Tapeworm Hasn’t Gone Away After Worming

[Kristinaa]

I noticed small yellow worm-like things in my chicken’s poop probably around a month ago now, only found out it was tapeworm about two weeks ago. When I first noticed these I had already wormed her recently with Aviverm and I tried Aviverm again and it didn’t work. I then got Flubenol 5% and since I didn’t know it was tapeworm yet at the time I put the regular amount of Flubenol in her feed instead of doubling and this obviously didn’t get rid of it except made the yellow things in her poop less frequent. When I found out it was tapeworm after a week of giving her the feed, I did another week of the Flubenol doubled while keeping her water and coop clean. Her feed is fed through a feeder which I cleaned beforehand too. I noticed she’s perked up a lot recently but didn’t poop out a tapeworm and the yellow things are still in her poop and she’s had diarrhoea. The other chickens, which have been separated as they are still being introduced, are also now being wormed for tapeworm, but I’m not sure what to do about the one still with tapeworm. I’m hesitant to take her to the vet as the most they usually do with chickens is give antibiotics and aren’t very knowledgeable on chickens. She’s my baby so putting her down isn’t an option either, she’s very happy and healthy other than the tapeworm anyway. A photo is attached of her poop, although take note this was before Flubenol when it was more severe as I don’t have any poop around that would be good examples of what I’ve seen recently.

 

[nuthatched]

It looks like fly eggs on the poop to me.

 

[Eggcessive]

Are the worms moving? I know there are different types of tapeworms that are different color than white. Have you confirmed tapeworms with a fecal float by a vet? Praziquantel, which is found in Equimax and Zimectrin Gold horse wormers, as well as Droncit and Drontel, is needed to treat tapeworms. Tapeworms are transmitted through intermediate hosts, such as worms, snails, slugs, beetles, flies, or their eggs in chicken poop. When the chicken eats one that contains the eggs, they will get them, and keep getting them each time they eat more.

 

[Kristinaa]

Are the worms moving? I know there are different types of tapeworms that are different color than white. Have you confirmed tapeworms with a fecal float by a vet? Praziquantel, which is found in Equimax and Zimectrin Gold horse wormers, as well as Droncit and Drontel, is needed to treat tapeworms. Tapeworms are transmitted through intermediate hosts, such as worms, snails, slugs, beetles, flies, or their eggs in chicken poop. When the chicken eats one that contains the eggs, they will get them, and keep getting them each time they eat more.

The worms move and then go still like they are in the picture, I have not confirmed tapeworm by a vet. Thanks for your reply!

 

[Lillith37]

My chickens have gotten tapeworm that looks like the white rice grains but also much smaller/thinner yellow bits the same colour as in your picture. Eggcessive helped me a lot when my girls had worms. I used praziquantel as suggested which was effective. You have to retreat the affected bird in two weeks. The dosage is 10mg/kg.

I have had repeat tapeworm infection in my two boss hens who get first go to any good foraging spot — so they eat more insects than any of the others. Unfortunately that means they are at a higher risk of tapeworm. I do recommend getting the praziquantel it’s very effective and my birds had no ill-effects.

The praziquantel will work better if you fast the bird for 24hrs beforehand and then for 2 hours after administration. My hens would be outraged at the 24hr fasting so I dose them in the morning on an empty crop and then crate them for two hours — a compromise haha.

Unfortunately there is no data on withholding eggs for praziquantel but I’ve just kept eating the eggs and my partner and I haven’t had any personal issues.