Tapeworm Meds Questions

[lolomugg]

Questions about Egg Withdrawal after using Equimax Horse Paste to treat tapeworms.

• What’s the worry with eating eggs after treating chickens? Is it that the eggs have some of the residue from that medication? Or is it some other worry? I ask because humans can take those same medications, so if there’s some residue then why’s that bad?
• Also, I’ve heard the egg withdrawal time for Ivermectin is life! Why is that?
• My chickens keep escaping their yard (the fence blew over in a storm and we haven’t been able to fix it yet) and coming onto my back porch. They poop all over the porch and that’s how I noticed the tapeworm segments. But my question is this: Typically I would get the hose and spray their poop off the porch. But do I need to clean up the poop with tape segments differently (like scoop it into a trash bag) so that it doesn’t spread into the dirt where my dog and kids play? I don’t want my family ending up with tapeworm.

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be good to collect as many of the droppings with the tapeworm segments and remove them. Each segment contains lots of tapeworm eggs. Insects, flies, and worms can eat the segments which then can be eaten by your chickens, reinfecting them over and over. Chickens also may eat them if they peck the ground.

The ingredient in Equimax that gets the tapeworms is praziquantel. It also contains ivermectin. Most people wait at least a month to eat the eggs after treatment. Any medication given to a chicken can pass into eggs in small amounts. Only chickens who are passing the tapeworms eggs need to be treated, nit all of your chickens.