Tapeworm and Valbazen Treatment

[Sharwig]

Hey all! Been awhile since I've visited but could really use some guidance! We've been battling tapeworm for some time. We treated with Equimax horse paste in April/May (2 doses 7-14 days apart. Now they're back and I'm at my wits end!.

We started treating Saturday with Valbazen because I'm concerned about them becomimg resistant to Praziquantel. We've been withholding food from about 6 pm-7am and giving 1 cc orally for a 5 lb chicken in the am. 1/2 the flock rcvd dose #4 today and the rest, dose #3 (22 total) and we're still seeing live segments!! I know it works slower, but should we keep treating until we no longer see moving segments?

I don't know how to free our acre of the eggs so this doesn't continue so any advice there is also appreciated?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dawg53]

Keep in mind that insects are the host for tapeworms. Chickens eat insects. Control the insect population and you control tapeworm infections. It's almost an impossible task, but keep in mind not all insects are tapeworm infected hosts.
This is why your birds are being reinfected...eating tapeworm infected insects.

You'd be better off using the Equimax again than the Valbazen.
Also, I'd like to mention that you only have to worm the birds that are tapeworm infected, the birds that excreted segments only. You dont have to worm ALL your birds. Not all birds become tapeworm infected.

 

[Sharwig]

Keep in mind that insects are the host for tapeworms. Chickens eat insects. Control the insect population and you control tapeworm infections. It's almost an impossible task, but keep in mind not all insects are tapeworm infected hosts.
This is why your birds are being reinfected...eating tapeworm infected insects.

You'd be better off using the Equimax again than the Valbazen.
Also, I'd like to mention that you only have to worm the birds that are tapeworm infected, the birds that excreted segments only. You dont have to worm ALL your birds. Not all birds become tapeworm infected.

Thanks for responding @dawg53! I'm to the point where I'm considering leaving them locked up! No more free ranging, but I don't think the Leghorns would do well?!! Is there a pesticide you would recommend for keeping the bug population down in the chicken yard and pasture? Our property is just shy of an acre...

 

[dawg53]

There are plenty of pesticides on the market. I've never used them as I didnt want to poison my chickens when they free ranged.

I've dealt with tapeworms many times in chickens. When I lived in Georgia, I let my birds free range on about a half acre. I had 25 birds. The first thing they did once they left the pen was go forage the yard, then come back to the pen and eat from the feeders.

If I had seen tapeworm segments in feces previously, I'd follow a group of 3 or 4 birds and check their poop for segments when one of them pooped. Chickens poop often and it was easy to follow them and sure enough one of them would poop.
If I saw segments in the poop, I'd remember which bird it was, then catch her later on and put her in a cage. I'd follow all the other birds around and make a mental note which ones pooped and had clean feces.

It was fairly easy to do and took 45 minutes to an hour. At one time I had 4 birds caged and separated from the others all at once treating them for tapeworms. All the other birds had clean feces and I didnt have to worm them nor toss eggs in the garbage.
Here's some pics I took of caged birds when I was treating for tapes:

 

[Sharwig]

There are plenty of pesticides on the market. I've never used them as I didnt want to poison my chickens when they free ranged.

I've dealt with tapeworms many times in chickens. When I lived in Georgia, I let my birds free range on about a half acre. I had 25 birds. The first thing they did once they left the pen was go forage the yard, then come back to the pen and eat from the feeders.

If I had seen tapeworm segments in feces previously, I'd follow a group of 3 or 4 birds and check their poop for segments when one of them pooped. Chickens poop often and it was easy to follow them and sure enough one of them would poop.
If I saw segments in the poop, I'd remember which bird it was, then catch her later on and put her in a cage. I'd follow all the other birds around and make a mental note which ones pooped and had clean feces.

It was fairly easy to do and took 45 minutes to an hour. At one time I had 4 birds caged and separated from the others all at once treating them for tapeworms. All the other birds had clean feces and I didnt have to worm them nor toss eggs in the garbage.
Here's some pics I took of caged birds when I was treating for tapes:
View attachment 2306303View attachment 2306307View attachment 2306310

Update:

After 5 days treating with Valbazen, and one treatment of Equimax, I'm still seeing moving tapeworm segments! I'm feeling so defeated! 21 birds and we're only getting a few eggs a day! So, after 4 long years of fighting worms, vent gleet, etc, I've decided to get rid of my flock. There is just no way to clear the environment and prevent reinfection and its costing us a fortune with very little return -- we're tossing more eggs than we're eating!

