lparks15
In the Brooder
- Jul 8, 2020
- 14
- 21
- 26
Hello all. I am a first-time chicken keeper. I have 3 orpington hens who are just over a year old and 3 speckled sussex hens who are about six months old. I got all of them about a month ago; I got the orpingtons from one person, and the speckled sussex from another. The speckled sussex hens came from a place where they were caged all day long, and not in very good living conditions (along with probably 100 other birds). 
They are fairly quiet birds, and one has always seemed quite stand-off-ish, but I just assume that is her personality. None of the sussex have laid the entire time I have had them, but I assume it is because they are just not mature enough yet. I have noticed their faces getting redder over the last couple weeks. On the other hand, the orpingtons came from seemingly good owners who had lots of animals. The orpingtons have been laying since day 2 of having them.
Currently, it is in the 90s every day here (western KY). They have a coop, an enclosed run, and a fenced-in run that they go between during the day while I'm at work. There are several shady spots in their coop/yard area. I change their water twice a day, clean the dropping board under their roosts every day, and make sure their feed is fresh. I sprinkle diatomaceous earth around maybe once a week and clean with an ACV/water mix a couple times a week. Sometimes I put a little bit of ACV in their water before I go to work. They don't spend hardly any time in the coop except to lay, eat (I leave layer pellets available to them all day), and roost at night, so it stays looking really clean. I give them scraps and treats often and pick up what is left of them in the evenings. When I get home from work (and on weekends), I let them free range in the yard. They LOVE to get in our mulch, which also happens to be the only spot on my property where my cats like to do their business. So now, not only does my yard smell like cat poo because my chickens are playing in the mulch, but my chickens are pecking and eating out of this mulch (I assume they're eating bugs and worms and stuff). They also like to dig holes and sit in it.
Around two weeks ago, it poured rain for three days. Their coop had a little water in it (I left a window open lol) and their run was completely mud one day when I got home. Anytime the bedding in their coop has been wet, I have removed it from the coop and placed fresh bedding (I use pine shavings) down. I put the semi-damp bedding from the coop into their run (trying to reuse it), and then put basically a whole bag of new pine shavings down with it. This really seemed to help the mud issue, but it was still very wet outside in general. Anyway, within the last two weeks, two of my orpingtons (the two who have missing feathers) have stopped laying and they aren't near as loud. This started about a week after I started letting them free range in the evenings and not long after all the rain. It has been really hot and humid lately, so I naturally thought it was because of the heat. I still have one hen laying, but the other two orpingtons aren't, and the speckled sussex aren't. I have noticed some light brown and runny poo lately, although I'm not sure which chickens it is coming from. I have also noticed all the chickens losing feathers (not enough where it makes a bald spot, but enough where I see them throughout the yard and their run).
I got to thinking this weekend, and decided that de-worming them wouldn't hurt, and maybe that is why they were acting a little different (my cat had a wolf worm, which is why I thought of worming them). I figured worms could have came from previous living conditions, the chickens playing in cat poo, or all the recent rain and flooding. Yesterday morning I put a little bit of DE in their food, and in the afternoon, I gave them ivermectin paste. After a lot of research (and that being the only ivermectin type my store had), I gave them each a tiny dollop. I read to give them a pea size amount, but I didn't want to give them too much. The amount I gave was probably just under a pea size amount, but I went with my gut feeling on how much was enough. One of them took it from a piece of bread, and for the rest, I dipped a mealworm into the medicine and gave it to them. It was not easy to get a few of them to eat it. I think they probably don't like the taste. After giving each chicken her share, I locked them all out of their fenced in area, run, and coop, and started cleaning. I scooped out all their bedding and the sand on their dropping board. I removed all the old pine shavings from their run (which was turning brown from poo and mud, but has controlled smell wonderfully. This is the same pine shavings from two weeks prior). I couldn't get all of the pine shavings in the coop or run, there was still some left here and there, but I got the majority of it. I put all this into my compost bin. After getting rid of all of that, I sprinkled DE everywhere and sprayed a lot of the ACV/water mix to clean. I placed fresh bedding down in their coop and left their run as dirt. I then let my ladies back in.
