# what sort of worms? pictures



## mysstic (Dec 16, 2011)

Treated my pigeons with Avitrol Plus. Found these worms soon after
No wonder why one of the fantails had bad diarrhea
Fed them late afternoon, they were very hungry and all were eating fine.
Should I repeat the treatment in two weeks?
What kind of worms are these? Is it normal to find so many worms?
I guess tomorrow there will be more.
I didn't treat the young one, he's just a few weeks old.


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## Abdulbaki (Jul 31, 2013)

I assume your fantails are Infected by *Roundworms (ascarides)*
which are _(as you can see in the attached picture)_ : 
white, round, pointed at their extremities, which typically measure between 2 and 5 cm and essentially found in the small intestine.

The larvae of these worms can penetrate the intestinal wall and potentially affect vital organs such as lungs and liver.

*SYMPTOMS*

When a pigeon is affected by ascariasis, we can observe the following:

- Loss of appetite.
- Weakness.
- Droppings inconsistent.
- Intense thirst.
- Ruffled feathers and opaque.
- Vomiting.
- Parasites can be easily seen in the stool and even vomiting

*TREATMENT*

Day 1 : Deworm

Day 2 : Disinfect the loft and apply a multivitamin.

From day 3 to day 7 : We administered a probiotic

Day 9 : " We apply the multivitamin "
Recommended treatement 
- Dewormer: belgawormac
- Desinfectant: Parafectans
- Multivitamin: Belgasol
- Probiotic: Belgabac
_source : http://www.mercasystems.com/pigeons_blog/?p=324_


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Roundworms. Repeat the worming in 2 weeks to get the newly hatched worms.
Scrape and clean up any feces so they don't get reinfected. 
It's as good idea to de-worm at least twice a year.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Holy mother!
Most definitely these are Roundworms... Ah thank goodness,ur birds are relieved. Their eggs hatches need to be taken care of. Their eggs hatch in 21 days. So for roundworms they need to be treated after 21 days gap. A single worm can lay 5000 eggs in one day. Amazed?!?
At the very minimum birds should be wormed twice, three weeks apart. Worming at this interval means that the next lot of worms that the birds are infected with are killed before they can, in turn, produce eggs themselves. In this way the life cycle is broken. Each treatment should be followed up by a particularly thorough clean of the loft to minimize the chance of re infection. Remember that disinfectants do not kill worm eggs. Their thick shells protect them. It really comes down to manual removal of all the droppings as any droppings passed prior to treatment may contain eggs and have the potential to re infect the birds. Torching with a flame is however effective at killing eggs. Although normal cleaning and torching are good I don’t think it is possible to eradicate every last egg and so some re- infection is inevitable. In a contaminated environment a good protocol to follow is to re worm every three weeks for at east 6 months. Because round worm eggs only survive for about 6 months, after this time all of the eggs in the environment will have died and no longer be capable of infecting the birds.


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## mysstic (Dec 16, 2011)

Thanks for the info. I usually worm them every 4 mth. 

Not sure where I could get probiotics and multivitamins. I probably could try to get something online. The link mercasystems.com is from a UK or US site, I'm in AU.

Torching? It's a very small place, the fire brigade will be at my door in no time! And my neighbor! ;-)
Wouldn't be good enough to use a good detergent and hosing down the cage and the backyard? 

Reworming every 3 weeks? Wouldn't they get used to it and after it might not be effective?

I'm using Avitrol Plus, it recommends to repeat it after 2 weeks.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Hi mysstic,
Well its kinda strange! Avitrol is a product which is poison used to kill pigeons. But in Asustralia Avitrol Plus is a life saving dewormer. I was struck at first when u said I use Avitrol. Sorry but I couldn't resist telling u this...

Problem with Avitrol Plus dewormer is that though its a braod spectrum dewormer but it has many side effects on pigeons if we don't dose it correctly. A guy lost three birds after using Avitrol Plus on them... Avitrol plus is dosed according to what kind of worms ur pigeons have...

