Tapeworms! Is my game plan ok? GROSS PHOTO WARNING

[Shannon85]

We have a flock of 7 Orpingtons that we got for our toddler 3 months ago. She got poop on her hand the other day and I saw tapeworm segments, confirmed by a few chicken owner friends. I've been to 3 farm & feed stores and talked to several people on what I should do, and EVERYBODY tells me something different or to just google it or info I know is wrong. I've weeded through so much info in the past 2 days, byc posts have been very helpful but not a complete plan yet.

My plan is:
-fast for 24 hours prior to worming
-worming with Equalon Gold (Ivermectin 1.55% praziquantel 7.75%) a "pea sized" amount on a piece of bread for each chicken
-repeat worming in 10 days (fast them for 24 hour prior again), don't eat eggs for 21ish days total.
-give yogurt 2 days after each worming
Let me know if I am missing anything there! I also plan to order valbazen so I can rotate wormers spring/fall.

What I DON'T know yet is what about the coop & run?
Should I be cleaning out all the bedding and scrubbing everything with bleach? And if so, what about the run, won't they just pick up the worms again from their yard or will the eggs be dead by then?

I am really hoping to get them dealt properly with on the first go around as the toddler (and me!) will be quite sad she can't eat her chickens eggs! Thank you!

 

[Wolfefarmyard]

Could it be round worm? We once adopted a dog that had round worm. His feces had the same thing in it. The little fragments that look like rice.

 

[casportpony]

Use Equimax instead. It has twice as much praziquantel (14.3%), so one tube will treat twice as many chickens.
Dose is 0.16 ml per five pound chicken, repeat in 10-14 days.

Dose for the 7.75% is 0.3 ml per five pound chicken, repeat in 10-14 days.

 

[Shannon85]

Unfortunately the only one in my area that I can get today is the Equalon Gold. I have quickly learned that Canada does not have a very wide selection of medical supplies for farm animals! I just ordered Valbazen last night from Jeffer's Pet as well so we can cycle the wormers next time we have to do this, because I know there WILL be a next time Thanks for the dosing info, helpful

 

[Shannon85]

Could it be round worm? We once adopted a dog that had round worm. His feces had the same thing in it. The little fragments that look like rice.

Round worm is spaghetti and tapeworm is rice. I think you may have received some bad info but if you used a broad spectrum deowormer it would've gotten rid of it still. I ran a dog rescue for five years and have seen way too many worms!

 

[casportpony]

The dosing info I gave you is based on what my vet book says, which is praziquantel at 10 mg/kg for the common chicken tapeworm.

In case you are curious, the math I used is:
5 pounds / 2.2 (convert to kg) x 10 (mg/kg) / 77.5 (mg/ml) = 0.29 ml

 

[Eggcessive]

Tapeworms are usually initially spread to chickens from a host, such as eating slugs and snails, houseflies, fleas, beetles around the coop, and worms that contain tapeworm eggs. When the chicken is infected with tapes, it can help to remove any affected droppings that contain the segments, but also to remove or treat for the intermediate hosts.

Tapeworms in chickens are fairly rare, and may be hard to completely get rid of, since they can spread through eating the eggs contained in the segments. I am not sure if the segments are dead or dried up, if the eggs are still viable, but probably so.

 

[Shannon85]

Tapeworms are usually initially spread to chickens from a host, such as eating slugs and snails, houseflies, fleas, beetles around the coop, and worms that contain tapeworm eggs. When the chicken is infected with tapes, it can help to remove any affected droppings that contain the segments, but also to remove or treat for the intermediate hosts.

Tapeworms in chickens are fairly rare, and may be hard to completely get rid of, since they can spread through eating the eggs contained in the segments. I am not sure if the segments are dead or dried up, if the eggs are still viable, but probably so.

We emptied the compost a week and a half ago and the toddler collected all the worms for the chickens, not sure if that was the culprit. I couldn't find any when I looked today but going out to check again. As for the fairly rare, for some reason I too often hear "This has never happened before..." LOL. Story of my life!