Thank you for all your help and guidance these past 4 years! This has been a great site!

 

[dawg53]

I'm sorry you're going through this. Too bad we dont live closer, I could give you a hand helping control the worm problem. I wish you the best.

 

[Sharwig]

I'm sorry you're going through this. Too bad we dont live closer, I could give you a hand helping control the worm problem. I wish you the best.

I appreciate that @dawg53. I'm in Idaho and everyone thinks that tapes aren't a problem because of our dry desert climate but I've learned differently. I think we just need to give the property a couple of years to dry out, and pesticide the heck out of it, and in a couple few years try again. I hate to let this lovely coop my hubs built for me, go to waste!!

 

[dawg53]

@Sharwig WOW! Very nice coop!
Since insects are the host for tapeworms, perhaps you can "spot treat" certain areas of your property.
I had the same problem when I lived in Georgia. I would block off one part of the back yard with field fence and treat that area with liquid Sevin. Wait a week then block off another section and treat accordingly. By doing it in that manner, it knocked down the insect population as well as tapeworm infections.
It was all due to Robins flying south for the winter that started the whole problem. They landed in the yard and contaminated the soil with their droppings.

You can rotate where you want your birds to free range, just let them free range in the areas that you previously treated. Then move them into another "clean" area the following week and so on.
Retreat the soil they were previously on and let it rest for a couple of weeks if you wish, just keep rotating your birds around the property. Like ranchers rotating pasture with their cattle.
Any worm eggs on the surface exposed to sunlight will be eliminated by UV rays from the sun, just have go after the bugs.
It will also cut down roundworm infections.

 

[klbaker75]

@

@Sharwig WOW! Very nice coop!
Since insects are the host for tapeworms, perhaps you can "spot treat" certain areas of your property.
I had the same problem when I lived in Georgia. I would block off one part of the back yard with field fence and treat that area with liquid Sevin. Wait a week then block off another section and treat accordingly. By doing it in that manner, it knocked down the insect population as well as tapeworm infections.
It was all due to Robins flying south for the winter that started the whole problem. They landed in the yard and contaminated the soil with their droppings.

You can rotate where you want your birds to free range, just let them free range in the areas that you previously treated. Then move them into another "clean" area the following week and so on.
Retreat the soil they were previously on and let it rest for a couple of weeks if you wish, just keep rotating your birds around the property. Like ranchers rotating pasture with their cattle.
Any worm eggs on the surface exposed to sunlight will be eliminated by UV rays from the sun, just have go after the bugs.
It will also cut down roundworm infections.

@dawg53 We have sheep that picked up tapeworm from our cattle. I just recently moved the chickens to the barn to escape gapeworm and they were digging around in the sheep area and no doubt eating the segments. Now the chickens have tapeworm. We are going to clean that area well. I was always told the vector was a flea and figured there wouldn’t be any harm in them digging in it. I now understand the segments contain the eggs and this is how they were infected. There really aren’t any insects in the barn so the source of contamination hopefully will be gone with some cleaning. I’ve never dealt with this before in chickens and have no idea where to begin with dosing. Is valbazen what you would recommend? If so would you do 0.5 cc per standard size? That’s what I use for roundworms but this thread makes me nervous that the valbazen may not be the best wormer. I am not a fan of ivermectin and would prefer to avoid those products. But if this is truly the best bet I’ll try it. I can try to find praziquantel but do not know where to get this or the dosage or if it can be combined with valbazen. Thanks for your thoughts and opinions.
Karen

 

[dawg53]

You'll want to use Equimax equine paste to treat your tapeworm infected birds. It's actually more effective treating tapeworms than Valbazen. You can find it at any feed store or Tractor Supply in the Equine section.
Equimax dosage is 0.15ml for a 5 pound chicken. Give the paste orally to each infected chicken, that way you know the bird got properly dosed. Repeat dosing in 10-14 days.