Worms in feces, graphic and horrible picture

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

I have found similar little white segments as pictured in the OPs pics, but Valbazen did not work. Now what?

The reason I used Valbazen was that I found poop with little, white rice type worms (or eggs or segments?) in it and researched on BYC for treatment. I then purchased Valbazen and treated the entire flock. I accidentally overdosed with the first treatment - 1 cc per chicken and then used .5 cc per chicken 10 days later, so I know the chickens received enough dewormer. I saw poops with rice looking worms in poops during treatment and after treatment too. Not all the poops have these segments, but some do.

Also, I just found another freshly laid poop with segments today (can upload pic later). I scooped the poop onto a paper plate. The segments (or worms) were alive - they even crawled/moved - a couple moved across the plate about 2 inches before stopping/dying. After about 20-30 minutes there was no more movement in any of the white things. I used a dissecting tool to lightly touch them, but still no movement - they were now dead. I dug through the poop and didn't find any rice things inside it - all had been on the outside of the poop.

I know these things came from inside the chicken and were not laid by anything else, because I saw the chicken poop it out. Would tapeworm segments crawl? Would they act like they are alive and then die after being exposed to air? Anything else it could be? My vet wants $31 to tell me what type of worm it is, but I'd have to find another fresh poop during their office hours and I'd prefer to save the $31. I'll post a pic soon - it's on my other computer.

 

[dawg53]

I have found similar little white segments as pictured in the OPs pics, but Valbazen did not work. Now what?

The reason I used Valbazen was that I found poop with little, white rice type worms (or eggs or segments?) in it and researched on BYC for treatment. I then purchased Valbazen and treated the entire flock. I accidentally overdosed with the first treatment - 1 cc per chicken and then used .5 cc per chicken 10 days later, so I know the chickens received enough dewormer. I saw poops with rice looking worms in poops during treatment and after treatment too. Not all the poops have these segments, but some do.

Also, I just found another freshly laid poop with segments today (can upload pic later). I scooped the poop onto a paper plate. The segments (or worms) were alive - they even crawled/moved - a couple moved across the plate about 2 inches before stopping/dying. After about 20-30 minutes there was no more movement in any of the white things. I used a dissecting tool to lightly touch them, but still no movement - they were now dead. I dug through the poop and didn't find any rice things inside it - all had been on the outside of the poop.

I know these things came from inside the chicken and were not laid by anything else, because I saw the chicken poop it out. Would tapeworm segments crawl? Would they act like they are alive and then die after being exposed to air? Anything else it could be? My vet wants $31 to tell me what type of worm it is, but I'd have to find another fresh poop during their office hours and I'd prefer to save the $31. I'll post a pic soon - it's on my other computer.

I've dealt with tapeworms and they are segments and they do move around. Think what happens when you chop a snakes head off, the body still wiggles around. Each segment you see contains hundreds of eggs that work their way into or onto the soil. Insects such as ants, termites, beetles and earthworms eat the eggs. Then a chicken eats the insect and the chicken gets infected...starting the tapeworms lifecycle all over again.
Tapeworms are tough to get rid of and will require multiple dosings with valbazen. Withold feeding your chickens for 24 hours. Then the next morning dose them with valbazen, redose in 10 days witholding their feed the day before. Check their poop for both wormings the day after you worm them. More than likely you'll see the tapeworms in the poop, no "rice-like" segments. They are whittish, some are long and stringy, and flat...others are short and flat. Look closely and you'll see the segments. Repeat dosing a third time if you have to, possibly a fourth. Another wormer you could use perhaps the third or fourth time is Zimectrin Gold equine wormer. It is a paste that contains ivermectin and praziquantel. The praziquantel kills tapeworms in horses and will kill tapeworms in chickens. In the dog and cat world, it is known as Droncit, for tapeworms in cats and dogs. I dont recommend the Z-Gold for cats and dogs. Dosage for the Z-Gold is a "pea" size amount given to each chicken...remember it is a paste, it might be better to put it on a small piece of bread and give it to your chickens individually. Be careful, seperate your birds when you give them the treated bread, they'll try to steal the bread from each other, then you'll never know which ones got wormed or overdosed. If you have small chickens such as bantams, use a small "pea" size amount of Z-Gold. Good luck.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

I've dealt with tapeworms and they are segments and they do move around. Think what happens when you chop a snakes head off, the body still wiggles around. Each segment you see contains hundreds of eggs that work their way into or onto the soil. Insects such as ants, termites, beetles and earthworms eat the eggs. Then a chicken eats the insect and the chicken gets infected...starting the tapeworms lifecycle all over again.
Tapeworms are tough to get rid of and will require multiple dosings with valbazen. Withold feeding your chickens for 24 hours. Then the next morning dose them with valbazen, redose in 10 days witholding their feed the day before. Check their poop for both wormings the day after you worm them. More than likely you'll see the tapeworms in the poop, no "rice-like" segments. They are whittish, some are long and stringy, and flat...others are short and flat. Look closely and you'll see the segments. Repeat dosing a third time if you have to, possibly a fourth. Another wormer you could use perhaps the third or fourth time is Zimectrin Gold equine wormer. It is a paste that contains ivermectin and praziquantel. The praziquantel kills tapeworms in horses and will kill tapeworms in chickens. In the dog and cat world, it is known as Droncit, for tapeworms in cats and dogs. I dont recommend the Z-Gold for cats and dogs. Dosage for the Z-Gold is a "pea" size amount given to each chicken...remember it is a paste, it might be better to put it on a small piece of bread and give it to your chickens individually. Be careful, seperate your birds when you give them the treated bread, they'll try to steal the bread from each other, then you'll never know which ones got wormed or overdosed. If you have small chickens such as bantams, use a small "pea" size amount of Z-Gold. Good luck.

