Does any one use ivermectin in chickens ?

[Elle4680]

If she were mine and I thought she had worms, I would give Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste orally at 0.23ml per pound for 5 consecutive days. That amount will treat large roundworms, cecal worms, gapeworms and capillary worms.

Keep in mind that if she does have a huge load of worms that worming her could kill her. It would be best if you could have her poop checked for worm eggs, coccidia, bacteria and yeast.

-Kathy

If she was found to have worms, then we would have to treat anyway. That's why my original question....

Any suggestion out there that opposes doing the Ivermectin before the Wazine? A lot of good info I have found and read suggests the Wazine before the Ivermectin in hopes of reducing death due to worming an overload on worms. But the medicine is maybe a week away from arriving here..... So that is why I asked about experiences doing Ivermectin before Wazine, as I don't want to wait too much longer before treating.

 

[casportpony]

If she were mine and I thought she had worms, I would give Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste orally at 0.23ml per pound for 5 consecutive days. That amount will treat large roundworms, cecal worms, gapeworms and capillary worms.

Keep in mind that if she does have a huge load of worms that worming her could kill her. It would be best if you could have her poop checked for worm eggs, coccidia, bacteria and yeast.

-Kathy

If she was found to have worms, then we would have to treat anyway. That's why my original question....

Any suggestion out there that opposes doing the Ivermectin before the Wazine? A lot of good info I have found and read suggests the Wazine before the Ivermectin in hopes of reducing death due to worming an overload on worms. But the medicine is maybe a week away from arriving here..... So that is why I asked about experiences doing Ivermectin before Wazine, as I don't want to wait too much longer before treating.

Since you don't know what worms she may or may not have, it would be better to use something that will treat more worms. If you knew what worms she had, you could use a wormer that was effective against that worm. Ivermectin at the therapeutic dose *might* treat large roundworms and cecal worms, but it will not treat capillary worms. Only large doses of ivermectin will treat capillary worms. Wazine only treats large roundworms, but will only treat them if they drink enough medicated water.

If you think she has just roundworms, do what you think is best. I still think it would be best to have a vet look at her and her poop.

-Kathy

 

[jlashaw]

I've used ivomec injectable on new birds I've purchased that had both mites and lice. It works very well at killing the live bugs. However, doesn't kill eggs and does not kill worms.

 

[onvirginiasoil]

As to the argument that if ivermectin worked in chickens it would be marketed that way: sorry, this simply isn't the case. Ivermectin does work in chickens, just as it works in goats. Why not say so on the label? Because it costs manufacturers a bundle of money to have drugs cleared for other species. Had I used only what is labeled for deworming goats, which consists only of Safeguard, I'd have a lot of dead goats, especially if I put any store in the label directions. Chickens are a bigger industry than goats, granted, but sometimes the best products for chickens are off-label too.

I rarely take part in forums, but when an animal's life is at stake, that motivates me. It's good to get the facts straight before venturing an opinion. My facts are straight. Do the research.

 

[casportpony]

As to the argument that if ivermectin worked in chickens it would be marketed that way: sorry, this simply isn't the case. Ivermectin does work in chickens, just as it works in goats. Why not say so on the label? Because it costs manufacturers a bundle of money to have drugs cleared for other species. Had I used only what is labeled for deworming goats, which consists only of Safeguard, I'd have a lot of dead goats, especially if I put any store in the label directions. Chickens are a bigger industry than goats, granted, but sometimes the best products for chickens are off-label too.

I rarely take part in forums, but when an animal's life is at stake, that motivates me. It's good to get the facts straight before venturing an opinion. My facts are straight. Do the research.

@onvirginiasoil, welcome to BYC! Not sure what facts you're talking about, so maybe you could let us know?

There are studies that show ivermectin isn't effective in treating capillary worms and gapeworms. Lots of people on BYC have used it and lost or almost lost their birds to worms.

I've been doing some experiments with it recently and have discovered that at ~1 mg/kg to 1.5 mg/kg it will treat poultry lice.

As for the label on products, like the one for goats, I think they're pretty conservative. The label on the bottle says 5 mg/kg, but I've read that some types of goat worms need several days of treatment, and possibly at a higher dose.

Another thing about labels... Labeled doses on products made for mammals are not usually the correct amount for poultry.

While Safeguard might be the only "approved" goat wormer, all other wormers can be used, though I'm not sure which ones treat what goat worms.

Some wormers are toxic to some species. Albendazole is a good example... Can be toxic to crias, doves and pigeons. There's another that's toxic to geese.

-Kathy

 

[onvirginiasoil]

Thanks for the lesson.

