I've identified an individual in my backyard flock of 8 that has enough worm load to have pooped out living, wriggling worms. I've seen it twice, both times in cecal poop. The worms are very, very thin. Clearish or whitish? 1cm long or less. She's in good health otherwise. 14 months old. Everything seems normal including regular laying (yesterday, in fact. The second wriggly poop was this morning, the first last week). I have not witnessed any other chickens with wormy poop; but that doesn't mean much. They seem to die or at least disappear very quickly (seconds). I've had free choice garlic out and ACV water since then; but looks like medicinal intervention is needed now.
The past 2-3 weeks have been very ususually wet, probably frequently driving a large number of earthworms up into their yard. And slugs abound...
Reading articles I can't tell if it's cecal worms or capillaria. Can anyone help me with differential diagnosis?
I found a picture of cecal worms here:
https://www.heritageacresmarket.com/how-to-deworm-chickens/
It definitely looked *something* like that. Hard to tell when when it's mired in cecal poop on the ground! I haven't found any good comparison picture of capillaria. Since the worms were in the cecal poop is it a safe assumption to make that they are cecal worms (i.e. capillaria would be thriving elsewhere before hanging out in the ceca)?
I ask because I already have Safe-Guard (liquid dewormer for goats, 10% sol fenbendazole). I know the recommended dose is 0.23ml /lb body weight per day, for five days for capillaria. For cecal worms it seems it's the same dosage, but just once followed by a repeat treatment in 10 days.
If it is capillaria, wouldn't I need to treat the whole flock too? If it's cecal worms, would I just treat the one individual? Although I'm loath to dose all of them, I will do exactly that, if that's what makes sense.
I have very little experience where worms are concerned! Thank you very much!
The past 2-3 weeks have been very ususually wet, probably frequently driving a large number of earthworms up into their yard. And slugs abound...
Reading articles I can't tell if it's cecal worms or capillaria. Can anyone help me with differential diagnosis?
I found a picture of cecal worms here:
https://www.heritageacresmarket.com/how-to-deworm-chickens/
It definitely looked *something* like that. Hard to tell when when it's mired in cecal poop on the ground! I haven't found any good comparison picture of capillaria. Since the worms were in the cecal poop is it a safe assumption to make that they are cecal worms (i.e. capillaria would be thriving elsewhere before hanging out in the ceca)?
I ask because I already have Safe-Guard (liquid dewormer for goats, 10% sol fenbendazole). I know the recommended dose is 0.23ml /lb body weight per day, for five days for capillaria. For cecal worms it seems it's the same dosage, but just once followed by a repeat treatment in 10 days.
If it is capillaria, wouldn't I need to treat the whole flock too? If it's cecal worms, would I just treat the one individual? Although I'm loath to dose all of them, I will do exactly that, if that's what makes sense.
I have very little experience where worms are concerned! Thank you very much!
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