Safeguard and Feather Damage

[TheRedFlamingo]

I adopted several chickens who are between 3 and 5 months old. They came from overcrowded conditions, and some of them don't have their tail feathers due to bullying and over crowding. I am in the process of deworming them with safeguard. I know some people report that safeguard can cause feather damage in regrowing feathers. Is this damage permanent or will the feathers correct themselves with the next molt? I understand that once the feather is damaged, it’s damaged. I guess what I’m really asking is the damage to the just the feather or does the feather follicle become permanently damaged? I really don’t want to wait to deworm the chicken until they regrow their feathers.

Thanks!

 

[Tookie]

Its only temporary damage to the feather, so once they molt again their feathers should be normal.
I would use Valbazen (albendazole) to deworm instead, as that won't cause feather damage. Dosage for that is 0.08ml per pound of body weight given orally once then repeated in 10 days.

 

[TheRedFlamingo]

Its only temporary damage to the feather, so once they molt again their feathers should be normal.
I would use Valbazen (albendazole) to deworm instead, as that won't cause feather damage. Dosage for that is 0.08ml per pound of body weight given orally once then repeated in 10 days.

Great, thank you. My local Rural King didn’t have albendazole but I’ll add it to my first aid kit for future use.

 

[Tookie]

Great, thank you. My local Rural King didn’t have albendazole but I’ll add it to my first aid kit for future use.

Sounds good!