I use 1% Ivomec injectable for cattle. The truth is that ivermectin is ivermectin. Do not buy Ivomec Plus, just plain Ivomec. Give a quarter of a cc to birds under 6 months, 1 cc to adult chickens. You'll have to draw the Ivomec out of the bottle with a needle, but definitely take the needle out before opening the chicken's beak and flowing it down. Ivermectin is extremely safe, and it is used in Third World countries on people with parasites. I don't follow any withdrawal period for that reason, as the eggs are not going to hurt me. Maybe they'll help, in fact.

More chickens die from parasites than they do from wormers. Ivomec is a safe choice; you'd have to overdo things mightily to kill your chicken. And it works.

For goats, the dosage is about 3 times the dosage listed for sheep because goats have such a high metabolism. There is research on the Internet, and there are charts showing dosages. When I started farming animals, I had to find academic articles at the public library. The Internet can be a wonderful tool, an entirely amazing one for someone like me who grew up at a time when the idea that people would have computers in their home seemed an outlandish idea.

USE THE INTERNET. DO THE RESEARCH. Take forums, including forums of this sort, with a grain of salt. Though the benefit of experience is helpful, seems that a lot of people just want to communicate with the benefit of very little experience. I'd suggest looking at the academic papers on these topics. Do the research. Your animals are worth the trouble.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for the lesson.

I use 1% Ivomec injectable for cattle. The truth is that ivermectin is ivermectin. Do not buy Ivomec Plus, just plain Ivomec. Give a quarter of a cc to birds under 6 months, 1 cc to adult chickens. You'll have to draw the Ivomec out of the bottle with a needle, but definitely take the needle out before opening the chicken's beak and flowing it down. Ivermectin is extremely safe, and it is used in Third World countries on people with parasites. I don't follow any withdrawal period for that reason, as the eggs are not going to hurt me. Maybe they'll help, in fact.

More chickens die from parasites than they do from wormers. Ivomec is a safe choice; you'd have to overdo things mightily to kill your chicken. And it works.

For goats, the dosage is about 3 times the dosage listed for sheep because goats have such a high metabolism. There is research on the Internet, and there are charts showing dosages. When I started farming animals, I had to find academic articles at the public library. The Internet can be a wonderful tool, an entirely amazing one for someone like me who grew up at a time when the idea that people would have computers in their home seemed an outlandish idea.

USE THE INTERNET. DO THE RESEARCH. Take forums, including forums of this sort, with a grain of salt. Though the benefit of experience is helpful, seems that a lot of people just want to communicate with the benefit of very little experience. I'd suggest looking at the academic papers on these topics. Do the research. Your animals are worth the trouble.

Wow, do you have any idea how much ivermectin you're giving when you give an adult chicken 1 ml? Where did you get that dosing info? Scary!

1 ml = 10 mg, right? 1 large adult chicken weighs maybe six pounds, so that works out to about 4 mg/kg, which is way more than you are supposed to give. That's like giving a 100 pound goat 18 ml. Surely you don't give that much to your goats?

-Kathy

 

[onvirginiasoil]

Gee, Kathy, why don't you try doing your own research, then? You certainly have time to respond to me in a skeptical way. You might be using that time to do research, which would clearly be more profitable.

I am not up for this kind of back-and-forth. I was a researcher by profession, and I have no need of this. If I need to back out of Backyard Chickens, I certainly will. I'll leave it to you.

DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!!

 

[onvirginiasoil]

And by the way, Kathy, 1 cc is 1 ml. I have no idea why you are venturing into mg measures. Scary!!!!!!

 

[casportpony]

And by the way, Kathy, 1 cc is 1 ml. I have no idea why you are venturing into mg measures. Scary!!!!!!

Scary? Why scary? People should know how much medication they are giving when they do it, and they should know how to calculate safe doses. Liquid medications are done in mg/ml (milligrams per one ml), then medications are given based on what the animal weighs in mg/kg or mg/pound (mg per kilogram or milligram per pound). To find this info I use Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook, Clinical Avian Medicine, Avian Medicine ; Principles and Applications, and Veterinary Parasitology Handbook.

If you are giving 1 cc or 1 ml of 1% ivermectin to an animal you are giving it 10 mg. Just thought you might want to know.

1 ml of 1% ivermectin for cattle is 10 mg.
1 ml of the pour on ivermectin for cattle is 5 mg.
1 ml of Safeguard for goats/cattle is 100 mg.
1 ml of Safeguard AquaSol is 200 mg.

1% = 10 mg/ml
10% = 100 mg/ml

The most commonly recommended ivermectin dose is 0.2 mg/ml, but some formularies (pigeon formularies) say to give as much as 1 mg/ml. The Veterinary Parasitology Handbook says to give chickens 0.4 mg/kg, since you are giving 10x that amount, I wanted to know how you came up with that dose.

-Kathy