It was a great shock to me to find live chicken having worms on his body, why would this happen I asked myself, an animal that is still alive already removing worms, and once I was in awe of the situation, I picked up my research book to understand what could really be happening, and that was when I found that, different types of worms that can come out of the body of a chicken.
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Roundworms are common among waterfowl, poultry, and wild birds, roundworms can cause serious damage to whatever organ they infest, some of the available roundworm ingestion are;
- Large roundworm: Ascardia galli is the scientific name for large roundworms, it has become the most common intestinal parasite found in chickens and lives in the small intestine. It is so big for anyone to see, it is yellowish-white in appearance and quite thick, and it can grow up to four and a half inches. The method of large roundworm transmission is pretty easy amongst chickens, they transmit it one to another when they consume feces infested with eggs. The eggs are ingested and they then move into the small intestine where they hatch and grow, it will usually take around one month in order for the worm to grow and fully mature, the chickens will shed worm eggs into their feces after 5-8 weeks after the initial infection.
Large roundworms are very strong and resilient, they can on their own survive outside in the soil for a very long time even without a host. Associated symptoms of large roundworms will be different in each case depending on how severe the infestation is. Age is also a great determining factor when dealing with the infestation of the large intestine because chicken that is less than three months old are usually succumbing to an infestation.
One could tell that a chicken has been infected with a large roundworm infestation when the chicken has lethargy, and diarrhea, their weather gets puffed up, and they begin to drastically lose weight and appetite.
Treating large roundworms in chicken is through deworming the chicken through the use of a provided dewormer that is either applied topically or orally and drinking water.
While treating large roundworm infestation, you also need to check and thoroughly clean your equipment, a clean environment has to be greatly considered.
- We also have small worms which can affect different parts of birds causing various symptoms, game birds and turkeys are usually the most affected in this case and farmers could suffer severe loss as a result of this. The eggs of small roundworms are very difficult to see unlike large roundworms, one may not see them without the aid of a microscope, some species of small roundworms are found in the lower intestinal tract and can cause inflammation, hemorrhage, and erosion of the intestinal lining. Heavy infestations lead to reduced growth, reduced fertility, and reduced egg production, when the ingestion gets very severe, it leads to death.
Cecal worms, these worms are more common in chickens and just as the name implies, they grow in the ceca, but these worms do not affect chickens as much as they affect turkeys. Turkeys can contract histomoniasis by eating chicken manure containing infected cecal worm eggs or earthworms that have previously ingested infected worm eggs. Although chickens are immune to the problems caused by cecal worms, the ability to control the worm is still highly important, at least for the sake of the turkey's health.
Blood-sucking worms: Often found in crops and the stomach, they appear in form of small hair-like worms or bright red worms in the stomach, but they need to be controlled as fast as possible to prevent further infection.
Tapeworms: Several species of tapeworms affect poultry, they vary in size from very small to big ones. Tapeworms are made up of multiple flat sections and these sections are shed in groups two or three times daily. Each section of the tapeworm is made up of hundreds of eggs, each tapeworm has the ability to shed millions of eggs throughout its lifetime. A tapeworm would attach itself by using the four pairs of suckers located on its head and most of the tapeworms are host specific, meaning that chicken tapeworms will affect just chickens while turkey tapeworms will likewise affect turkeys.
Protozoa: They are single-celled organisms found in most habitats, they include some parasitic pathogens of humans and domestic animals. The most common protozoan parasites of chickens and turkeys have been found to be coccidia.
Generally speaking, worm outbreaks may occur after a prolonged wet period during the warmer months of the months, while young chickens are more affected by the outbreaks of worms, older chickens may also show possible signs. The outbreak of worms is often linked with increased snails, slug, insect, and earthworm activities, an effective treatment has to be administered as soon as possible as they increase in number.
Symptoms of worms vary based on the type of infection, there are however some signs that imply a decision to completely wipe out the bird, noticing a symptom earlier will help you take out the pet from another to avoid terrible danger to the pet.
Conclusion.
We understand a thing or two about existing chicken worms already and once we notice that one or two of our birds have it through the display of symptoms, try to isolate the infected ones as you try to treat them and prevent further spread to others.
References.
https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-health/internal-parasites-of-poultry/
https://www.backyardgardenlover.com/types-of-worms-in-chickens/
https://www.birdhealth.com.au/worms