Tapeworms won't go away! Please help!

[Krazy4Chicks]

I have a small flock of chickens (14 hens) that range in size: Silkies, Polish, Amberlinks, White Plymouth Rock. A couple months back I saw some poop with Tapeworm segments in it. I had treated entire flock with Equimax (.032 ml/lb.) twice - 10 days apart. Unfortunately, the first dose I did not know to fast the birds for 24 hours prior; but the second dose I did fast them 24 hours prior. Well, I just noticed a couple more poops with Tapeworm segments in them. I'm not sure if it is just one specific bird, or if all of them are infected. I know that Praziquantel is the main medication that gets rid of tapeworms. My question is whether I can just purchase the powder form of Praziquantel and just medicate each bird based on their weight. We used to use Praziquantel when treating our koi for worms and flukes, so I know that I can obtain the medication in pure Praziquantel powder form. If I medicate them this way, does anyone have any recommendation on the dosage of powder?

These birds have not been free-ranging since the first episode. I've had them confined to their coop and run area. However, they do dig down and find bugs in the dirt. The coop and run area are mainly sand and dirt mixed in. Should I do something different to try to keep the worms/bugs out? To make matters worse, we just got a lot of rain, and the floor area of the coop and run area are pretty damp. I'm at a complete loss as to get this under control. Thank you for any help/recommendations!!

Here are pictures of our coop.

 

[staceyj]

@casportpony is the poopooguru

Nice coop!

 

[casportpony]

I have a small flock of chickens (14 hens) that range in size: Silkies, Polish, Amberlinks, White Plymouth Rock. A couple months back I saw some poop with Tapeworm segments in it. I had treated entire flock with Equimax (.032 ml/lb.) twice - 10 days apart. Unfortunately, the first dose I did not know to fast the birds for 24 hours prior; but the second dose I did fast them 24 hours prior. Well, I just noticed a couple more poops with Tapeworm segments in them. I'm not sure if it is just one specific bird, or if all of them are infected. I know that Praziquantel is the main medication that gets rid of tapeworms. My question is whether I can just purchase the powder form of Praziquantel and just medicate each bird based on their weight. We used to use Praziquantel when treating our koi for worms and flukes, so I know that I can obtain the medication in pure Praziquantel powder form. If I medicate them this way, does anyone have any recommendation on the dosage of powder?

These birds have not been free-ranging since the first episode. I've had them confined to their coop and run area. However, they do dig down and find bugs in the dirt. The coop and run area are mainly sand and dirt mixed in. Should I do something different to try to keep the worms/bugs out? To make matters worse, we just got a lot of rain, and the floor area of the coop and run area are pretty damp. I'm at a complete loss as to get this under control. Thank you for any help/recommendations!!

Here are pictures of our coop.

View attachment 1610969 View attachment 1610970

You can use the fish powder and the dose is 10mg/kg. Let me know which powder and I'll try to calculate a dose for you.

 

[Krazy4Chicks]

@casportpony is the poopooguru

Nice coop!

Thank you! The only issue, since the rain, is that the inside of the coop floor is now damp from water seeping up through the ground. Almost wondering if we should have put a concrete floor in instead of having it sand & dirt. We're now planning to add rain gutters - lol!

 

[Krazy4Chicks]

You can use the fish powder and the dose is 10mg/kg. Let me know which powder and I'll try to calculate a dose for you.

Thank you for replying!! This is what we used to use for our koi fish. I also know there are others out there. Do you have any recommendations? Or should I maybe just try again with the Equimax?

 

[casportpony]

Thank you for replying!! This is what we used to use for our koi fish. I also know there are others out there. Do you have any recommendations? Or should I maybe just try again with the Equimax?

View attachment 1611214

I just googled that and it says it's pure praziquantel. Do you have a food scale that you could use to weigh a tablespoon with?

 

[Krazy4Chicks]

I just googled that and it says it's pure praziquantel. Do you have a food scale that you could use to weigh a tablespoon with?

I have a gram scale, but unfortunately, I actually don't have any of this medication right now --- it's just what we used to use for our koi pond. We no longer have a koi pond at our new home, so we got rid of our supplies (darn it - lol). I remember the consistency was a lot like baby powder - very light. It's pretty expensive, and I'm not sure how much I'd need. You purchase the containers based on their gram size: 10g, 25g, 50g, or 100g. I just figured that if it was just praziquantel, without any other meds added in, it would be better. Then I thought that I could just make my own paste with maybe some yogurt. But maybe there are other options that would be better?

 

[casportpony]

Since it's pure, you would need very little. A five pound hen would get 110 mg.

 

[Krazy4Chicks]

Since it's pure, you would need very little. A five pound hen would get 110 mg.

My gram scale weighs starting at 0.1g, and it just goes from 0.1g to 0.2g; which means I'd have to guesstimate. So it looks like for a 5 lb. hen, I would need to weigh out .11g. This might be a lot of work to do for each hen - lol. But I don't know --- what's your thoughts? Would it possibly be worth it to try it? From what I've read, Praziquantel is pretty safe to use, so there might be a little give on the dosage?

 

[casportpony]

My gram scale weighs starting at 0.1g, and it just goes from 0.1g to 0.2g; which means I'd have to guesstimate. So it looks like for a 5 lb. hen, I would need to weigh out .11g. This might be a lot of work to do for each hen - lol. But I don't know --- what's your thoughts? Would it possibly be worth it to try it? From what I've read, Praziquantel is pretty safe to use, so there might be a little give on the dosage?

If it's really water soluble we could have you weigh out something like five grams, and some amount of water, like 20 ml, stir well, then give 0.9 ml per 5 pounds, that way you only need to measure once.