Treating for worms, and egg withdrawal

[TwinkleUp]

I’ve been keeping chickens for ten years or so, and I’ve never had to medicate for any reason. A couple of months ago, I bought five backyard hens from someone local, and after a few days, I noticed their fluffy butts were a bit poopy. After reading various posts on a FB chicken health group, I bathed the worst one to see if I could get a look at what might be going on. Although I discovered that a wet hen is the worst smell ever, I really didn’t make any discovery about the cause of the messy butt. I ordered some probiotic/vitamins from Amazon (arriving soon) and intended to start daily baths in Epsom salts when our weather warms up here any day now. I hoped that the new girls would kick whatever was going on with a little TLC of the nutrition boost, sunny warm weather, and hygiene help.

Sooo, yesterday, I happened to look out the back door just when Astrid, the messiest one, was pooping. I went out, took a look, and lo and behold, there was a tapeworm segment moving around in her (loose) droppings. I went back to the FB group, posted pics, and got recommendations to use Safeguard. One of my local feed stores only sells a homeopathic chicken wormer. When I called another feed store, the employee told me that they had a pelletized chicken wormer. When I asked for the name-brand so that I could google it to find the egg withdrawal, she told me to just look up “pelletized chicken wormer.” So helpful. My local hatchery sells several wormers, but their phone seems to be off the hook today.

Back to Amazon to look at Safeguard products. So there is an all-animal formula, there is a goat formula, and an equine formula. I ordered the equine formula because it is paste/gel form and one of the reviewers said that they fed a pea-size bit on bread to each individual chicken. I also found info online that the egg withdrawal is 17 days. Ugh.

Does anyone have experience using the Safeguard equine formula? I need to know how much, how many days to give it, and does the egg withdrawal period begin on the first day of worming or last day? Is there a better wormer on Amazon that has a shorter egg withdrawal? Not only does my family eat the eggs, but I sell the extra eggs to pay for chicken feed, so 17 days is a long time.

 

[pibb]

Have you got any pics of the worm?

What did the worm look like?

Safeguard doesn't really work on tapeworms. You need something with Praziquantel for that. Knowing which worm you saw is very helpful.
@dawg53 would be interested in this thread.

 

[TwinkleUp]

It was a tapeworm segment. Our indoor/outdoor cat gets them occasionally, so I’m very familiar with what they look like.

 

[pibb]

Do you have some medicine leftover from the cat?

 

[pibb]

On a side note, your cat and chickens must be eating infected mice.

 

[TwinkleUp]

The feline treatment is in pill-form, expensive and “fun” to administer. And, yes, she gets worms about once a year from the rodents she catches. Fleas actually carry tapeworms, too, so even if a rodent isn’t infested, the fleas on it might be.

The chickens came to me with worms “pre-installed”. I know chickens will eat just about anything, but it’s more likely the chickens picked them up in their previous yard somehow rather than from mice. According to what I’ve read online, things that chickens love to eat, like slugs, snails, and even earthworms, can carry tapeworms. The eggs can also be in the grass. I have not had any problem with worms in my flock before.

Thanks for the info on the dewormer. I’ll return the Safeguard. I just ordered Zimectrin Gold Dewormer Paste. I saw it recommended in another post and it contains Praziquantel.

 

[pibb]

You got the right stuff.