Poorly chicken

[Luvachicken]

I had let my bird bath go dry along with a poop that was in it.

Yesterday, I cleaned the bird bath out and picked up the very dry poop. It wasn't as dry on the bottom as it was on the top and as I took it away there were lots of wriggly pinky red worms under it. They were disgusting. Or could they have been teeny weeny maggots ?

They were swiftly dispatched with water / drowning.

Is this how chickens get worms, by eating the grass where a wild bird has pooped and ingesting the worms ?

My girls have never been outside of their run and I have never seen any worms in their poop.

I think I would be sick if I saw that in any kind of poop from my girls.

[The Dogmother]

Yes, that is how worms are transmitted, and the oocysts (worm eggs) can be transferred on our footwear, and by wild bird droppings getting into the run, as well as by free ranging. If your birds don't free range, then it would be best to test their droppings a couple of times a year for worms (Westgate Labs do a kit) to see if you need to worm them.

[mullethunter]

I agree with everything DM says, but it sounds like they were the sort of worms you often get in stagnant water rather than parasitic worms.

[Luvachicken]

1 hour ago, mullethunter said:

I agree with everything DM says, but it sounds like they were the sort of worms you often get in stagnant water rather than parasitic worms.

There wasn't any water in the bird bath as it had been bone dry for a good few days.

Anyway, whatever worms they were, they did make me feel very squeamish.

I just wanted to check, that although I did wash my hands well, could I ingest one of the worms and be infected ?

I worried I didn't wash my hands enough. 

[Cat tails]

1 hour ago, Luvachicken said:

I just wanted to check, that although I did wash my hands well, could I ingest one of the worms and be infected ?

I worried I didn't wash my hands enough. 

My vet told me you can’t really get infected as bird worms are very different from mammal worms. Asked about the cat in the first place when she had worms.

[The Dogmother]

I agree about them possibly not being intestinal worms. We grew up around livestock and the humans were always wormed routinely too.

Edited August 6, 2019 by The Dogmother

[Luvachicken]

On 8/5/2019 at 9:51 PM, Cat tails said:

My vet told me you can’t really get infected as bird worms are very different from mammal worms. Asked about the cat in the first place when she had worms.

Thank goodness for that.

Thanks Cat tails x