What causes roundworms

[jprice2ndlt]

I have wormed my chickens 3 times this years and the worms keep coming back i cant understand it. I keep their coop and water clean so i just dont know. Any ideas what could be causing them and what should i do?

 

[Imp]

Quote:
They are easily passed around birds, including wild birds. They are passed through feces, so somewhere your chickens are getting into feces. Google round worms in chicken and you'll get more info than you want. I feel for you. I have a cat that I cannot rid of tapeworms. Ugh. Good luck.

Imp

 

[threehorses]

Let's see if we can get your problem solved.

First, I need to ask some questions. Please answer all with as much thought as possible and added info is ALWAYS welcome. If you have a hunch, let's hear it. I trust owners' instincts!

First, what is the ground that your birds are on. For example, you might answer like this: "In the coop, they have shavings. In the run (24x30 for 20 birds) they are on soil, no grass.".

Second, we'll assume that the ground is the same ground on which you've been keeping the birds with worms before, yes? I don't think any of us have 20 pens to rotate between.

Third, with what did you worm, how long inbetween, and at what strength?


That being said, I'm going to tell you how I get rid of roundworms and why it works.

First, I always recommend worming first with Wazine 17 (piperazine 17%) **because** it won't kill all the roundworms. And that's probably why you're having them come back. I use it as labeled for one day as recommended. Then I wait 2 weeks. This paralyzes only the adults of roundworms, not larvae. In a heavily infested bird, this eliminates the risk of too many worms passing from the bird at once, possibly clogging them or causing them to go into shock.

However, if you leave it at that - or just reworm with wazine, you have to keep reworming because the larvae eventually become adults and reinfest your bird.

So how to break the cycle?

In 2-4 weeks after the wazine, I reworm with ivermectin which not only kills the remaining adults, but also the larvae! THEN you get rid of the endless cycle of larvae becoming adults (which then shed eggs, which then reinfect your bird). I personallyl perfer ivermectin pour-on as it's only 1-7 drops per bird and also kills many external parasites like lice and mites. (Of course with parasites, you have to treat the premises too but that's another post.)

Then I worm twice annually with ivermectin for that bird. I often use DE in the dust baths inbetween in hopes of reducing the number of adults/larvae present when I do my regular wormings. I worm in the fall and spring when it's cool and birds are less stessed. I aim for when they're molting, not laying, so that I don't have to toss eggs.

If I were you - I'd do the wazine again - then in one month do the ivermectin. Then in six weeks do the ivermectin. Then I'd only worm incoming birds, and do the regular worming in the fall and spring.

Also keep in mind that keeping birds on soil is way more likely to reinfect them than keeping them on sand if you have a run situation. The more ground they can cover the less concentrated worms will be. but first we need to end your cycle.

Alternately, you could use fenbendazole or levamisole for the second stronger wormer after your initial wazine.

If you've wormed within 2 months with wazine, you could try the ivermectin or fenbendazole (Safe-Guard) or levamisole - but if you're seeing worms I'd do Wazine first to prevent the shock/clogging.

Here's some information on ivermectin dosage. Glenda offers my usual ivermectin dosage, and some great info on the injectable (oral) option as well:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=185989

I'm very interested in your feedback. Please also let me know - are you certain that these are roundworms, not tapeworms. Tapeworms are flat and segmented. Roundworms are round and don't have segments. Tapes are like various widths of flat pasta, roundworms are spaghetti (pardon the analogy). You probably are exactly right, but I do like to be thorough and don't want to assume. Tapes require an entirely different worming method because of their method of spread and existance within the gut.