# chicken eye worm



## farmgirl (Aug 19, 2012)

All my hens have been good no problmes at all. now I have 7 with chicken eye worm. i am using Vet RX and seen the YouTube on how to give the med for it. How long do you haveto do this? and where does it come from? anyone help me out. thanks


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## fuzziebutt (Aug 7, 2012)

Hi farmgirl, and welcome to the forum! I read up on eyeworm, and it is disgusting!! Here is what I found, and I hope it helps. Here is the cause of eyeworms: _Chickens are exposed to eye worms by eating cockroaches infected with the worms. The cockroaches eat chicken droppings full of worm eggs that hatch inside their bodies and become larvae. The chickens then eat the infected cockroaches. The worms migrate up through the chicken's esophagus and up through the ducts to the eye. These worms swim underneath the chicken's eyeball. Treat eye worms in chickens using prevention methods and medical intervention._

Here is the treatment for it: _Eye worms in chickens are mostly treated by a medicine called VetRx. VetRx is available at feed stores. Add 1 tsp. of VetRx to one cup of very warm water. Administer the treatment to the chicken by holding the bird under one arm. Open the chicken's mouth, and turn the bird down so the cleft in the roof of the mouth is in plain view. Dab the end of a cotton swab into a warm VetRx solution, and apply it directly to the cleft. VetRx will come from both sides of the beak, and pus will drain from the eyes. Clean the pus from the chicken's eyes and allow the bird to rest. Repeat until the chicken is free of eye worms._

Good luck and let us know!!!

Read more: What Are the Treatments for Eye Worms in Chickens? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_10073623_treatments-eye-worms-chickens.html#ixzz2Jtia9BJd


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

Is this ocular larval migrans of round worms? Children and dogs can get that too. It can cause blindness as well.


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## kahiltna_flock (Sep 20, 2012)

Wish I hadn't read that before bed....


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## farmgirl (Aug 19, 2012)

Thank you, I have been using the vet rx. but think i am doing it wrong. watchig you tube so much using a cotton ball but i dont think i am doing down her throat far enough. i will do that when i get home fro work. and i was ready in another thread about garlic. I was wondering if putting garlic in there feed would help against this. since i cant figue out how they got this.


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## fuzziebutt (Aug 7, 2012)

The link that I gave you tells how they got it. Somehow, there is a cycle of roaches with the worm larvae, the chickens eating the larvae, and it hatching in the chickens, and making it's way up the sinus'. Or, it gets pooped out, the roaches eat it, and the chickens eat the roaches again. Use the Vet Rx like the link says, and do WHATEVER is necessary to exterminate the roaches, even if it's the hotels in the coop. And I would remove these chickens from the healthy ones until they are well. 

And I don't think it is supposed to go down her throat. You hold the chicken upside down, and use a qtip to swab the solution on the roof of her mouth, and swab it alot. If I understand it right, it should come out of the top of her mouth, and run out of her eyes also. That should wash the worms out, and kill what worms are in there. And continue to do it until no more worms come out. Is that what it sounds like to you?? This is foreign to me, but let's see what others say about it. I think that is what the directions are saying.


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## Sundancers (Jun 20, 2012)

fuzziebutt said:


> The link that I gave you tells how they got it. Somehow, there is a cycle of roaches with the worm larvae, the chickens eating the larvae, and it hatching in the chickens, and making it's way up the sinus'. Or, it gets pooped out, the roaches eat it, and the chickens eat the roaches again. Use the Vet Rx like the link says, and do WHATEVER is necessary to exterminate the roaches, even if it's the hotels in the coop. And I would remove these chickens from the healthy ones until they are well.
> 
> And I don't think it is supposed to go down her throat. You hold the chicken upside down, and use a qtip to swab the solution on the roof of her mouth, and swab it alot. If I understand it right, it should come out of the top of her mouth, and run out of her eyes also. That should wash the worms out, and kill what worms are in there. And continue to do it until no more worms come out. Is that what it sounds like to you?? This is foreign to me, but let's see what others say about it. I think that is what the directions are saying.


fuzziebutt ... you got it. 

That is the way I understand it also.


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## fuzziebutt (Aug 7, 2012)

Sundancers said:


> fuzziebutt ... you got it.
> 
> That is the way I understand it also.


Thank you!!!! I just wanted to make sure!


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## farmgirl (Aug 19, 2012)

i will be trying it again. this is all new to me. never had this problem before. I read how tey get it. but I dont see roaches around our place. i hate those thibngs. YUCK!! I will be going to Home depot and getting a roach motel, cuz they are not welcome at my home. thanks


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## fuzziebutt (Aug 7, 2012)

They may be the wood or water kind of bugs, the ones that you find under wood, or around water. Chickens just dig around looking for treasures like that!


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## farmgirl (Aug 19, 2012)

I didnt think of water. we have 3 old golkd drigging ponds on our property that everyone goes in. wild geese love it in the spring they come here and mate then take off and have their families. with the rain we have full pond. i will be doing more vet work when i get home again today. thanks for all the help here


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## farmgirl (Aug 19, 2012)

We tried again yesterday. and it didnt work. i did the ones that have it bad and the ones that are just getting it. and the vet rx didnt work. now not sure what to do.


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## Energyvet (Jul 25, 2012)

I'd try some ivermectin if you have it. Keep doing what you're doing and add Ivermectin to your treatment regime.


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## laman (Apr 25, 2014)

Hey all -- I got VetRX but it has nasty stuff in it like alcohol and such --imagine putting that in ur eye -- I got some other stuff that has no label except to put in the eye -but my chickens hate it 0-- i read to put vabazaen in the eye --- or ivermectin in the eye.

Has anyone found a remedy that the chickens don't hate and that works?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Do not put it in the eye. What you're reading is coming from people following the old ways for providing cures. Today we have things like Valbazen and Ivermectin. Glad you asked about using them. Very glad you suspected it was not something that should go in the eye. 

I would have to do some research to see if Ivermectin would work for this purpose. Choose the Valbazen for now, that way you know it will get all parasites not just those you suspect are on the eye.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I did some digging on this subject. First, eye worm is a round worm and the source of infection is not reserved strictly to cockroaches. It can come from earth worms, beetles, grasshoppers, etc. 

I also found a reference about using Advantage Multi also know as Moxidectin. Scientific name: Imidacloprid to treat with. Apply topically, not in the eye.

I did find a reference for using Ivermectin injectable mixed 1 part Ivermectin to 4 parts sterile saline. That information did not come from a vet site or scientific site. 

I also found a reference to using Ivomec applied to the outer lid. Not in the eye. 

I also found that eye worm does not exist in Northern climbs but more in the SE where it is hot and moist.


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## Jessica Wooley (Nov 4, 2021)

farmgirl said:


> All my hens have been good no problmes at all. now I have 7 with chicken eye worm. i am using Vet RX and seen the YouTube on how to give the med for it. How long do you haveto do this? and where does it come from? anyone help me out. thanks


Wanted to let folks know I believe cockroaches that carry the parasite that the chickens get infected with are themselves getting the parasite from the chicken feed. YES, CHICKEN FEED! The roaches eat the feed that carries the parasite, then the chickens eat the cockroaches. Solution? Don't overfeed, especially at night. Change feed company perhaps as well. I am pretty sure the source for my birds getting sick was a cheap 3-way scratch I pick up on occasion.


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