So I noticed some tapeworm like looking segments in an outdoor chicken poop. I took the sample to my vet and this poor girl has tapeworm, roundworm, and coccidiosis. I'm not overly worried about the coccidiosis, as I haven't seen a lot of diarrhea in the coop recently, so I think it is an opportunistic outbreak due to her battling the 2 types of worms. Said vet doesn't really treat chickens but was able to send in the stool sample for me.
My biggest question is how to treat, I know there are multiple meds required, but I'm not sure which to start with and how much time to wait in between treatments. And if I'm going through a complete deworm, I'd like to go ahead and treat for lice/mites since I'm doing egg withdrawal anyway.
Here is my setup:
8 three year old chickens, ranging in size from 15 oz Serema to a 5 lb 15 oz Buff Orpington
2 five month old standard size chickens
6 ten week old chicks that are still living in the brooder, but have had multiple yard visits with the big girls, so I'm assuming they all have everything. One of the chicks has marble leg, but that is another topic, not looking for advise on that now, just including for full disclosure.
Everybody seems to be doing well, eating/drinking/activity are all normal (except for 1 going through her normal hard molt).
Coop is pine shavings on linoleum, with droppings boards that get scraped every 1-2 days. I haven't seen any evidence of worms or diarrhea on the boards.
Run is native soil, which is 99% sand. No evidence of anything in the run.
I saw the tape segments when I let everyone out into the yard to free range, which is probably where they picked up the worms since we have a LOT of wild birds.
From my research it looks like the best treatments for each are:
Roundworms - dose with Wazine in the water, then wait 10-14 days and dose with ivermectin pour-on. The girls had roundworm 2 years ago, and this is what I did and it worked well.
Tapeworm - dose with either fenbendazole or praziquantel. I don't have experience with either, so not sure which is better, though I'm leaning towards praziquantel because a few of the girls just started molt, of course, and the fenbendazole can cause feather problems.
Coccidiosis - Corid, I used this 3 years ago and it seemed to work well.
Lice/mites - though I don't see any evidence of these creepy crawlies, I know that lowered immune systems due to fighting worms can open them up to more pests, so I'd like to preventative treat. The ivermectin pour-on would cover these guys as a side benefit to the 2nd roundworm treatment.
So - do I treat roundworm (Wazine, wait 10-14 days and treat with ivermectin), then wait XX more days and treat with praziquantel, then wait XX days and retreat with praziquantel, then treat with Corid at the end? Or can I give the praziquantel and the ivermectin at the same time? I do think I'd like to start with Wazine first just in case there is a large worm load so it is more gentle on their systems, but I'm open to suggestions. Last worming on the adults was 2 years ago for roundworms.
My biggest question is how to treat, I know there are multiple meds required, but I'm not sure which to start with and how much time to wait in between treatments. And if I'm going through a complete deworm, I'd like to go ahead and treat for lice/mites since I'm doing egg withdrawal anyway.
Here is my setup:
8 three year old chickens, ranging in size from 15 oz Serema to a 5 lb 15 oz Buff Orpington
2 five month old standard size chickens
6 ten week old chicks that are still living in the brooder, but have had multiple yard visits with the big girls, so I'm assuming they all have everything. One of the chicks has marble leg, but that is another topic, not looking for advise on that now, just including for full disclosure.
Everybody seems to be doing well, eating/drinking/activity are all normal (except for 1 going through her normal hard molt).
Coop is pine shavings on linoleum, with droppings boards that get scraped every 1-2 days. I haven't seen any evidence of worms or diarrhea on the boards.
Run is native soil, which is 99% sand. No evidence of anything in the run.
I saw the tape segments when I let everyone out into the yard to free range, which is probably where they picked up the worms since we have a LOT of wild birds.
From my research it looks like the best treatments for each are:
Roundworms - dose with Wazine in the water, then wait 10-14 days and dose with ivermectin pour-on. The girls had roundworm 2 years ago, and this is what I did and it worked well.
Tapeworm - dose with either fenbendazole or praziquantel. I don't have experience with either, so not sure which is better, though I'm leaning towards praziquantel because a few of the girls just started molt, of course, and the fenbendazole can cause feather problems.
Coccidiosis - Corid, I used this 3 years ago and it seemed to work well.
Lice/mites - though I don't see any evidence of these creepy crawlies, I know that lowered immune systems due to fighting worms can open them up to more pests, so I'd like to preventative treat. The ivermectin pour-on would cover these guys as a side benefit to the 2nd roundworm treatment.
So - do I treat roundworm (Wazine, wait 10-14 days and treat with ivermectin), then wait XX more days and treat with praziquantel, then wait XX days and retreat with praziquantel, then treat with Corid at the end? Or can I give the praziquantel and the ivermectin at the same time? I do think I'd like to start with Wazine first just in case there is a large worm load so it is more gentle on their systems, but I'm open to suggestions. Last worming on the adults was 2 years ago for roundworms.
