Tapeworm and Capillaria

[arosenzweig]

• ricebabyca, love those photos of syringe feeding. Thanks for that Sorry I didn't thank you earlier.

I wanted to give everyone an update.

We tried to syringe feed but ended up soaking bread pieces with medicine and letting them eat it.


To recap a healthy "looking" flock had the following in a routine stool sample:
Cestoda (tapeworms) 150 eggs per gram
Capillaria 50 eggs per gram


To treat it, we used Valbazen in the following doses:
0.25 cc (Silkie, and other Bantam chickens)
0.5 cc (Standard size chickens)
0.75 cc (Brahma, Wyandotte, Jersey Giant, any of the really big standard chickens)

We treated them three different times with five days between each dosage. Four days after the third dose, we ran another stool sample. This is what we found:
Eimeria 700 EPG (seven-hundred eggs per gram)

That's a Cocci infection right? That's like the name for the actual protozoa that leads to cocci infection. I'm not sure how bad 700 EPG is but Cocci is scary stuff.

So the good news is that the tapeworms and Capillaria worms seems to be gone but now we are dealing with Cocci.

The birds "look" healthy at the moment but what do you think I should do? Unless you advise otherwise, tomorrow I plan to give them Sulfadimethoxine 12.5 % Solution in their water like discussed in this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/919532/day-5-then-what-sulfadimethoxine-12-5-solution

Thank you

 

[arosenzweig]

Taken from Merk manual:

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/poultry/coccidiosis/overview_of_coccidiosis_in_poultry.html

Coccidial infections are readily confirmed by demonstration of oocysts in feces or intestinal scrapings; however, the number of oocysts present has little relationship to the extent of clinical disease. Severity of lesions as well as knowledge of flock appearance, morbidity, daily mortality, feed intake, growth rate, and rate of lay are important for diagnosis.

So... what does that mean? If our flock seems healthy should we not be too concerned? How many EPG (OPG) should we be concerned with?

I guess it is normal to have some cocci present but we certainly don't want it to get out of control. Should we medicate now? It's very confusing.

 

[arosenzweig]

I did some more reading... scholarly papers and such.

It seems like most chickens need a Cocci Oocyst load of 5,000 (5k) eggs-per-gram (or more) for them to be sick.

Also:

1) wet conditions and dirty (poopy) conditions are where there is the most risk. Right now it is very dry and we are very clean.

2) young birds (six weeks old or less) are the most susceptible. Our youngest bird is months older than that.

So, please correct me if I'm wrong, but 700 eggs-per-gram is nothing to fear. Going to give them yogurt today and probably do another fecal float a week later. Not going to use a sulfa drug right now to combat the cocci.

 

[enola]

Protozoa are present every where in their environment. As you have found out, there is even a thriving population in your flock. This is absolutely normal.

If this was my flock, I would make sure I had Corid on hand so I could treat the entire flock when I saw the first symptoms of coccidia. I prefer Corid over Sulfas because Corid treats more strains of coccidia. I also do not use antibiotics of any sort on my chickens.

 

[arosenzweig]

enola, thanks for the thumbs up

Sage advice. I do have Corrid powder handy (Amprolium) and also the sulfa meds. You are right, corrid is not an anti-biotic and is less harsh... corrid doesn't even have a withdrawal period. Corrid helps stop cocci from multiplying but doesn't outright kill cocci. The sulfa meds are harsh antibiotics... which is why I'm reluctant to use it. In the past Corrid didn't help some beautiful birds and we lost them but I know Corrid works well for many people. We've used sulfa meds on birds from the fair and they survived.

Right now, no meds, just probiotics, and a watchful eye.

 

[TMPope]

Hi BYC peeps, question after reading this post. Can we worm as a maintenance measure? If so what is the best and dosage?

 

[arosenzweig]

Hi TMPope,

Look at this link, very good article about wormers:
http://www.aviagen.com/assets/Tech_Center/AA_Technical_Articles/AAServiceBulletinIntestinalWorms.pdf

You kind of need to know what type of worms there are and treat those... I doubt general deworming without knowing is a good idea.

 

[TMPope]

Thank you! I was told in another post my Orphington could have worms because her comb is light on the ends. And that I need to work as maintenance. I have never seen worms

 

[arosenzweig]

Hi TMPope, what state do you live in? Almost all states will do a "stool sample" (poo sample) for free or very little money. In Maryland it is $10 (ten bucks) to have it examined for all types of worms and parasites. Then you'll know what you are dealing with.

 

[TMPope]

Great idea. I live in Texas. I will check that this morning. I have been dragging my feet on this. I clean their cage and our back porch as the girls love to come to the sliding door. I have seen no evidence other than what I was told why my one girl has a light colored/purplish hue to her comb, I appreciate this!