Tape worms AGAIN!!! Here is what I did in July, what do I do NOW??

[Fraunie]

I am so frustrated!! I thought I was treating aggressively and used all the advice I got here. Last week I started seeing poo that I thought might be suspect.....I have become a diligent poo checker after the last tape worm infection. I thought maybe i was just a doomsdayer...but today I have confirmation that there are in fact tapeworms in a couple of the droppings I found.

last time, I found LOTS of worm ends and egg sacs in many or most of the droppings by the time I realized it. I have 18 chickens that free range, it is hard for me to tell who has them and who doesn't as well as who lays which egg.

6/24 wormed with Valaben, 1/2cc each
7/3 Valbazen again, same dosage. Not sure I noticed any change
7/13 Zimectin Gold, pea sized amount per chicken. By now there were only a few droppings with segments, but not sure which so I wormed all chickens a third time.

I was without eggs for a month. Now i have had them less than a month and I have worms again. What do I do this time, and HOW can I keep this from happening again?? Is there a preventative I can give them?

 

[casportpony]

You could try worming them with fenbendazole 10% (Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste) at 20mg/kg for 3 consecutive days. FYI, it's possible that you didn't give enough Valbazen, the most effective dose is 20mg/kg.

Here is a study that shows the efficacy of fenbendazole and tapes and other worms:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6750887

Efficacy of fenbendazole against helminth parasites of poultry in Uganda.

Ssenyonga GS.
Abstract

Fenbendazole 4% (Panacur, Hoechst) administered in feed was used to treat chickens infected with Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum and Railletina spp. It was also used to treat Syngamus trachea in broiler birds. There was a marked drop in helminth egg counts in the faeces on the second day of treatment and the faeces became negative by the seventh day after the last treatment. Post-mortem examination 15 to 21 days later showed that the drug was 100% effective against Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum at 10 mg/kg. However, for complete removal of Railletina spp. 15 mg/kg was required. Similarly 20 mg/kg fenbendazole was effective against Syngamus trachea. It was concluded that fenbendazole is suitable for the treatment of the important intestinal and tracheal worms of poultry, a dose of 15 to 20 mg/kg for 3 consecutive days being recommended for use under field conditions.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Don't free range or else learn to like the taste of tape worms with your scrambled eggs.

Free range chickens will always be infected with tape worms. Only an acre or two per hen will help much in the long term but even then your fowl will still pick them up. There use to be a good tape worm medicine called Worm-All, you guested it, the government took it off the market.

 

[dawg53]

Tapes ARE difficult to get rid of, I know this firsthand. Time to change strategy. Withhold their feed for 24 for hours, they can have water only to drink during that timeframe. After 24 hours, give them a pea size dose of zimectrin gold, then redose them again in 10 days.
I had about 20 chickens and I would pick a couple out and follow them around waiting for one or two take a dump...then run over and check the poop for segments. It was an all morning ordeal and I discovered a total of 4 hens that were infected. I isolated them in cages and treated them accordingly. I was able to collect eggs from the other uninfected birds. You might consider doing this or trying something else different to locate and treat the infected bird(s.) I dont like tossing eggs no more than anyone else...but sometimes it's a necessity and gotta come up with different ideas when it comes to dealing with tapes.
FYI: Withholding feed weakens the worms, the z-gold will pack a more lethal punch killing the worms.

 

[dawg53]

Don't free range or else learn to like the taste of tape worms with your scrambled eggs.

Free range chickens will always be infected with tape worms. Only an acre or two per hen will help much in the long term but even then your fowl will still pick them up. There use to be a good tape worm medicine called Worm-All, you guested it, the government took it off the market.

Even caged birds can be infected by tapes. It only takes an insect carrying an infective egg to be eaten by a chicken to get tapeworm.

 

[casportpony]

Tapes ARE difficult to get rid of, I know this firsthand. Time to change strategy. Withhold their feed for 24 for hours, they can have water only to drink during that timeframe. After 24 hours, give them a pea size dose of zimectrin gold, then redose them again in 10 days.
I had about 20 chickens and I would pick a couple out and follow them around waiting for one or two take a dump...then run over and check the poop for segments. It was an all morning ordeal and I discovered a total of 4 hens that were infected. I isolated them in cages and treated them accordingly. I was able to collect eggs from the other uninfected birds. You might consider doing this or trying something else different to locate and treat the infected bird(s.) I dont like tossing eggs no more than anyone else...but sometimes it's a necessity and gotta come up with different ideas when it comes to dealing with tapes.
FYI: Withholding feed weakens the worms, the z-gold will pack a more lethal punch killing the worms.

Sounds like me!

-Kathy

 

[dawg53]

Quote: LOL. Yeah, like I aint got nothing else better to do.

 

[Fraunie]

Ok, this sounds like a strategy. I'll go get the feeders out and follow who I can tonight. I have an old coop (the ghetto coop) that I can put those in that are infected. They should OK for now. Do I need to keep them in there for the whole 20 days??

I don 't think anyone has the time or desire to follow around hens waiting for them to crap, but hey, better than no eggs for another 20 days.......

THanks for your advice, all!

 

[dawg53]

Ok, this sounds like a strategy. I'll go get the feeders out and follow who I can tonight. I have an old coop (the ghetto coop) that I can put those in that are infected. They should OK for now. Do I need to keep them in there for the whole 20 days??

I don 't think anyone has the time or desire to follow around hens waiting for them to crap, but hey, better than no eggs for another 20 days.......

THanks for your advice, all!

If you let them out of the ghetto coop after treatment, how would you know what eggs not to eat?

 

[Fraunie]

sigh....good point. I might be able to identify them by then, but maybe not.

I was just out there for 45min and only saw 1 of 18 poop. She was clean.