Worms.....AGAIN

[roz]

I don't understand. After a slew of issues this summer, including worms, we were finally having a decent Fall. Even though the chickens have been molting for what seems like forever now (possibly a month?), they seemed disease free...until this morning when my golden comet pooped out a 2 inch live round worm...argh! I jus wormed them in August! We have had bizarre weather, and it is very wet this year. Could that be a contributing factor? Also could the worms be affecting the length of time they are taking to molt? It is really going to stink if I have to worm my chickens every 3-4 months...24 days of throwing away eggs every quarter? They aren't laying right noe anyway, but in the future this will just be a big bummer!

 

[elmo]

What did you use when you wormed them previously? Maybe it wasn't effective. The other thing to look at is your manure management.

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/phi/PHI/ROUNDWORMS PHI Handout from Dr. Smith.pdf

 

[roz]

Thanks for the link. In the past and currently, I use valbazen to treat the worms. I clean the coop every week, the watered and feeder are off the ground, but I do throw scratch around for them. Maybe I should give it to them in a container. Regardless of the scratch though, they pick stuff up off the ground all the time. They are stuck in a run, but get to go into a "daycare tractor" for a couple of hours most days to get fresh ground. We have hawks that dive bomb us so thats why they are always covered We moved their entire 16 x 8 run in September for fresh ground, but then hurricane Irene helped to decimate the new ground with the flooding. I really don't know what else I can be doing. We plan to move the coop to fresh ground in the spring, but other than that, I don't know.

 

[ChickenMack]

I just wormed mine with Zimecterin Gold (it is an equine wormer), it contains ivermectin and praziquantel and it is supposed to kill all the worms in a chicken. I have read tons of threads on here by putting worms in the search bar above and also the different types of wormers and in some, they have mentioned the worms possilby developing a resistance to the wormer if you don't use different ones. There is a BYC member under the name "Dawg" who seems to know a lot about wormers, his posts have been really helpful.

So use the search bar and you can find all kinds of advice and some pictures

 

[wyododge]

We use a heavy and constant regimen of DE. Just what we do. And yes, worms are taking valuable protein away from your birds so it will lengthen the molting process. Wet areas means eggs are hatching and staying viable longer and therefore more 'available'. We don't seem to have a problem with worms and our girls are in a farm environment, I have seen them pick corn out of cow poop. You may try stall dry, sand, or even pine bedding to dry the areas that are wet. You may also look towards treating the ground they are on. It sounds as though you have a life cycle issue. If you worm your birds, they are getting re-infected by eggs on the ground. If I were you, I would focus on breaking the life cycle of the parasite, not just through worming the birds, but also killing the eggs.

 

[ChicKat]

Quote:
Hi Roz,

Maybe step up the worming schedule, and keep a close eye on it.

In the UK there is a wormer called "flubenvet" that has no egg withdrawal, if I remember correctly and it is specifically for chickens. So it is pharmaseutically possible. Wish the USA could wake up to the market need.

I use a cattle wormer, 'Cydectin', that for milk cows (we have beef cattle so it doesn't apply) has no withdrawl/discard period for milk. One of the vets I talk to said it would be safe for my chickens, applied correctly. No one has heard of it-- I haven't seen it refereced here, and it is prohibitively expensive and comes in a supply that costs $300, so if you couldn't snatch some from the cattle worming process for use on chickens, then you would probably not be practical to use.

After I worm I do discard eggs for about 5-days. (We have not died as yet, nor suffered any illness, likewise the chickens ;O) ) Don't know if I would need to discard or not...and I know that Bovine species aren't avian species etc. etc.

It is astounding how pervasive etc. worms are. Of course climate is a factor...far northerns get the benefit of freezes to the soil to reduce pests....we have a climate where they can continue practically year-round. We give our dogs heartworm pills every month. I guess a monthly worming of chickens would remove their egg usefulness, BUT maybe you could find a more frequent worming schedule that keeps discard period to a minimum and still keeps parasites away from your chickens. Even if it means stepping it up for awhile and backing off later.

It is a pain to loose all those eggs but the trade off for chicken health is worth it IMO. good luck with eradicating them.

 

[galanie]

Eprinex has no withdrawl time for eggs. It's not labeled for chickens but you use the same dosage as for Ivermectin. It does not get tapeworm though, so you have to alternate with a wormer that does. That will cut down on the "down time" for eggs.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
You might try alternating with a different wormer. I was reading the other day in I think it was the Storey's Poultry Health Handbook that worms can build up a resistance to a particular wormer if that's the only one you use.

Good luck!