Tape worms will not die. What am I doing wrong.

[slschul3]

I have read many of the post here and found that Albendazole works the best for tape worms.. I have giving a single dose for a ten pound chicken of .5mL at 11.36% Albendazole orally. I waited a week and still had very small segments of tape worm in the fecal so I dosed them again and waited another week and still found some segments. Please, what am I doing wrong. Is there a dosing regimen that spans a certain number of days? Please help..

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Tapeworms are tough to get rid of, I've dealt with them. For a 10 pound chicken, increase dosage to 1cc and dose every tenth day. It might take a couple more dosings to get rid of them.

 

[GrannaOnTheFarm]

The only experience I've had with tape worms is in cats and dogs. I've always dosed them with Praziquantel aka Droncit. It's very effective but pricey. Don't know if you can use this on chickens. Might check it out though. My experience with cats, dogs, horses and donkeys is: underdosing can be like NOT dosing at all. GrannaOnTheFarm

 

[slschul3]

Thank you guy's. I talked with an exotic bird vet before I started the treatment and he sugested Panacure. I did some reasearch on that drug and found that it isn't effective against some type of tape worms, that is why I went with the albendazole. I'll try doubling the dose since this drug has been proven very safe to use. Thanks again for the input.

 

[Cherstin]

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon here and admit that I've only got experience with tapeworms in dogs and cats, but considering the method of infestation being an infected flea that the dog or cat chews and ingests, is it possible that there are still tapeworms being reintroduced to your chickens? Perhaps you'll have to treat your runs/yard/etc as well?

Just a thought that maybe it's not so much an underdosing problem, but a reinfestation problem. Good luck!

 

[chkn]

I had problems with tapes. I didn't up the dose like Dawg says which I'll try next time. I had to repeat the treatment 3-4 times. Seems somebody's poop would always show up with them. I started putting a lot of sand in the coop and runs and I think that's helped alot. I haven't seen them lately.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Birds have to eat an infected intermediate host (insect) to get tapeworms, much like a dog or cat has to swallow an infected flea. It's impractical to "debug" your property since that's what chickens do. Additionally there are many types of insects that can carry the tapeworm eggs... ants, termites, earthworms for example. They can also be picked up in droppings from wild birds.

 

[Cherstin]

@Dawg, thanks for the information. I understand, too, from a practical standpoint that since most people have chickens to debug their yard, no one would want to debug their yard on purpose. What I'm not able to understand from your post, though, is if reinfestation could possibly be the problem. Is it a cycle, then, as with mammals with tapes where the vet says to treat the pet for tapes but then you HAVE TO treat the yard/house for fleas? Or is just treating the chickens enough?

 

[slschul3]

OK, Here is an update. Stoped all treatment after unsuccesfully ridding of these pest. Decided to do an atospy on one of the hens who had been infected for over 4 months. Disected the intire digestive system and found some inflamation in the small intestine in one localized area but there were no adult worms present. I suspected to find adult worms in the large intestines but no sings of damage were found or adut worms. Health of the other seven birds were excelent but worms were still present. I contacted an entamoligist at ASU and asked for advice. He identifed the type of tape worm and sugested to stop treatment and maintain a healthy diet for the rest of the flock and watch for any changes. Well summer hit and the tape worms seemed to have dissapeared but I noticed some large round worms in one of my chickens fecal so I treated with Wazzinne and all sings of worms have dissapeared, go figure... Please don't assume this is the way to "fix" any parasite problem, I am just letting everyone know what is going on.
Birds look beautiful now and have gained alot of mass except for my one leghorn wich has not molted since I got her two years ago and she lays 1 egg a day every day, she might have missed 3 days last year but she has tons of enerygy!! Good luck everyone.