What Can I Do For Deworming When Valbazen Doesn't Work?

[anbhean]

I was hoping someone could give me some advice-- My three oldest hens have what appears to be tapeworm segments in their feces. I purchased Valbazen through Jeffers, dosed them twice at 1/2 cc orally per bird, ten days apart. Then noticed there was still segments, and lots of them, after the last dose. I then waited 10 days and dosed them again with 1 cc orally per bird with the Valbazen again. This time I had the hens have a 24 hour fasting before dosing. It's now been a hair over three days and I am not seeing any adult tapeworms in their feces, but lots of segments still.

I plan on dosing a final time in three days with another 1 cc per bird and the fasting. But I'm starting to think the Valbazen is not working. Is there anything else out there that will kill tapeworms? I've found a ton of info on round worm, but not so much on tape worm. Will a product called Equimax work? It's apparently Ivermectin and Praziquantal and is that going to kill my birds, make them sick, or immune to dewormers having so much medication in the last five to six weeks?

Also, should I use the Valbazen on my two younger hens before I integrate them with the older girls? I have no evidence at all of them having worms yet, but I'm also reluctant to mix possible parasites going either way. As of right now, the only exposure they have had with the older girls is through two layers of chicken wire about two feet apart. So other than airborne-- they shouldn't have been mixing icks yet. I've got to mix them by the end of this week though. I've been hoping to get the worms handled first, but I'm running out of time, the young girls will be laying very soon and I need them in the coop before that happens.

 

[dawg53]

I was hoping someone could give me some advice-- My three oldest hens have what appears to be tapeworm segments in their feces. I purchased Valbazen through Jeffers, dosed them twice at 1/2 cc orally per bird, ten days apart. Then noticed there was still segments, and lots of them, after the last dose. I then waited 10 days and dosed them again with 1 cc orally per bird with the Valbazen again. This time I had the hens have a 24 hour fasting before dosing. It's now been a hair over three days and I am not seeing any adult tapeworms in their feces, but lots of segments still.

I plan on dosing a final time in three days with another 1 cc per bird and the fasting. But I'm starting to think the Valbazen is not working. Is there anything else out there that will kill tapeworms? I've found a ton of info on round worm, but not so much on tape worm. Will a product called Equimax work? It's apparently Ivermectin and Praziquantal and is that going to kill my birds, make them sick, or immune to dewormers having so much medication in the last five to six weeks?

Also, should I use the Valbazen on my two younger hens before I integrate them with the older girls? I have no evidence at all of them having worms yet, but I'm also reluctant to mix possible parasites going either way. As of right now, the only exposure they have had with the older girls is through two layers of chicken wire about two feet apart. So other than airborne-- they shouldn't have been mixing icks yet. I've got to mix them by the end of this week though. I've been hoping to get the worms handled first, but I'm running out of time, the young girls will be laying very soon and I need them in the coop before that happens.

I wouldnt give the 2 younger hens anything. Valbazen slowly kills worms over a period of two to five days. I hope you've been shaking/mixing the bottle as directed on the bottle before administering it to your birds. Valbazen is a safe wormer.
You can also use Zimectrin Gold equine paste wormer which has ivermectin and praziquantel. I recommend using this before using Equimax. Dosage for the zimectrin gold is a "pea" sized amount given orally to each chicken. The paste is orange in color. Once administered the chickens will wipe their beaks alot, that is normal. That should take care of the tapes hopefully. Like I've mentioned, once your birds get tapes, they are difficult to get rid of.
Is this what you're seeing? If so, they are tapeworm segments.

 

[anbhean]

Yep... that's what we are seeing, only a little smaller. Two of the girls have only a few in their feces. But the one has as much as in the picture. We definitely have been shaking the bottle before dosing, and surprisingly, my girls are really easy to dose-- so other than a drop or two, they've gotten the full dose each time.

What concerns me is that they were all coming out dead before, now they are moving when passed. It just feels like we're going backwards! Shouldn't we be seeing some adults being passed by now?

 

[anbhean]

Worst part though is no eggs for a month and a half. Not that they aren't laying, just we can't eat them. It's torture throwing away eggs every day... Stupid tapeworms.

 

[Leslieb118]

I'm tossing eggs right now too. I've got an EE hen that lays on average 2 huge blue double yolked eggs a week. I've got one on "display" right now that she laid yesterday. I need to toss it, but I'm really having a hard time!! Not that the others I toss are anything to frown at..but these blue ones are just so dang pretty!

 

[dawg53]

Yep... that's what we are seeing, only a little smaller. Two of the girls have only a few in their feces. But the one has as much as in the picture. We definitely have been shaking the bottle before dosing, and surprisingly, my girls are really easy to dose-- so other than a drop or two, they've gotten the full dose each time.

What concerns me is that they were all coming out dead before, now they are moving when passed. It just feels like we're going backwards! Shouldn't we be seeing some adults being passed by now?

Sometimes you see them excreted in poop the next day, sometimes you dont. Segments are not alive. If they are moving, they were just shed off the tail end of the tapeworm and excreted. Each one of those segments carry hundreds of eggs which will eventually work their way into or onto the soil where they are eaten by an earthworm, ant, termite, beetle, flies etc...a chicken will eat the infected insect starting the lifecycle all over again.

 

[dawg53]

Here's what tapes look like when excreted, but it will be in feces. Most are flat, but there are some that are long and stringy, almost like jellyfish tentacles...all are segmented. Once they are excreted and cleared from the chicken, you wont see anymore segments.

 

[dawg53]

Here you can see segments, which detach and are excreted in feces.

 

[dawg53]

Tapeworms in a chickens intestines;

 

[dawg53]

Now you get an idea why they are tough to get rid of. I'm still dealing with them.