About roundworms, if ur birds have less number of roundworms then Avitrol p works good. If number of roundworms are high Avitrol can kill a pigeon. Avitrol also cause vomitting in pigeons. (I personally wouldn't use this dewormer)

Probiotics used for children also work for pigeons.

Torching is the surest way of eradicting worm eggs. If u can't afford to do that then u can use a disinfectant like Virkon-S. Whether u use a disinfectant or detergent,it wouldn't kill an egg because rworm eggs have a strong cyst to protect them. They stay viable for six months. Yes,U can wash them away. But a single egg is enough to reinfect the bird and a round worm lays 5000 eggs per day.

Everyworm has different lifecycle. So its important to break it. Dewormer will kill the worms not eggs. In case of roundworms its recommended to worm after 21 days so that newly hatched worms can be killed before they reach sexually maturity and start to lay over again.
U can use roundworm specific dewormer. Pyrantel pamoate works excellent against roundworms given that it is used with 21 days gap atleast used twice. It is cheap and effective.


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## mysstic (Dec 16, 2011)

Yes, it is strange, I heard about that avitrol is used for poison, and wondered as well how it's possible to use that as medication. But actually this was a vet who suggested it, also a guy from the racing pigeon club, - (mind you he was the one who gave us a pigeon who already was infected with canker....grrr-)

I tried to find this Pyrantel pamoate, but it's seems it's not available either up here! What's wrong with Australia??? Type in bird worming tablets, the only thing which come up is avitrol. I start to think that the company took over everything, so you can't buy anything else.
I tried once with some liquid, end wormer plus it's called, had to put it in the water, but they weren't drinking it, still have the small bottle, haven't used it since.

Yes, they vomit out all the worms after the tablet, yak! but so they did with that liquid stuff once. It's even say on the bottle: " Vomiting may occur (see Adverse Reactions). To reduce the likelihood of vomiting, do not handle birds for at least ten minutes after treatment." 

I only give 1/2 tablet each. The dosage according to the instruction is by weight. Could it be that the guy who lost the birds overdosed them?

Actually I have some probiotics, I bought it for myself, I think this one:
http://www.swisse.com/au/vitamins-a...y-cold-flu/106/swisse-ultiboost-inner-balance
Can it be given to the birds??? What's the dosage?
Can you suggest a good wormer product which is also available here in AU?

Thanks


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Have u tried to find Moxidectin Plus ??? I guess another name for it in Australia is Cydectin Plus. Moxidectin plus is new age,broad spectrum,safe and effective dewormer. It works great for both internal and external parasites.and it doesn't cause vomitting so u don't have to hold the feeding.
And another one is Drontal plus which is safe for pigeons.
pls try to find them...
Do you know about DE? I haven't used it personally but its said to be safe even for young birds...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