Disgusting. They look alive - found some more today and am not looking forward to deworming all 20 chickens again and also going without eggs for 3 more weeks I'll have to wait till hubby gets back in to town, so that he can help me with the process. The segments look like tadpoles - bigger on one end, but then squish up and move around.

Maybe the deworming didn't work the first time, since I didn't give it them on an empty stomach?

 

[flowerchild59]

I had a very long, drawn out drama dealing with round worms and my chicks and chickens. Please check the link on my signature line and it will explain alot.

 

[dawg53]

Disgusting. They look alive - found some more today and am not looking forward to deworming all 20 chickens again and also going without eggs for 3 more weeks I'll have to wait till hubby gets back in to town, so that he can help me with the process. The segments look like tadpoles - bigger on one end, but then squish up and move around.

Maybe the deworming didn't work the first time, since I didn't give it them on an empty stomach?

Can you post a pic or two?

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Can you post a pic or two?

Here are the pics I took yesterday. Sorry they're so blurry - my camera doesn't like close-ups. I can try again tomorrow and take pics from further away (and then crop to a close-up), if these are no good.


http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/manddteach2/eeww001.jpg

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/manddteach2/eeww002.jpg

Edited to say - pics are terrible - I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[dawg53]

Here are the pics I took yesterday. Sorry they're so blurry - my camera doesn't like close-ups. I can try again tomorrow and take pics from further away (and then crop to a close-up), if these are no good.


http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/manddteach2/eeww001.jpg

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/manddteach2/eeww002.jpg

Edited to say - pics are terrible - I'll try again tomorrow.

Yep, they appear to be tapeworm segments. Do your best to follow the instructions in my previous post #62.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Dawg -- I've taken clearer pics and included more info below - let me know if you are still positive they are tapeworm segments. Regardless, I know they need to be dewormed again and plan to follow your instructions in post #62 when hubby get back in town.


FlowerChild - I missed your post before - thanks for the link - it was informative.


I am so disgusted by these things, since it seems my chickens must be laying tapeworm eggs all over the place and will pick them right back up after I deworm them again. It's discouraging to think about throwing all their eggs away for 4 weeks at a time, several times a year, but I also can't have them constantly pooping out worms.

I just discovered my Red Star pooping a poop with these white things in it - she is one of the 2 chickens I had dewormed again, since she was still thin, (I hadn't wanted to stress the entire flock with worming again, so closely to the last deworming in Nov.). She and one of my BCM were dewormed on 1/5 and then again 10 days later - why are segments coming still coming of the hen that was just dewormed? This happened last time too. Their first time being de-wormed with Valbazen was 11/19 and then again 11/29. Before that, they had only been dewormed with Fendabendazole and wazine, so I'm sure they couldn't have built up resistance to the Valbazen yet, I sure hope that feeding them on an empty stomach will make the difference - maybe that's the secret? Hopefully, I will report back with good news after trying that. As disgusting as it is, I have to wait for hubby to get back in town and help me (not a 1 person job).

Just for clarification, since my last pics were so blurry - I've taken a couple better and much clearer pics (both pics are of the same poop - slightly different angles). You can see that a couple of these white things have that tadpole look (a bigger end). This changes as they very slowly crawl, they'll be slim and straight, and then look tadpolish again. They seem to stop moving when I lightly touch them with a small stick:








And a picture of my flock, as they followed me around yesterday while I was searching the yard and waiting for fresh poops:




Pic also taken yesterday, after the beggers were able to talk me into giving them some scratch. They are between 7 months to 3 years of age. Overall, they seem and act healthy - no obvious problems like FlowerChild had with her flock.

 

[JoePa]

I've never had any worm problems - first off my chickens don't free range - they are contained in a nice coop with a nice run - both the coop and the run are covered with sand - the wire around the run and coop does not allow any wild birds or any kind of animal into them - I only have a few chickens at a time - I basically have a closed flock - I clean the run and coop least every other day - I occasionally mix some DE in with the sand - this business of worming your chickens so much makes the eggs you are eating suspect - how can they be healthy - you would be better off buying your eggs from a grocery store where the chickens are raised in cages and never are wormed - I think most of the problems people have with chickens is from letting them free range - they pick up all sorts of parasites and diseases - JoePa

 

[dawg53]

I've never had any worm problems - first off my chickens don't free range - they are contained in a nice coop with a nice run - both the coop and the run are covered with sand - the wire around the run and coop does not allow any wild birds or any kind of animal into them - I only have a few chickens at a time - I basically have a closed flock - I clean the run and coop least every other day - I occasionally mix some DE in with the sand - this business of worming your chickens so much makes the eggs you are eating suspect - how can they be healthy - you would be better off buying your eggs from a grocery store where the chickens are raised in cages and never are wormed - I think most of the problems people have with chickens is from letting them free range - they pick up all sorts of parasites and diseases - JoePa

Putting sand in a run/pen is a good idea, keeping it dry and clean as possible is the key. All this will cut down on the wormload but will not prevent birds from getting worms. If their feet touch the ground, they'll eventually get worms. There's normally a 2 week withdrawal after worming. Your environment dictates how often you should worm. I can assure you that after worming, your birds are healthy, you can see the difference. Otherwise they'd eventually die from starvation. A third of my flock are 7 years old, healthy and laying...after many wormings.