Worm in egg?

[Coolbreeze89]

WHAT IS THIS? I just cracked open some eggs for lunch and found this About THREE INCHES LONG! I AM FREAKING OUT. CAN I EAT MY EGGS? ARE MY CHICKEN INFESTED? HELP!

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, that looks like a large roundworm. It is very rare for this to occur, but it can. I would get some Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer and treat your chickens for worms. I can give dosage of either.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Infested, yes.

 

[Coolbreeze89]

I have safeguard. I’d love the dosing! I am freaking out right now as I was about to eat the eggs. Do I throw all eggs for two weeks? I’m assuming I dose now and again in two weeks?

 

[Coolbreeze89]

Breathing a little more now: research saying not a health risk to me, and it appears these are species-specific (so shouldn’t infect my dogs/goats/sheep/chickens). I’ll treat my ducks as well. I knew my chickens were off, but I thought it was the 110 heat index we’ve been dealing with for weeks.

I can change out their bedding (due now anyway), but it sounds like the worm eggs are pretty much unavoidable in their run? These are all hens 2-3 years old, so it seems odd they got it so bad. I clean poop boards daily and they have feeders (though they insist on pulling out the feed and eating off the floor).

 

[coach723]

Dose of Safeguard is .23 ml per pound of weight, and repeat in 10 days for roundworm.
Roundworm is one of the easiest for them to pick up in the environment while scratching and pecking things off the ground, and the eggs are viable for a very long time in the soil. Reinfection is common because of that. I worm every three months for roundworm, if I go longer I end up with sick birds. So depending on your environmental worm load, you may need to worm regularly. Some can do once or twice a year and that's enough, every flock is different. If you have a vet that will run a fecal for you, then you can do that in 6 months (sooner if you see symptoms) to see if you have any reinfection. Often you will not see any sign of worms in droppings or anywhere else, until you have a sick bird. I will often see runny droppings or increased intestinal shed when it's time to worm. With time, you will figure out how often you need to treat. I've had this happen, unfortunately, with a roundworm in an egg. The egg was probably fine, but I tossed it due to the yuck factor. The rest are OK, it's not really that common, but it does occasionally happen.
There is a recommended 14 day withdrawl from eggs following treatment, many people ignore that and continue to eat the eggs, so do what you are comfortable with.

 

[TwoCrows]

Usually what happens with heavy infestation is the worms crawl backwards toward the vent and through the cloaca into the oviduct and shimmy up into the forming egg and become encased inside when the shell is put on.

 

[Wezdin]

Usually what happens with heavy infestation is the worms crawl backwards toward the vent and through the cloaca into the oviduct and shimmy up into the forming egg and become encased inside when the shell is put on.

Accurate, but

 

[TwoCrows]

Accurate, but

Yeah its pretty gross and creepy at the same time!

 

[Coolbreeze89]

Dose of Safeguard is .23 ml per pound of weight, and repeat in 10 days for roundworm.
Roundworm is one of the easiest for them to pick up in the environment while scratching and pecking things off the ground, and the eggs are viable for a very long time in the soil. Reinfection is common because of that. I worm every three months for roundworm, if I go longer I end up with sick birds. So depending on your environmental worm load, you may need to worm regularly. Some can do once or twice a year and that's enough, every flock is different. If you have a vet that will run a fecal for you, then you can do that in 6 months (sooner if you see symptoms) to see if you have any reinfection. Often you will not see any sign of worms in droppings or anywhere else, until you have a sick bird. I will often see runny droppings or increased intestinal shed when it's time to worm. With time, you will figure out how often you need to treat. I've had this happen, unfortunately, with a roundworm in an egg. The egg was probably fine, but I tossed it due to the yuck factor. The rest are OK, it's not really that common, but it does occasionally happen.
There is a recommended 14 day withdrawl from eggs following treatment, many people ignore that and continue to eat the eggs, so do what you are comfortable with.

Thank you. I‘m pretty creeped out, so I think I’ll toss the eggs til they’ve been treated! I definitely hadn’t noticed any poop change, but they have been looking off (some of them; I’ve lost two in the last two weeks but I attributed to the extreme heat). I’ll start worming regularly as I NEVER want to see this in an egg again!