What is the deal with worming?

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cmlew99

cmlew99

Chirping
5 Years
Apr 5, 2014
329
15
98
Massachusetts
Hello! I'm totally new to this whole "chicken raising thing". I have two 17 week old chickens- One Buff Orpington cockerel, and one Buff Brahma pullet. To all of you who are cringing, and feeling bad for my pullet, I'm about to get three more pullets from a local farm :)

I see posts about worming and such everywhere, and I had a few questions.

Do I have to worm my chickens? Is it a good idea? Even if I see no signs of infestation?

What should I use? Where can I get it?

When should I start worming them, and how often?

Thank you all in advance!
 
There are different schools of thought as to worming chickens without signs of infestation. I wormed my chickens when they were younger to avoid what potentially could be bad news if they did get worms, now I don't because the molt timing, don't want to worm while their replenishing feathers, just too much for their systems all at once. My friends who have chickens also don't worm but that's a personal decision to make, look more under worming and you'll find other pros/cons. Good luck.
frow.gif
 
There's no one answer; It depends. New birds on new ground may not have any problems, maybe for years. On the other hand, wild birds, worms, snails, etc. may bring in nasty critters. I didn't deworm my flock for many years, until a friend lost several birds to intestinal parasites. I lost three birds one winter to mites, and haven't been happy about that either. I worm once or twice yearly with Ivermectin. I also run fecal samples once in a while for my peace of mind. Coccidia can be a huge problem, or not, also. Mary
 
I worm regularly if I see problems or not. In the past I wormed two times a year (spring and fall) but the past year or so I'v been worming four time a year (spring, twice in the summer and again in fall). I worm then ten days later I reworm never using the same wormer two times in a row.

What I been using is --
Vormal (its a capsule containing 300 mg Piperazine, 110 mg Levamisole, 12 mg Albendazole)
Trifen Plus (its a capsule containing Ivomec 0.2mg Febendazole 30mg)
 
Thanks for the tips! It really cleared the confusion!!! I'll do some extra research to determine my course of action, but this was a good start!
 
Chris09 said:
I worm regularly if I see problems or not. In the past I wormed two times a year (spring and fall) but the past year or so I'v been worming four time a year (spring, twice in the summer and again in fall). I worm then ten days later I reworm never using the same wormer two times in a row.

What I been using is --
Vormal (its a capsule containing 300 mg Piperazine, 110 mg Levamisole, 12 mg Albendazole)
Trifen Plus (its a capsule containing Ivomec 0.2mg Febendazole 30mg)
Click to expand...
What about eggs produced during these worming periods? Do you discard the eggs? If so, for how long? Every wormer I have seen at the feed store says not for use in laying hens.
 
barkinghills said:
What about eggs produced during these worming periods? Do you discard the eggs? If so, for how long? Every wormer I have seen at the feed store says not for use in laying hens.
Click to expand...
I discard egg for 7 days after using Trifen Plus and 10 days after using Vormal, so I discard eggs for about 20 days.
During that period I hard boil the eggs and feed the eggs to chicks, duck, and dogs.
Also when I worm, I worm in 2 batches. 1 batch of birds gets wormed then 15 days later I worm the second batch of birds this way I'm not with out eggs.

This way of worming works well for me, and I know that my dogs ain't sensitive to any of the wormers I use.
 
The wormers Piperazine and Ivermectin are used as human de-wormers. Technically you do not have to discard eggs if you give these chemicals to your birds.
 
There's no 'official' withdrawal period for those wormers because they are not approved for use in poultry in the USA. There are no good wormers approved for use here; my best guess is because commercial birds live in total confinement for short periods, so exposure to internal parasites isn't an issue. I use Ivermectin, and withhold eggs for about a week; my decision for my peace of mind. Mary
 

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