Does anyone know how to tell if chickens have worms, and will that slow them down from laying eggs

-- Barbara Vozar (vozarbi@sensible-net.com), September 20, 2001

Answers

There are roundworms and flatworms. Roundworms are the most significant and can do the most damage. Cecal worms invade the ceca (2 blind pouches attached to the intestine), causing either no symptoms, or weight loss and weakness. They are the most common of the nematodes but rarely cause serious damage. Large roundworms (ascarids) are long, yellowish-white worms that invade the intestine, causing pale heads, droopiness, weight loss, diarrhea, and death. Chickens usually become resistant to these by 3 months of age. Capillary worms are hairlike worms that invade the crop and upper intestine, causing droopiness, weight loss, diarrhea, and sometimes death. When chickens sit around with their heads drawn in, capillary worms are the likely cause. Gapeworms are red fork-shaped worms that invade the windpipe, causing gasping, coughing, and head-shaking (the chicken's attempt to dislodge the worm). These are quite serious in young birds, potentially causing death by strangulation. Flatworms are in two categories, tapeworms and flukes. Tapeworms (cestodes) are long white ribbonlike segmented worms that invade the intestine, causing weakness, slow growth or weight loss, and sometimes death. They may infect up to 50 percent of some flocks, but are usually not very serious. Flukes (trematodes) are broad leaf-shaped worms that attach themselves either inside the body or beneath the skin. They are a problem primarily in swampy areas and where sanitation is really bad. Worms can be treated most of the time. If infestation is causing visible symptoms or weight loss, egg production may be adversely effected. In some cases, when the parasite load is very high in a hen, you might even have wormy eggs.

-- C.G. (glasss2001@prodigy.net), September 20, 2001.

Please look for my post earlier about using pokeweed berries (plentiful and free on my farm) as a natural dewormer twice a year. Anther poster (rh from okla) says it does not affect the eggs. I know that the commercial pesticide dewormers say not to eat the eggs for a few days. Perhaps they could be used for the other animals to eat (eggs, I mean).

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 20, 2001.

If you don't really know what kind of worms your birds have, take a stool sample from several to your vet. For a few bucks they will tell you definitively.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), September 20, 2001.

A couple times a year I give my hens a 5ppm colloidal silver solution for drinking water for a few hours a day. This prevents any worming problems, and doesn't harm them if they don't have any worms.

-- Duffy (hazelm@tenforward.com), September 20, 2001.

Havent you heard of diamatacious (spelling )earth . Mix a little in their feed and it will cure most worm problems .

-- George Wilson (cwwhtw@aol.com), September 20, 2001.

be sure you stay away from "Dolomitic Limestone" - it can be detrimental to egg production. It's not the same as the diatamacious earth referred to, which is a kind of clay based soil substance.

-- Claudia Glass (glasss2001@prodigy.net), September 21, 2001.