ANOTHER worming question...valbazen

[slurrywidow]

I've done research on worming my chickens and am going to use valbazen. It's the first time I've ever wormed my flock. I've not seen any "actual" evidence they need worming but a lot of them are thin, healthy acting and eating well, just much thinner than I think they should be.
I know the dose suggested, but I've got a couple of other questions as I've read conflicting things.
1. Is egg withdrawal supposed to be 10 or 14 days?
2. Do you wait a couple of days before redose or redose immediately after 10 (or 14) days?
3. Is it recommended to give them yogurt and/or protein after the dosing?
4. I'd like to squirt the dose on something like bread for ease of use. Ok? or should I just suck it up (

) and try and do the direct into the beak method?
5. I have 2 coops and know each egg vs layer so would it be alright to worm just a few at a time so as to not have to toss ALL eggs at once? This makes sense in my mind but I thought I'd still ask in case I'm missing something.

Thanks.

 

[Judy]

10 days, redose in 10 days, egg withdrawal is 14 days after the second dose, or a total of 24 days of tossing eggs, per Dawg53. A nutritional boost never hurts but should not be necessary; in a way they will get a boost just because the worms that have been eating their food are dead. The bread is OK IF they all eat their own bread, and not someone else's. I've read of someone trying this and finding some chickens would not eat the bread. Whatever works.

I'd probably worm one coop at a time with your setup. You'd want to keep records, of course, if you only did some from one coop at a time. I can't think of a reason this would not be OK, but have not thought of doing this before; actually I'll track this thread to see if someone comes up with a good reason not to do this. I'm pretty sure they don't expel live worms with Valbazen.

 

[mitchell3006]

Yogurt acts as a probiotic to re-establish the good micro-flora in the gut.

Mark

 

[Judy]

Quote:
True. A wormer shouldn't kill off gut flora like an antibiotic does, but the presence of worms could certainly mess things up. It won't hurt, anyway, in small quantities.

 

[Lordofchickens 86]

I have kept Chickens for years and never wormed them. of course I only keep hens for 2 years or so then i sell them or put them in the stew pot, they are so yummy.All but my silver wyandotte maggie she is 3 and a friendly pet who i love. i dont think preventive worming is good for the chickens.i would only do it if worms are present.

 

[slurrywidow]

Quote:
I'm not a fan of preventive medicine myself. BUT from all the reading I've done, my understanding is that by the time you SEE a presence of worms that means you've got a bird with a huge load on the inside. I'm obviously still learning about all of this so that could just be plain wrong. I do have thin birds, birds that a few months ago my family was laughingly calling "greedy chunks". Research tells me that I've got a probable worm issue. ???

flockwatcher: Thank you! That info is just what I needed. The live worms being present in the droppings was my concern with doing a staggered worming. I hope someone will clear that up.

As for the yogurt, I've given my flock a small amount twice in a week awhile back and it gave them very loose droppings. Within just a couple of hours. Is there something else that I could use instead or would the vote be just to forget it?

 

[Judy]

Any probiotic source instead of the yogurt would serve the same purpose. I think you can buy it in the feed store and I know you can buy human capsules. Kefir is another source if you can get it unflavored (or make your own, as one of our members does and has posted about. Lots of folks use organic ACV (apple cider vinegar) in the water, maybe a Tbsp per gallon, and I believe (not sure) this may be a probiotic. Organic means live culture in this case, for ACV.

Birds are lactose intolerant, the loose droppings I imagine being a sign of this. I would think the lactose would already be broken down by the organisms that make the yogurt, but maybe not, or not entirely.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17054&p=1

 

[Nat chickenmama]

Also, big ol' bird is great for probiotics