In episode 49 of the Poultry Doc Podcast, board-certified poultry veterinarian Dr. Blayne Mozisek demonstrates how to perform a fecal floatation exam on a backyard chicken flock.

Topics covered include how to collect a pooled flock fecal sample, how to use a McMaster slide to calculate eggs per gram (EPG) and oocysts per gram (OPG), microscope magnification for parasite identification, how to distinguish gapeworm eggs (operculated) from roundworm eggs and coccidial oocysts under the microscope, and how Eimeria maxima compares in size to other Eimeria species.

If doing a fecal exam yourself is not an option, Dr. Blayne also walks through how to send a sample to ThePoultryDoc.com and let the lab handle it.

Read more on fecal flotation exams https://thepoultrydoc.com/articles/at-home-fecal-flotation-protocol-backyard-poultry/

Join our Flock https://thepoultrydoc.com/join-the-flock/

Gapeworm egg photo courtesy of: Fig. 4 from Meister et al. (2022), Int. J. Parasitol. Parasites Wildl. 18:76–81, doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2022.04.007, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:10 How to Collect a Fecal Sample from Your Flock

00:01:41 What You Need to Do a Fecal Flotation at Home

00:04:13 McMaster Slides Explained: How the Counting System Works

00:05:10 Microscope Basics: What Magnification You Actually Need

00:05:34 Step by Step: Mixing the Sample and Loading the Slide

00:07:43 What to Look for Under the Microscope

00:09:52 Calculating Your EPG Count

00:11:30 Gapeworm Eggs vs Roundworm Eggs vs Cocci

00:12:27 Wrap Up and How to Send Samples to ThePoultryDoc.com