This morning, all of the orpingtons seemed louder as soon as I walked out! The sussex were not, but they haven't been since I got them, so I assume they are just a quiet breed. When I checked their dropping board, there were lots of roundworms on one side! There was a little bit of runny poo, but not much. I am sure they feel at least a little better, so I am glad for that. I have read on several posts to give them a second dosage in 10 days, so that is what I'm going to do unless advised otherwise. My questions regarding all of this are:
1. Egg withdrawal time. If my hens all start laying again, how long until the levels of ivermectin are "low enough for human consumption"? I have seen several people who say they still eat them and they taste no different and they aren't harmed. I have also seen where people wait two weeks after every dosage to be safe. I am not worried about anything other than worms being in the eggs, or the ivermectin reacting like penicillin in my body (which I have read about, but I am not super sure of). Are there going to be worms in any of their eggs after the ivermectin?? Should I throw away all the eggs I've been getting from my one hen, in case there are worms in them? I have anaphylactic reactions to cefzil, which is in the same category as penicillin, although I can take penicillin fine. I obviously don't want to have a reaction to the ivermectin like that, so do you all think it is okay for me to go ahead and eat them, or should I wait? And if I should wait, how long after the second dose? The idea of throwing away weeks worth of eggs is sooo sad!
2. Do I need to completely clean out all their bedding again due to the worms? It's not realistic to do it every day until two weeks after their second dose, but do I need to do it because of the worms? Are they going to be pooing these worms everywhere, and for how long? I also cannot realistically scoop every pile of poo up around the yard, in their run, and everywhere else, but I will do what I need to do. Most of their poo is on their dropping board, which gets cleaned daily when I get home from work. I don't want them to re-infect themselves. Are the chickens somewhat-resilient now to these worms? Should I still let them free range? If I do, they will continue to play and peck in the cat-poop-filled mulch.
3. Do I need to deworm them with a different wormer to ensure I covered my bases with all worms? Or since I know they had roundworms, do I need to use a different wormer at all? Going forward, I plan to give them a little bit of DE in their food daily, and ACV in their water during the day. I really don't want to have to deworm them consistently unless I have to. The climate here is hot and humid in the summer (90s, heat index anywhere within 90-110), and very wet in the spring, where our yard holds water and mud.
4. Will my speckled sussex start laying soon? Could the worms have slowed them down from starting? Also, my poor Trixie (the stand-off-ish sussex), could that be why she's always been like that? Or maybe that really is just her personality?
5. When will I start getting eggs from the two orpingtons who stopped if roundworms were their only issue?
I will check on them this afternoon when I am home from work. Hopefully they're all feeling good! I feel bad because I've read on here where people have had flocks for twenty years or more without worms, and I've had them for a month and have already had issues. But at the same time, I feel accomplished because I did find an issue and was able to work toward correcting it. Sorry for the long post! Any advice is appreciated. Thanks so much!
They are fairly quiet birds, and one has always seemed quite stand-off-ish, but I just assume that is her personality. None of the sussex have laid the entire time I have had them, but I assume it is because they are just not mature enough yet. I have noticed their faces getting redder over the last couple weeks. On the other hand, the orpingtons came from seemingly good owners who had lots of animals. The orpingtons have been laying since day 2 of having them.Currently, it is in the 90s every day here (western KY). They have a coop, an enclosed run, and a fenced-in run that they go between during the day while I'm at work. There are several shady spots in their coop/yard area. I change their water twice a day, clean the dropping board under their roosts every day, and make sure their feed is fresh. I sprinkle diatomaceous earth around maybe once a week and clean with an ACV/water mix a couple times a week. Sometimes I put a little bit of ACV in their water before I go to work. They don't spend hardly any time in the coop except to lay, eat (I leave layer pellets available to them all day), and roost at night, so it stays looking really clean. I give them scraps and treats often and pick up what is left of them in the evenings. When I get home from work (and on weekends), I let them free range in the yard. They LOVE to get in our mulch, which also happens to be the only spot on my property where my cats like to do their business. So now, not only does my yard smell like cat poo because my chickens are playing in the mulch, but my chickens are pecking and eating out of this mulch (I assume they're eating bugs and worms and stuff). They also like to dig holes and sit in it.
Around two weeks ago, it poured rain for three days. Their coop had a little water in it (I left a window open lol) and their run was completely mud one day when I got home. Anytime the bedding in their coop has been wet, I have removed it from the coop and placed fresh bedding (I use pine shavings) down. I put the semi-damp bedding from the coop into their run (trying to reuse it), and then put basically a whole bag of new pine shavings down with it. This really seemed to help the mud issue, but it was still very wet outside in general. Anyway, within the last two weeks, two of my orpingtons (the two who have missing feathers) have stopped laying and they aren't near as loud. This started about a week after I started letting them free range in the evenings and not long after all the rain. It has been really hot and humid lately, so I naturally thought it was because of the heat. I still have one hen laying, but the other two orpingtons aren't, and the speckled sussex aren't. I have noticed some light brown and runny poo lately, although I'm not sure which chickens it is coming from. I have also noticed all the chickens losing feathers (not enough where it makes a bald spot, but enough where I see them throughout the yard and their run).
