Does any one use ivermectin in chickens ?

[critterkeeper25]

Okay, so I don't have to worry about my chickens picking up worms from the animals that frequent our yard, or our horse. That's good news. So we have to weigh our chickens before treating them for worms. And as I understand it, they don't need to have a preventative treatment for worms. Only treat them if they have them. Our hens all seem on the slight side. They have plenty of food, free choice. They go through a huge bag in a week. They all have finished their molt (about a month ago) None of them seem listless. I haven't seen worms in their poo but that doesn't mean that they aren't there. We have 17 hens, I wounder how much it would cost to do fecal tests on them all? I'm sure that my vet wouldn't mind the money.

How does everyone weigh their chickens? Thanks. Sorry if the questions seem stupid. We are new to chickens, we have had them for about 11 months now and are learning something new every day.

 

[casportpony]

For a fecal just go out in the morning and grab fresh poo from as many piles as you can find, stick it in a bag, stir well and take to vet. Cost is one fecal.

For weighing I use a digital kitchen scale for anything under 11 pounds. For the heavier ones I use a bathroom scale, weigh just myself, then weigh myself holding the bird and subtract smaller number from larger one to get bird weight. For adults, you could look up each breed in wiki and worm according to the weights listed there. Many people assume that an average laying hen weighs 5-6 pounds, which is probably true if they're in good flesh, but something like a Jersey Giant hen might weigh 10 pounds, so something big like that would need twice as much wormer. Make sense?

The scale I use will weigh chicks like this:

And adults like this:


I weigh my birds in grams just because it makes calculating their doses and tracking their weigh easier.

 

[dawg53]

Actually, it's your soil that determines how and when to worm your birds. Warm moist/wet soil will require frequent wormings. Birds that are kept on the same soil or are penned will require frequent wormings. Cool/cold, rocky or mountainous soil or hot desertlike soil will require less worming periods. If you take fecal samples to a vet, make sure the samples are fresh and gather samples from several birds, a ziplock bag works.
As far as weighing birds, I never have and never will. I can eyeball a chicken and know how much wormer to give....particularly safeguard liquid got wormer and valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer as well as equine wormer pastes (which I only use for tapeworms.)

 

[critterkeeper25]

LOL!

Great pics! I get it. I KNOW for a fact that my hens WILL NOT stand so nice on the scale like your pretty bird. Well, maybe some will. They will be busy squatting unless they're scared silly of the scale. Any way, thanks for the advice. Escpecially about the fecal sample. Got lots of piles to mix together for sure!

I want to take a moment to thank you for some advice you gave me a while back when we were dealing with an internal laying situation in one of our hens. We gave her penicillin injections like you said for about 7 days, she slowly came back around. She's still with us but I don't know if she is laying eggs.

 

[critterkeeper25]

We live in Southern NJ. It's all of the above here at different times of the year. Except for the rocky part. Hot and dry in the summer, wet in fall/winter/spring but not warm. As for the eyeballing...I suck at that! I'd end up overdosing for sure.

 

[casportpony]

I do have some that aren't as quiet, those I weigh on the bathroom counter with the lights off, lol. Have also put them in a closed box and weighed them in a box.

You're welcome, and glad to hear your hen is still with you. She is an excellent example of one that you should weigh... Get a baseline on her and weigh and her weekly. If her weight stays the same or increases, pretty good chance she's better, but if she starts losing, you'll know she needs some sort of treatment.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

We live in Southern NJ. It's all of the above here at different times of the year. Except for the rocky part. Hot and dry in the summer, wet in fall/winter/spring but not warm. As for the eyeballing...I suck at that! I'd end up overdosing for sure.

*Most* wormers would be pretty hard to OD them on. For me weighing them is not just about calculating doses of medicine, it's about tracking their health. Most birds are very good at hiding illness and will many time drop tons of weight before you catch on. The scale can help spot signs of sickness before it's too late.

-Kathy

 

[critterkeeper25]

I'll take your advice and get a digital scale for the chickens. I think that we will probably have to band our 5 Dominiques and 4 Buckeyes. They all look like each other. I would never be able to tell them apart. Our RIRs have different combs as do our Orpingtons. So no problem there keeping track of those. I'll get the fecal sample done and go from there. Thanks!

 

[casportpony]

I don't know how true any of this is, but this is why I weigh.

Quote:
Systemic control with ivermectin (1.8–5.4 mg/kg) or moxidectin (8 mg/kg) is effective for short periods, but the high dosages are expensive, close to toxic levels, and require repeated use.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

I'll take your advice and get a digital scale for the chickens. I think that we will probably have to band our 5 Dominiques and 4 Buckeyes. They all look like each other. I would never be able to tell them apart. Our RIRs have different combs as do our Orpingtons. So no problem there keeping track of those. I'll get the fecal sample done and go from there. Thanks!

I use colored zip ties on mine and start by putting a different color on the right leg, then once I've done all the colors on the right, I do lefts. If I still have more, I double up on the right, then on the left. Make sense?

-Kathy