[Hillview Farm]

I noticed a few weeks ago a white string like thing in my ducks stable. Then saw no more and thought nothing of it. Yesterday one of my ducks had it hanging out the back end.  I believe its a tape worm? Can anyone tell me what I can get to treat and prevent worms/tape worms. Never had any worm issues before but thought it may be due to wild ducks and geese going on their pond, woukd that sound right?

Many thanks!

[Hermit]

Male by any chance? Male duck bits look like string!

[jaykay]

It sounds like a tapeworm Rachel.

You can worm ducks, like you worm chickens, by mixing Flubenvet in with their feed for a week. Marriages make pellets already mixed which is way easier, you get the dose and mixing right.

It's usual to do them every 6 months because they certainly can pick worms up (roundworms too) from wild birds and also slugs, snails, beetles etc. can carry the intermediate stages of some worms.

[Hillview Farm]

No its female lol I tried to buy flubevet but they wouldn't sell it to me because its not licienced for duck strangly and was told to call my large animal vet and was told it doesn't cover tapeworms anyway

[jaykay]

The best info. I can find suggests flubendazole is effective against cestodes (tapeworms) in poultry.

Ingredients   
Each kg contains:
Flubendazole...........50 gm (pot.)
Dosage Form   
powder
Indications   
Chickens:
Heterakis, Ascaris, Cestodes, Trichonema, and gapeworm.

Tapeworms, Cestodes


Extracted From:
A Pocket Guide to
Poultry Health
and
Disease

By Paul McMullin
© 2004
Click Here to
Order Your Copy
Introduction

Cestodes are tapeworms that are seen in many species; they may not be host specific. Most have intermediate invertebrate hosts such as beetles or earthworms.

Signs

It is doubtful if any signs are produced under most circumstances.
Post-mortem lesions

Occupy space in intestine and create small lesions at point of attachment.
Diagnosis

Identification of the presence of the worms at post-mortem examination.

Treatment

Flubendazole is effective at a 60 ppm in diet, however it may not have a zero withdrawal in commercial egg layers.

Prevention

Control the intermediate hosts, or birds' access to them.

It's licensed for chickens and geese. As for not being licensed for ducks, might be a bit like trying to dose goats, you have to extrapolate from sheep or cattle drugs as there aren't enough goats for them to test drugs on them specifically. I've certainly used it on runner and call ducks with no adverse effects.

[sabrina]

Get in touch with Marriages on line and ask them. I have found them very helpful.

[HesterF]

I've used the Marriages with Flubenvet for ducks - my chickens, ducks and geese are all in together. In theory it's only by prescription so when you order it on line, they phone you up to ask you how you're going to use it. I asked the first time whether it was OK with ducks and then reckoned it would be fine. If you've got a proven worm problem (as I seem to have), you feed them the pellets (and nothing else) for a week, then a three week break and then for another week.

H