I got to thinking this weekend, and decided that de-worming them wouldn't hurt, and maybe that is why they were acting a little different (my cat had a wolf worm, which is why I thought of worming them). I figured worms could have came from previous living conditions, the chickens playing in cat poo, or all the recent rain and flooding. Yesterday morning I put a little bit of DE in their food, and in the afternoon, I gave them ivermectin paste. After a lot of research (and that being the only ivermectin type my store had), I gave them each a tiny dollop. I read to give them a pea size amount, but I didn't want to give them too much. The amount I gave was probably just under a pea size amount, but I went with my gut feeling on how much was enough. One of them took it from a piece of bread, and for the rest, I dipped a mealworm into the medicine and gave it to them. It was not easy to get a few of them to eat it. I think they probably don't like the taste. After giving each chicken her share, I locked them all out of their fenced in area, run, and coop, and started cleaning. I scooped out all their bedding and the sand on their dropping board. I removed all the old pine shavings from their run (which was turning brown from poo and mud, but has controlled smell wonderfully. This is the same pine shavings from two weeks prior). I couldn't get all of the pine shavings in the coop or run, there was still some left here and there, but I got the majority of it. I put all this into my compost bin. After getting rid of all of that, I sprinkled DE everywhere and sprayed a lot of the ACV/water mix to clean. I placed fresh bedding down in their coop and left their run as dirt. I then let my ladies back in.
This morning, all of the orpingtons seemed louder as soon as I walked out! The sussex were not, but they haven't been since I got them, so I assume they are just a quiet breed. When I checked their dropping board, there were lots of roundworms on one side! There was a little bit of runny poo, but not much. I am sure they feel at least a little better, so I am glad for that. I have read on several posts to give them a second dosage in 10 days, so that is what I'm going to do unless advised otherwise. My questions regarding all of this are:
1. Egg withdrawal time. If my hens all start laying again, how long until the levels of ivermectin are "low enough for human consumption"? I have seen several people who say they still eat them and they taste no different and they aren't harmed. I have also seen where people wait two weeks after every dosage to be safe. I am not worried about anything other than worms being in the eggs, or the ivermectin reacting like penicillin in my body (which I have read about, but I am not super sure of). Are there going to be worms in any of their eggs after the ivermectin?? Should I throw away all the eggs I've been getting from my one hen, in case there are worms in them? I have anaphylactic reactions to cefzil, which is in the same category as penicillin, although I can take penicillin fine. I obviously don't want to have a reaction to the ivermectin like that, so do you all think it is okay for me to go ahead and eat them, or should I wait? And if I should wait, how long after the second dose? The idea of throwing away weeks worth of eggs is sooo sad!
2. Do I need to completely clean out all their bedding again due to the worms? It's not realistic to do it every day until two weeks after their second dose, but do I need to do it because of the worms? Are they going to be pooing these worms everywhere, and for how long? I also cannot realistically scoop every pile of poo up around the yard, in their run, and everywhere else, but I will do what I need to do. Most of their poo is on their dropping board, which gets cleaned daily when I get home from work. I don't want them to re-infect themselves. Are the chickens somewhat-resilient now to these worms? Should I still let them free range? If I do, they will continue to play and peck in the cat-poop-filled mulch.
3. Do I need to deworm them with a different wormer to ensure I covered my bases with all worms? Or since I know they had roundworms, do I need to use a different wormer at all? Going forward, I plan to give them a little bit of DE in their food daily, and ACV in their water during the day. I really don't want to have to deworm them consistently unless I have to. The climate here is hot and humid in the summer (90s, heat index anywhere within 90-110), and very wet in the spring, where our yard holds water and mud.
4. Will my speckled sussex start laying soon? Could the worms have slowed them down from starting? Also, my poor Trixie (the stand-off-ish sussex), could that be why she's always been like that? Or maybe that really is just her personality?
5. When will I start getting eggs from the two orpingtons who stopped if roundworms were their only issue?
I will check on them this afternoon when I am home from work. Hopefully they're all feeling good! I feel bad because I've read on here where people have had flocks for twenty years or more without worms, and I've had them for a month and have already had issues. But at the same time, I feel accomplished because I did find an issue and was able to work toward correcting it. Sorry for the long post! Any advice is appreciated. Thanks so much!
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