worms vs blackhead vs internal laying

[roostorf]

I have an older gold wyandotte that appear very sick, she is lethargic, strays from the flock, bloated, dull depressed appearance, heavy breathing and sometimes has yellow foam (not foamy, pure foam) poop. I recently saw live worms in a few of the other chickens poop so I immediately treated with wazine about 12 days ago and am about to perform a follow up treatment of ivermectin, but this bird looks so bad I thought we were gonna have to cull her. I gave her pour on ivermectin tonight because i didn't think she could wait any longer, and will give the rest of the flock ivermectin in two days since i figured they were healthier. My local feed store felt the wyandotte and said she was internal laying and had to be culled, but i think i have found eggs from her this week, and was wondering if it was a misdiagnosis and bloating could be from severe worms or other research has even appeared to be similar to blackhead, which is usually in tukeys. I was just wondering what I should do, if she has worms vs blackhead what would the differences be and how could we tell if she was internal laying?

 

[nurse_turtle]

Internal layers will have the bloated belly and yellow poop. She probably isn't laying since she feels so bad and is so stressed. A heavy worm load could cause very similar symptoms though. The worming will be hard on her. My first guess is internal laying.

 

[dawg53]

If it is in fact worms, you would be dealing with cecal worms by the description of the foamy yellow poop. Wazine nor ivermectin kills cecal worms. You'll need to use safegaurd or valbazen, then treat with metronidazole to kill the protozoa.

 

[roostorf]

How do I tell if it is internal laying or worms or blackhead, they have similar symptoms. A few weeks ago before I treated I saw little live worms in some of the droppings that's why i used wazine I thought it was roundworm. I don't want to unnessicarily cull her. How do I know if it is round or fecal worms too?

 

[dawg53]

Large roundworms are 3-5 inches long, cant miss them. Cecal worms are about 1/4-1/2 inch long. Both are classified as roundworms but wazine only gets rid of large roundworms. By your description, it sounds like cecal worms. Kill the worms first, they are the carriers of the protozoa that causes blackhead. Use safeguard liquid goat wormer or valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer. If your feed store doesnt carry either product, you can order either from Jefferslivestock.com or call them. The goat wormer comes in a 125ml bottle and the valbazen is a 500ml bottle.
Then you'll need to purchase metronidazole 250mg. It can be bought online as "Fishzole."
http://pet-healthcare.revivalanimal.com/search?w=fishzole&asug=
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/valbazen/camid/LIV/cp/16387/cn/330/
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/safe-guard-dewormer-for-goats/camid/LIV/cp/I6-SK/cn/330/
Administer either valbazen or safeguard liquid goat wormer orally undiluted... 1/2cc for standard size, 1/4cc for smaller birds. Redose again in 10 days.
Dosage for the metronidazole (fishzole) is one tablet or once a day for 5 days. Complete your worming first, then the fishzole.