The avitrol that is used to poison birds has different ingredients than the dewormer. Just the same company.
The worms come out in the droppings actually. And you need to worm 2 weeks later to get the eggs that have hatched since the first deworming. I wouldn't worm them every three weeks for 6 months, as the drugs are a poison, and not good to keep giving to a bird. Twice a year is usually sufficient. And just keep a clean loft which is scraped daily. If a bird is carrying a huge load of worms, then a bird could die, regardless of what dewormer you use. Too many worms die off and that can either cause a blockage, or cause toxicity in the bird.
You should give the recommended dose, or you risk causing the worms to build a resistance to the drug.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Roundworms are most common in pigeons. And their larvae can penetrate into lungs and other vital organs. It depends on what dewormer u use to tackle them.
Roundworm
Roundworms are large enough to see and basically look like white earth worms. They can be up to 3-4 cm long, 1-2 mm wide and are readily visible when passed in the droppings. Their life cycle is very simple. The adult worms live in the bowel. Here they breed and release microscopic eggs that are passed in the pigeons droppings. Other pigeons accidentally swallow these eggs when eating, drinking or pecking around the loft floor or loft environment. Once swallowed these eggs hatch and mature in the bowel of the newly infected pigeon. It only takes three weeks for a swallowed egg to hatch, grow into an adult and start producing eggs itself.
If a pigeon has 6 roundworms, then on average half will be female. Each of these females can produce up to 5000 eggs per day meaning that this pigeon with only six worms can release approximately 15,000 eggs per day in its droppings. Another pigeon only needs to swallow one of these to become infected.
At my clinic we have seen pigeons with 300 or more roundworms. Using the above figures these birds would release three quarters of a million eggs every day. Once in the environment eggs remain viable for about 6 months. Very quickly therefore the environment becomes heavily contaminated. Combining this with the very short life cycle of only three weeks one can see how quickly worms can negatively impact on the health of the loft.
*
Control
Worming your birds once before the start of racing doesn’t really achieve a lot. The treatment may kill the worms present but if the pigeon goes back into the same loft and environment it is likely to swallow more eggs the next day and in three weeks be infected again. *At the very minimum birds should be wormed twice, three weeks apart.* Worming at this interval means that the next lot of worms that the birds are infected with are killed before they can, in turn, produce eggs themselves. In this way the life cycle is broken. Each treatment should be followed up by a particularly
thorough clean of the loft to minimize the chance of re infection. Remember that disinfectants do not kill worm eggs. Their thick shells protect them. It really comes down to manual removal of all the droppings as any droppings passed prior to treatment may contain eggs and have the potential to re infect the birds. Torching with a flame is however effective at killing eggs. Although normal cleaning and torching are good I don’t think it is possible to eradicate every last egg and so some re- infection is inevitable. In a contaminated environment a good protocol to follow is to re worm every three weeks for at east 6 months. Because round worm eggs only survive for about 6 months, after this time all of the eggs in the environment will have died and no longer be capable of infecting the birds.
By Docter Colin Walker(avian health)
Mysstic,Correct dosages donot poison birds,it helps them. No matter if u use them twice or thrice or for six months. Better if we keep rotating the medicines so that worms donot develop resistance.
Good luck


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

These are worms for gosh sakes. Treating every three weeks for 6 months isn't healthy for the birds. Treating, and then again in a couple of weeks, and doing this 2 times a year should be fine. Unless you have a really big problem with worms in the loft, then maybe every few months. But every three weeks for 6 months is over doing it. If you keep a clean, scraped loft, then you shouldn't be having too big a problem with worms. It is still a poison that you are putting into a birds system, so doing it constantly can weaken them.


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## mysstic (Dec 16, 2011)

Moxidectin Plus I think it's available, I'll check it online.
Rotating the meds is actually a good idea. Thx
I didn't think to worm them every 3 weeks. I treat them usually every 4 month. Twice a year I think will not be enough, even treating them more often results like you can see on the pictures. Not all of them are equally bad, some just have fewer worms, other has a hell of a lot. But you have to worm them all at the same time, don't you?
I keep the cage clean, always fresh paper, hose down the yard, so it's very clean and they still get worms.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

It depends on the what deworming drug you use,actually. If u're using pyrantal pamoate and ivermectin in rotation then its *most important to deworm after 21days to target newly hatched worms*. Otherwise in my experience round worms are gon b back.


mysstic said:


> But you have to worm them all at the same time, don't you?


Yes u're true. All birds should be dewormed at same time followed by thorough clean up to wash away the eggs. Worming *TWICE* with 21 days gap for roundworms followed by *thorough clean up* can give great success in controlling roundworms. I don't say that deworm them for six months but when u deworm them, deworm them with 21 days gap for roundworms to control them. I also had roundworm infestation once so I say whether u deworm them once or twice a year,but when u deworm,do it with 21 days gap which is very important to nail rounworms,IME.


mysstic said:


> I keep the cage clean, always fresh paper, hose down the yard, so it's very clean and they still get worms.


Doing this is very important and its appreciative of u that u care about ur pigeons. The reason why ur birds get worms again is re-infecting or not dewormed with correct dosages or not deworming with proper gap of days.


mysstic said:


> Moxidectin Plus I think it's available, I'll check it online.


If u can get MoxidectinPlus then its wonderful. Always abide by instructions...


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