Eye worms-

[missemily]

One of my hens had a swollen eye. At first I thought infection: 1 day with warm compress and neosporin. After reading and viewing photos I discovered a parasitic eye worm exists( also called Manson worms). They are usually caused by ingesting an infested cock-roach. The larva hatch in intestines move through esophogus and surface in corner of eye. They are off white.I treated her with vetrx by applying in the cleft pallet as directed, but am not certain that it had effect. I saw a video on you tube of eye worm removal and did as they did. With a struggle I removed 2 large spongy white worms from her eye. Then three more surfaced a couple of days later and I removed them. I then treated with Wazine by placing it in her water- she is isolated at present, but I treated the rest of my girls as well. I also cleaned out the coop and removed anything on the ground that could host roaches. I clean her eye daily and treat with antibiotic ointment. It looks much better. Yesterday I found a thin white worm in her poop along with a lot of little white specks. Does anyone know what the white pinhead size dots are? Today I will put a little ivermectin paste on the back of her neck as it is a multi-spectrum parasite killer. I telephoned the two places that I bought chickens from and in all of their years of business they have never seen eye worms. Have you? How do you think I'm doing in treatment measures? How long do you think she should be isolated? Thanks-chicken aficionado emily

 

[dawg53]

One of my hens had a swollen eye. At first I thought infection: 1 day with warm compress and neosporin. After reading and viewing photos I discovered a parasitic eye worm exists( also called Manson worms). They are usually caused by ingesting an infested cock-roach. The larva hatch in intestines move through esophogus and surface in corner of eye. They are off white.I treated her with vetrx by applying in the cleft pallet as directed, but am not certain that it had effect. I saw a video on you tube of eye worm removal and did as they did. With a struggle I removed 2 large spongy white worms from her eye. Then three more surfaced a couple of days later and I removed them. I then treated with Wazine by placing it in her water- she is isolated at present, but I treated the rest of my girls as well. I also cleaned out the coop and removed anything on the ground that could host roaches. I clean her eye daily and treat with antibiotic ointment. It looks much better. Yesterday I found a thin white worm in her poop along with a lot of little white specks. Does anyone know what the white pinhead size dots are? Today I will put a little ivermectin paste on the back of her neck as it is a multi-spectrum parasite killer. I telephoned the two places that I bought chickens from and in all of their years of business they have never seen eye worms. Have you? How do you think I'm doing in treatment measures? How long do you think she should be isolated? Thanks-chicken aficionado emily

Phew, sounds like you are dealing with multiple types of worms; eyeworm as you stated, large roundworms (thin white worm,) white specs (possibly tapeworm segments.) Wazine only gets rid of large roundworms. There's one wormer that will get rid of all these worms you mentioned. Valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer. It can be purchased from Jefferslivestock.com or you can call them if your feed store doesnt carry it.
For eyeworm; mix equal parts of valbazen and water and flush the eyes, it wont hurt the chicken but will kill eyeworms. Then, orally dose ALL your chickens with valbazen undiluted, including the chickens infected with eyeworm. Dosage is 1/2cc for standard size birds, 1/4cc for smaller birds. In 10 days reflush the eyes and redose them again, however, increase the the dosage to 3/4cc for standards, 1/2cc for smaller birds. The increased dosage should kill the tapeworms. Tapeworms are tough to get rid of and it might require a third dosing if you continue to see segments. If you continue to see segments; increase dosage to 1cc for standards, 3/4cc for smaller birds.
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/valbazen/camid/LIV/cp/16387/cn/330/