Worming Questions-gross!

[2boxers]

I walked out to have fellowship with my chickens this morning and was greeted by one of my mutt hens who had something hanging out of her butt. Then she squatted down to poop and...well, y'all know the way this ends, right?

So some one please tutor me in the basics of worming.

DH is on his way to TSC this am-what kind/brand of wormer should I get? (DE is out of the question unless they sell it at tractor supply.)

How long will it take to work?

Are my girls in pain? If so, can I help them in any way?

How long before we can eat the eggs again?

I guess I should also worm my dogs, just to be safe? They all hang out together, after all.

Is there anything more sickening than seeing a chicken poop a big ole poop of worms?

 

[beakkeeper]

Piperazine is a great chicken wormer, though i don't know what brand they sell it under. I think you can eat the eggs after 2 wks. but I am not sure... the wormer container should say. SOrry I can't by much help!

 

[mypicklebird]

There are more than one kind of GI worms in chickens, most are fairly small. The one you are more likely to be seeing a pile of is roundworms- piperazine and pyrantel can be used for this. Ivermectin also kills most types of GI worms. Tapeworms can come out as a long adult (think segmented ribbon) or more commonly looks like cous cous on the poop. Praziquantel kills these, nothing else does. In free ranging birds, they are getting these parasites from eating insects- you will need to deworm periodically, many people deworm in winter when egg production is down.
Withdrawal time for most drugs is life, as the most drugs are off label for laying hens (at least in the US). Piperazine I think has a withdrawal time on the bottle for meat birds. Some meds used overseas have withdrawal times published, which some go by. If you are treating birds used only for you and your family, not a big a deal- legally, but if you are selling eggs or meat- you need to pay attention to withdrawal times. The general public hates eating residual drugs unknowingly. A vet can ID the parasite type if you want to know what you have.

Dogs and chickens do not share parasites such as round worm species or tapeworm species for the most part. Treat the dog for tapes if you see them, round worms can be detected in a fecal sample if you are worried. If your dog is on a heartworm preventative, you are already treating for roundworms. Not tapeworms though.

 

[2boxers]

These worms looked like the worms you would see in dogs-that is why it freaked me out. It looked like a pile of thin spaghetti. I had wormer for the dogs on hand, so I went ahead & dosed them up. Didn't realize that Heartguard worked on roundworms-cool.

The wormer that the lady at TSC recommended is called Wyzine 17. She said we would need to lay off the eggs for 14 days. Not a problem since they aren't laying too much anyway. I spent a small part of the afternoon following my birds around and inspecting poo. I didn't see any other visible worms from any other birds, but heck. Can't hurt to dose them up & clean them out.

Thank you for the detailed info. Very helpful.

 

[mypicklebird]

Heartguard Plus is ivermectin (really low dose) and pyrantel. Ivermectin kills the infective stage of heartworm, pyrantel safely gets the roundworms.