Tapeworm treatment questions

[5crazies]

I have been searching the existing threads but can't find an answer to my question so here goes.

We have 31 hens and 2 roosters who wander freely all day on 3-4 acres. We do not have a run.

The other day I noticed white specks in one of the droppings that were moving. After researching, I'm pretty positive it's tapeworm. I have no idea which bird it came from. I have been checking droppings but have not seen the worms again, although since they have so much land to roam it's likely I'm just not seeing it.

I'm assuming I need to treat the whole flock since I don't know which one (or more) have them. Should I keep them in the coop until I know the worms are gone or is it okay to continue to let them out? They are not going to be happy being stuck in there and I don't have the means to build a temporary run right now.

 

[Livia Ammon]

I don’t have much experience in this, so take these comments with a grain of salt.

I’ve heard a LOT of bad things about dichotomous earth, so don’t use that. I have used ivermectin in the past, and it worms and kills fleas and mites on chickens: anything that is drinking its blood or inside of it. It’s dosed with just a few drops on the back of a chicken, look at other posts for dosage.

To cleanse the coop and surrounding area, I’ve heard good things about permethrin, but I’m not sure it works on tapeworms.

Overall, I hope someone who has more experience will find this. Good luck!

 

[5crazies]

I don’t have much experience in this, so take these comments with a grain of salt.

I’ve heard a LOT of bad things about dichotomous earth, so don’t use that. I have used ivermectin in the past, and it worms and kills fleas and mites on chickens: anything that is drinking its blood or inside of it. It’s dosed with just a few drops on the back of a chicken, look at other posts for dosage.

To cleanse the coop and surrounding area, I’ve heard good things about permethrin, but I’m not sure it works on tapeworms.

Overall, I hope someone who has more experience will find this. Good luck!

Thank you!
From what I've been reading, I need praziquantel to get rid of the tapeworms so I bought Equimax, which also has ivermectin.
I'm just trying to figure out if it's possible to treat and monitor my flock without keeping them confined to their coop.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The other day I noticed white specks in one of the droppings that were moving. After researching, I'm pretty positive it's tapeworm.

I'm assuming I need to treat the whole flock since I don't know which one (or more) have them. Should I keep them in the coop until I know the worms are gone or is it okay to continue to let them out?

If possible, try to find out which bird(s) have the Tapeworms, you really only want to treat those. But if necessary, you could treat everyone.

For Tapeworms, you want to use Praziquantel. You can find Equimax horse paste online or at stores like TSC. Dose is 0.033ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10-14 days.

Birds are going to pick up worm eggs as they forage, eat bugs or even scratch about in their own coop/run. There's really no need to lock everyone up, just either deworm periodically or get a fecal float and deworm when necessary.

Here's how to give oral medications:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[5crazies]

If possible, try to find out which bird(s) have the Tapeworms, you really only want to treat those. But if necessary, you could treat everyone.

For Tapeworms, you want to use Praziquantel. You can find Equimax horse paste online or at stores like TSC. Dose is 0.033ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10-14 days.

Birds are going to pick up worm eggs as they forage, eat bugs or even scratch about in their own coop/run. There's really no need to lock everyone up, just either deworm periodically or get a fecal float and deworm when necessary.

Here's how to give oral medications:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Thank you! I'm not sure how I'll figure out which bird(s) have it. Their coop opens at sunrise with a solar door and then they're all over the place all day. I've been trying to find more evidence of the worms and haven't seen any since the first time, a couple weeks ago. Maybe I'll try to be out there with treats when the door opens to keep them together for a bit so I can see them poop.

 

[5crazies]

If possible, try to find out which bird(s) have the Tapeworms, you really only want to treat those. But if necessary, you could treat everyone.

For Tapeworms, you want to use Praziquantel. You can find Equimax horse paste online or at stores like TSC. Dose is 0.033ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10-14 days.

Birds are going to pick up worm eggs as they forage, eat bugs or even scratch about in their own coop/run. There's really no need to lock everyone up, just either deworm periodically or get a fecal float and deworm when necessary.

Here's how to give oral medications:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Also, thank you for the link. I've seen people recommend squirting the medicine on a piece of bread then feeding. Is this okay if we do this one by one as they come out of the coop?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Also, thank you for the link. I've seen people recommend squirting the medicine on a piece of bread then feeding. Is this okay if we do this one by one as they come out of the coop?

Yes, you can try offering it on bread.
Are most of your birds the same weight? If you have various weights, it would be harder to give the correct dosing but it's possible you can pull it off.

 

[5crazies]

Yes, you can try offering it on bread.
Are most of your birds the same weight? If you have various weights, it would be harder to give the correct dosing but it's possible you can pull it off.

Yes they're all pretty close in size. We've got Rhode Island Reds, Midnight Majesty Marans and Saphhire Olive Eggers. The Marans may be slightly larger than the RIRs and the OEs slightly smaller. The roos are also bigger of course.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Yes they're all pretty close in size. We've got Rhode Island Reds, Midnight Majesty Marans and Saphhire Olive Eggers. The Marans may be slightly larger than the RIRs and the OEs slightly smaller. The roos are also bigger of course.

Then you should be able to get a pretty close calculation on dosing.
Do the roosters first or last, that way you can have their piece of bread set apart.

 

[5crazies]

Then you should be able to get a pretty close calculation on dosing.
Do the roosters first or last, that way you can have their piece of bread set apart.

One more question...during the egg withdrawal period, can I feed the eggs back to the chickens?