worms???

[newchickowner]

can chickens have internal worms? and what kind? This morning after putting my girls on the bus, I was sitting out in the front yard sipping my coffee and watching my chickens. They aren't friendly enough to pet so I just sit still and they are comfortable enough to scratch around near me. Some of my hens are still recovering from their previous owner and still look pretty ragged, bare butts and rough looking feathers. I haven't found any mites or lice, but one of the rough looking hens happend to poop near me and I saw this long white string come out. Curious, and having experience with fighting worms in other animals, I inspected and it moved and was about an inch long. Tubular shaped, not flat like a tape worm.

 

[arlee453]

They can get worms and other parasites and, given where you got these girls, it makes sense they would be carrying a parasite load.

Others here can give you more info on treatments...

Susan

 

[newchickowner]

yes, thanks, I do need info on how to treat internal worms.

 

[newchickowner]

Please, can anyone provide advise or a link telling me how to treat internal worms in my hens. Not sure they all have it, only a few hens have rough feathers, do I treat all? what? and how often to be rid of the problem?

 

[silkiechicken]

I heard about using DE for treatment of worms but I haven't treated my birds yet. Chances are the ruffled ones are due to beating by a roo mating with them too much. Someone with more worming knowledge should come along soon. Good luck!

 

[2mnypets]

Almost sounds like large roundworms. Piperzine is an approved wormer for large roundworms with a large margin of safety. Phenothiazine is approved for cecal worms only, and has a narrow margin of safety. To ensure a wormers effectiveness ( especially if you're battling tapeworm), withhold feed for 18 hours before worming. About an hour after worming, feed a moist mash,which causes hungry chickens to eat slowly. This is information from a book called : The Chicken Health Handbook By Gail Damerow. There are more wormers listed that are designed to kill specific species of worms that chickens get . Here are some websites that might have some better information for you.

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/poultry_worms.html

http://www.farmsteadhealth.com/restoresustain.html

http://webusers.warwick.net/~u1015576/page2.html

Best of luck to you.

 

[newchickowner]

Thank you so much!

 

[newchickowner]

Yes, I think it's large round worms, but it didn't answer a couple of other questions I have. Maybe someone here could answer them.

1) Do I seperate and treat only the birds I suspect of having the parasite? or the whole bunch?

If I seperate, should I do so by actually getting a visual of a parasite, or treat the hens that are rough looking? (I'll post a pic)

2)they said that they can get into eggs, which freaked me out, does that mean that we humans can be infected by eating the infected egg????? yuck!!! or is it a worm that cannot survive in humans? God I hope that's the case, but either way, I'm not eating any more eggs from them till I get this figured out.

3) it didn't actually say that the worm would cause the rough feathering or baldness on their rumps. So are the worms causing some of them to have baldness on their hind quarters and rough feathers? or is it from their gross conditions I saved them from and they just haven't had enough time to molt and grow new feathers in???

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm still learning. Thanks again for all the help and advise!

 

[2mnypets]

I would treat all your chickens not just the ones that you saved. I'm not real sure on the loss of feathers but the rough feathering is an indication of an infestation of large round worms. But if the conditions were deplorable that you saved them from, then that wouldn't be out of the question. Make sure you talk to a vet regarding the worms and the Piperzine first. Also you might consider doing this as soon as possible since those worms will multiply quickly and cause a big ball in the intestines thus blocking them. Check out this website as it will answer your question about the eggs.

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disparas.htm

I'm not finding any information as of yet that would indicate that the large round worm known as Ascaridia Galli can cause a zoonosis (transfer to human beings from any animal). If I find out different I will let you know.

 

[newchickowner]

yes, I will call my local vet before I do anything, Thanks so much for the info!!!

here's a pic of the hen that I saw poo the worm

the neighbor clipped the wings, but the rough feathering and baldness all the chickens had and most of them have recovered mostly except her, she's the worst of my bunch.