Capillarium in flock

[Sarah24]

I took my silkie to the vet because she has been sneezing and sounded congested. The vet said that she has capillarium (same thing as capillaria?) and gave her some medicine. Because I have so many other chickens (30), the vet did not give me medicine for all of them. My silkie was better for awhile and then got sick again. I assume because the other chickens reinfected her. I have eprinex and I'm wondering if that would treat the capillarium or if I need to get something else to treat the whole flock. Thanks!

 

[sourland]

It is safe to assume that your entire flock is infected. Some birds just deal with parasitic infestations better than others. I am not a worm treatment expert, but dawg53 comes pretty close to fitting that description. Try dropping a Private Message to him. He gives good advice. Good luck at resolving this problem.

 

[Sarah24]

Thanks!

 

[casportpony]

To treat capillary worms I use Safeguard (Fenbendazole) at 0.23ml per pound of body wight orally for five consecutive days. With 30 birds, that's a lot of work, so you could also use Valbazen (albendazole) at 0.08ml per pound of body weight orally once, then repeat in ten days. That dose of Valbazen should get a large percentage of them.

What did your vet treat the one bird with?

-Kathy

 

[dawg53]

Eprinex wont work against capillary worms. Your soil is contaminated with eggs and you'll need to set up a regular worming schedule to keep the worms in check. Safeguard liquid goat wormer and/or valbazen liquid cattle sheep wormer will take care of them.

 

[Sarah24]

Ok thanks. The vet gave her cefa drops so I'm a little confused. I'm not sure if he meant to say capillarium or if capillarium is also a type of bacteria? I gave her oxytetracycline initially which didn't work so he prescribed cefa drops and that did seem to help. However, I didn't have enough for everyone obviously and I didn't know if there would be something similar I could just get a tractor supply or something for everyone.

 

[casportpony]

Cefa drops are an antibiotic, not a wormer. Call your vet and ask him to clarify the diagnosis and why he chose Cefa drops.

-Kathy