Eggs can stay viable for several months in moist conditions.
Ascardia species can take four to eight weeks to begin producing eggs once ingested.
Clinical signs seen are usually while worms are juvenile, and high burdens will cause anaemia, wasting and intermittent diarrhoea.
In adult birds, there can be no clinical signs despite a moderate burden of worms. These worms may also cause intestinal blockage and death.
Diagnostics
Worm egg counts (WECs or FECs) directly from droppings can be a useful tool to determining if there are worms present and which types.
On post-mortem, the presence of worms in the intestinal tract or seeing worm eggs under microscopy will be diagnostic. Capillaria and Heterakis may be hard to identify by naked eye on PM.
Treatment
Licensed In feed medication:
Flubenvet 5% (for all worms) for seven days
Gallifen (for Ascardia & Heterakis) for five days.
Licensed In water medication:
Gallifen 200mg/ml (for Ascardia & Heterakis) for five days.
Flimabend/ Flimabo 100mg/ml (for all worms) for five days.
Prevention
The presence of worms may exacerbate other diseases such as coccidiosis so therefore it is important to keep the worm population within a flock low.
It is almost impossible to eradicate the presence of worms however heat-treating housing, disinfectants and turning ground may help reduce the load that birds are exposed too.
It is recommended that houses/pens are not set up on the same patch of ground as the previous year.
Routine worming whilst the birds are in pens, especially through in feed medication, every six weeks or every four weeks if the birds have a high burden.
Ensure birds are wormed just before release.
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Capillaria
A small thing barely visible worm that resides in the crop and oesophagus.
Earth worms can be intermediate hosts and maintain a reservoir of worm larvae.
Capillaria takes around three to four weeks from ingestion to producing eggs.
Young birds are most susceptible, adults may become carriers.
Severely infested birds will have signs of anaemia, wasting with eventual death.
Low capillaria numbers may be subclinical with slight egg production drops and decreased growth rates.
Diagnostics
Worm egg counts (WECs or FECs) directly from droppings can be a useful tool to determining if there are worms present and which types.
On post-mortem, the presence of worms in the intestinal tract or seeing worm eggs under microscopy will be diagnostic. Capillaria and Heterakis may be hard to identify by naked eye on PM.
Treatment
Licensed In feed medication:
Flubenvet 5% (for all worms) for seven days
Gallifen (for Ascardia & Heterakis) for five days.
Licensed In water medication:
Gallifen 200mg/ml (for Ascardia & Heterakis) for five days.
Flimabend/ Flimabo 100mg/ml (for all worms) for five days.
Prevention
The presence of worms may exacerbate other diseases such as coccidiosis so therefore it is important to keep the worm population within a flock low.
It is almost impossible to eradicate the presence of worms however heat-treating housing, disinfectants and turning ground may help reduce the load that birds are exposed too.
It is recommended that houses/pens are not set up on the same patch of ground as the previous year.
Routine worming whilst the birds are in pens, especially through in feed medication, every six weeks or every four weeks if the birds have a high burden.
Ensure birds are wormed just before release.
×
Syngamus
AKA ‘Gapeworm’
A worm that resides within the trachea. It is a red and white Y shaped (actually two worm in permanent copulation).
Earthworms, slugs, snails and beetles may carry worm eggs.
Gapeworm takes around three weeks from initial ingestion to produce eggs.
Symptoms
Classic respiratory signs; Pneumonia, gaping, head shaking and coughing.
Birds will also show weakness, anaemia and wasting with eventual death.
Young birds are more severely affected.
Diagnostics
Worm egg counts (WECs or FECs) directly from droppings can be a useful tool to determining if there are worms present and which types.
On post-mortem; the presence of worms in the trachea or seeing worm eggs under microscopy will be diagnostic.
Treatment
Licensed In feed medication:
Flubenvet 5% (for all worms) for seven days.
Licensed In water medication:
Flimabend/ Flimabo 100mg/ml (for all worms) for five days.
Prevention
The presence of worms may exacerbate other diseases such as coccidiosis so therefore it is important to keep the worm population within a flock low.
It is almost impossible to eradicate the presence of worms however heat-treating housing, disinfectants and turning ground may help reduce the load that birds are exposed too.
It is recommended that houses/pens are not set up on the same patch of ground as the previous year.
Routine worming whilst the birds are in pens, especially through in feed medication, every six weeks or every four weeks if the birds have a high burden.
Ensure birds are wormed just before release.
×
Heterakis
A small thin white roundworm that resides in the caeca and sometimes large intestine. Their eggs can survive on the ground for over a year an earthworms can be sources of infection.
It can take four weeks for Heterakis to start producing eggs after ingestion.
Symptoms
Diarrhoea.
Wasting and death.
Causes severe inflammation in the caeca.
Diagnostics
Worm egg counts (WECs or FECs) directly from droppings can be a useful tool to determining if there are worms present and which types.
On post-mortem, the presence of worms in the intestinal tract or seeing worm eggs under microscopy will be diagnostic. Capillaria and Heterakis may be hard to identify by naked eye on PM.
Treatment
Licensed In feed medication:
Flubenvet 5% (for all worms) for seven days
Gallifen (for Ascardia & Heterakis) for five days.
Licensed In water medication:
Gallifen 200mg/ml (for Ascardia & Heterakis) for five days.
Flimabend/ Flimabo 100mg/ml (for all worms) for five days.
Prevention
The presence of worms may exacerbate other diseases such as coccidiosis so therefore it is important to keep the worm population within a flock low.
It is almost impossible to eradicate the presence of worms however heat-treating housing, disinfectants and turning ground may help reduce the load that birds are exposed too.
It is recommended that houses/pens are not set up on the same patch of ground as the previous year.
Routine worming whilst the birds are in pens, especially through in feed medication, every six weeks or every four weeks if the birds have a high burden.