder if you are seeing an earthworm of some type. There are lots of different species of earthworms, and 4" is much longer than any chicken parasite I can think of, but is not large for an earthworm.


How old are your pullets?

 

[missmaisie]

the chickens are about 5 months old now
the red worm looked like a long roundworm but reddish, if an earthworm then a very skinny one
last week I saw regular white roundworms in poo, I'd guess 2-3" long but haven't seen any since Verm-X treatment
but if roundworms can be pinkish - then maybe that's what I found this morning in fresh poo on clean litter

 

[mypicklebird]

5 months old, definitely old enough to have rounds, 2 weeks at your place- they probably came with the rounds. earthworms are really red/brown- pretty dark. They have that banded appearance with the thick ring around one end, and the head end looks different than the bottom end. Roundworms look pretty much the same at both ends, unless you have a microscope. They are very smooth, no bands/segments. Tapeworms if passed whole, have very distinct segments- like little connected pillows. They can be really long. Usually you just see the packets on the feces looking like cous cous.

All chickens with dirt/pasture access will end up with roundworms and other GI parasites. Regular deworming is useful. I have no experience with verm-x, but if you want to know if it worked- get a fecal done. If the chicken has roundworms it will occasionally pass adult worms in the feces as the worms die naturally. If you deworm with something, then see lots of worms- it probably worked. You just don't know how well- did it kill 100%, 1 in 10, or 1 in 100 ect.

 

[missmaisie]

thanks for the info - I'm taking the positive approach that wormer use caused the worms to be expelled
I've read the pro/con arguments of using DE - some people swear by it while others point out that it can't work when wet (inside a chicken)
but I'm adding it to feed pellets anyway - it's already sprinkled in litter for external parasites
will also start adding organic apple cider vinegar to water since some people think it helps general resistance
the Verm-X is a British product, all natural with no withdrawal time, read about it while reading the eglu site
recommended use is once a month - which I'm going to follow since I try to let my girls out every day after work in the fenced in vegetable garden (have fox, hawk, owl, cat predators in vicinity so can't let chickens free range during day) which I assume is full of internal & external parasites from wild birds, rabbits, groundhogs, chipmunks, squirrels, rats...

 

[jmc]

Quote:
You might have read something by me, quoting someone contra DE as wormer. See this valuable link, also:
http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/de.htm