What is this? Worms inside egg?

[BarnyardChaos]

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Yes.
But only the Aquasol can be put in the water.
You now have to estimate how much water each bird will consume during the day. The tricky part comes with the observation that an actively laying hen can consume twice as much water in a day as a non-laying hen.
This is why I dose birds individually.

I don't have Aquasol and can't afford this kind of dosage. I've got a small 10mL bottle coming, but now regret wasting that money. I already have 2 bottles of Safe-Guard for Goats, so I'm reluctant to buy any of the other products recommended in this thread, at least until I've given the Safe-Guard a chance. I'll just go out and stir their water several times a day.

Calculating the quantity I have on hand, I dosed them 30 mL this morning, in just over 2 gallons of water. (I've seen that they drink about 3 gallons per day, over the last few days.) Looked like watery milk. Once they've drained the waterers, I'll give them plain water to finish the day. Fingers crossed.

 

[bjdewell]

UPDATE: The vet confirms this IS threadworms, or capillariasis in the egg.

The federally approved treatment is something that's not affordable nor reasonable for backyard flocks, only commercial operations (like it comes in 500-gal drums). So, we have to go "off-label" for smaller flocks and individual birds. Recommended treatment is Safeguard (Fenbendazole), NOT ivermectin. Dosage is complicated; it is NOT as easy as just putting #X ml per gallon of water in their waterers. More on that below.

He tested six samples (randomly collected from various birds this morning) and said he saw only 2-3 eggs among them. Since I have a large flock, treating them in drinking water is the best approach. My flock free-ranges part of the day, and their enclosed run area is a permanent setup with dirt floor - I cannot rotate their run to fresh grounds - so he said to treat the flock every 3 months, or at least once every 6 months. For as long as I keep chickens.

(My thoughts: I understood that the flock isn't overwhelmed with the worms --- yet. Whichever hen laid this egg, IS. And if I don't treat the flock, it's only a matter of time until they all have them just as bad as she does.)

The vet said the Safeguard will treat the threadworms, also roundworms, whipworms, gapeworms, and others. It does NOT treat tapeworms, but that is a whole different issue and not common.

DOSAGE: I'm using Safeguard for Goats 10% suspension, as recommended. He said the dosage is .005 (that's point-zero-zero-five) mL per KG of body weight, each day for 5-7 days.
.....oh boy.... I have about 52 adult birds! (I could treat chicks too, but those 26 babies are separated from the flock and don't likely need treatment, yet) .....
How to do this:
1. I will have to weigh a sampling of the birds to get an average weight, for the whole flock to be treated. And I will have to count exactly how many birds I have.
2. I will need to measure how much water they will consume, until the water containers are EMPTY, during a 24-hour period.
3. Dose a 24-hour supply of water at the dosage recommended.
(Example: Let's say I have 50 birds to treat, and they average 5 lbs. each. 1 kg = 2.2 lbs. So that's 250 lbs, or 113 kg of chickens total. X .005 dosage = 0.565 ml dosage per day.)
4. Repeat the dose in fresh water each day for 5-7 days.
5. Repeat dosage every few months.

So about #2 above: I figure I can give them a measured amount of plain water, say 5-gallons, in the morning. Then in the evening, measure what's left. The difference is what they consumed. I plan to give them maybe 80% of that total consumption, treated for the full amount, the next morning. Then check their waterers in the late afternoon, add plain water as needed for the rest of the evening. I use several waterers placed around the run, since I have different ages and "troops".

WITHDRAWAL:
Per his licensing and laws, he stated there is a 2-week withdrawal period for selling eggs, and 2-weeks for consuming meat.

Off-the-record: He could not legally tell me whether the eggs or meat would be safe to eat after treating with Safeguard before the end of the withdrawal period. But when I asked him whether he would eat an egg from a chicken that's been treated, before the end of 2 weeks? He said "Yes." Would he eat cooked chicken that's been treated? He said "Yes." I told him I have several cockerels set to be slaughtered next week, should I treat them as well or not? He said it's more important to treat for worms, and it would be fine to butcher since they will be near the end of the withdrawal period anyway.

So there you have it. As best I can remember.
[Edited to correct the conversion

 

[bjdewell]

Thank you, this is great information!