Roundworms !

I have been quite upset in founding out that my chickens have roundworms. Very depressing as I never had any thing like that before and I keep a very clean coop. I found out that it would have been a good practice to prevent this outbreak by deworming twice/year. I really wish someone would have pass down that knowledge. It is preventative medicine. I will use apple cider vinegar in their water from now on and garlic.

So very very early this morning I administered Piperazine and I see this morning that they are pooping with some little white worms in them. The discouraging thing is that they are eating them!!! Out one way, in the other! iGeejavascript:emoticonp('')So my questions now are:

Are we not to eat the eggs for a while? If so, how long?

When should I do a repeat? I read 2 weeks or one month.

Also read that it could be a good idea to give them Ivermectine after 2 weeks.

Can someone enlight me on this I would appreciate it very much and could be very useful for other.

Thank-you, Misouki

Dont beat your self up. Worms are in every creature in varing amounts, even people. I am not sure about egg withdrawl with piprazine I would assume yes dont eat the eggs. You will probably need to dose a few times to get all stages of worms. Some people believe ivermectin should have a egg withdrawl but I have used it and consumed eggs and have read about people who dont do a withdrawl. Your call. I would deworm them every 2 weeks for probably 3 treatments if they seem that loaded then quarterly.

I am sure you will have other opinions given.

I don't think it is possible to eliminate all worms. What I aim for is to keep their numbers to a reasonable amount. I think birds can surivive with some worms, but too many and it tips the balance.

Once a year I do piperazine in the water. I also piperazine my meat birds half way through their life (around 5 weeks).

I do not do egg withdrawl for piperazine. If YOU get worms the Dr is likely to give you piperazine, so if it's okay to stick in your own face, I doubt the amount that will be passed into an egg, and then cooked, will be an issue. I do NOT toss the eggs.

Yes they eat the worms, mega gag. I assume the worms come out because they are dead. Dead worms do not lay eggs, but are digested like anything else. It's eating LIVE worms or worm eggs that is a problem.

The other approach is to use Iver or Eprinex, which takes care of both internal and external bugs. The decision to toss eggs when treating with those substances is a personal decision. When I use Eprinex, I eat the eggs, but I do not sell them to anyone else! What I choose to put in my mouth is my business, but I would never assume to make that choice for one of my egg customers. So I do not sell eggs to anyone for a week after I've treated with Eprinex.

Don't panic, chickens are wormy. Keep it under control and everyone will be fine.