How to Monitor and Manage Worms
Chickens can carry a number of worms in their guts, some are pretty harmless, but others may cause disease, and even in low numbers they can make your birds unwell.
There are several worms that can affect chickens, some are large enough to be seen by eye in bird faeces, but often a bit of help is needed to check for worms.
Most worms live in the gut and when they breed, they produce eggs that mix with faeces and pass into the environment in chicken poo. It’s a natural behaviour for birds to peck at the ground when looking for food, and this is how they pick up the worm eggs, the bird eats the eggs, which then hatch inside the gut and the cycle starts over.
Some worms can be beneficial, to help the bird build, and maintain immunity to keep worm numbers under control, however this needs to be regularly checked to prevent infestations getting out of hand.
What’s the best way to check for worms?
The easiest way to check for worms is by performing a worm egg count or faecal egg count on your birds faeces. You’ll need to collect up a sample and either send it away for testing - kits can be ordered online (instructions are usually provided), or a poultry friendly vet practice may offer worm egg counting.
How often should I check for worms?
It depends… if you’ve had a worm egg count and numbers are low or negative, then its good practice to retest in around 4 months time.
If you have tested for worms, and it’s recommended that you need to treat, then it’s advisable to retest again about a month or so after the treatment.
Why bother with a worm egg count when I can just treat my birds anyway?
You could just treat your birds with a wormer, but … there are different treatments to target different worms, and if we don’t know which worms are present, or how many, then we may treat unnecessarily, or even use the wrong treatment. Ensure you take advice from an SQP (Suitably Qualified Person) or poultry friendly vet, who can advice on the most appropriate treatment.
We also need to consider the risk of worms becoming resistant to the treatments if they are used unnecessarily, which will mean they no longer work. We have already seen this with overuse of antibiotics and the emergence of resistant super bugs.
How can I prevent worms?
Monitor - Perform regular worm egg counts on your birds faeces to monitor the worm egg levels
If you take on any new birds, it’s worth keeping them separate from your existing birds, and testing them for worms before mixing them with your existing flock.
Rotate - If you have the space, you could try to rotate the garden space the birds have access to. This can reduce the risk of the birds picking up worm eggs from new clean ground. The UV light from the sun and heat, will help to dry up and kill off the eggs on the old ground, so it can be reused.
If you don’t have the space to rotate your coop and run, you could try applying desiccant powders, or ground sanitising powder. Be careful when applying these as they can be irritants to skin and to your airways, as well as to the chickens.
Reduce - Regular cleaning to remove the faeces, if you collect up the faeces and remove them from the birds area, it makes sense that we’re removing the worm eggs too.
Book an appointment with the Chicken Clinic - book a telemedicine call for advice on worm management or book a home visit where I can give you specific advice and recommend appropriate treatments if needed.
Follow the Chicken Clinic on Facebook for notifications of future articles!