When to start deworming?

[TheFugitivePen]

Hello, chicken friends!

How do you handle deworming for your chickens? Do you do it on a schedule or only once you notice a shift in behavior or worms in their feces?

We don't live in a particularly wet climate, and it gets hot in the summertime.
We live on clay soil, which I've read can make us more prone to worm infections.
Our birds mostly keep in a large run. We put down pine shavings to try to decrease the muddiness as our girls have stripped the run absolutely bare of grass. I do let them free range a couple of times a week when my husband or I work outside or are available to monitor them.

Our birds are about 8 months old, and so far, I haven't noticed anything wriggling or out-of-sorts with their feces.

Should I pre-emptively worm them? Or wait until I see worms?

My concern in waiting would be the risk of re-infection. We can't burn our yard to kill off worm eggs. Is there any way to treat the coop, run, and yard if worms do become an issue?

 

[dawg53]

Chickens kept on the same soil requires frequent wormings. Warm moist or wet soil requires frequent wormings. Folks in colder climates may not have to worm as often. It's the soil conditions that dictates how often birds should be wormed.
Keeping everything as dry as possible helps deter worms. I use sand in my pens, coops and most of my nest boxes. Scooping poop frequently helps.

The only time you'll see worms in feces is if there isnt enough room in the guts and they are excreted, or, if a worm dies of old age and is excreted. Parasites dont leave their host, they feed to reproduce.

You can rotate areas in your yard where chickens forage if possible, it will help cut down on worm infections. Worm eggs can survive in the soil for several years or more. One female roundworm lays several thousand eggs a day contaminating the soil.

You can worm birds monthly like I do. I start worming birds at 5 weeks old if they are on soil. I primarily use Valbazen to worm my birds, but have used other wormers.
I dont worry about egg withdrawal periods after using Valbazen or Safeguard because they are poorly absorbed into the blood and mostly excreted.
I've been using both Valbazen and Safeguard for years, and they are very effective wormers in chickens.

 

[TheFugitivePen]

Chickens kept on the same soil requires frequent wormings. Warm moist or wet soil requires frequent wormings. Folks in colder climates may not have to worm as often. It's the soil conditions that dictates how often birds should be wormed.
Keeping everything as dry as possible helps deter worms. I use sand in my pens, coops and most of my nest boxes. Scooping poop frequently helps.

The only time you'll see worms in feces is if there isnt enough room in the guts and they are excreted, or, if a worm dies of old age and is excreted. Parasites dont leave their host, they feed to reproduce.

You can rotate areas in your yard where chickens forage if possible, it will help cut down on worm infections. Worm eggs can survive in the soil for several years or more. One female roundworm lays several thousand eggs a day contaminating the soil.

You can worm birds monthly like I do. I start worming birds at 5 weeks old if they are on soil. I primarily use Valbazen to worm my birds, but have used other wormers.
I dont worry about egg withdrawal periods after using Valbazen or Safeguard because they are poorly absorbed into the blood and mostly excreted.
I've been using both Valbazen and Safeguard for years, and they are very effective wormers in chickens.

Thank you so much!
Do we need to have an egg withdrawal period during and after treatment?
Do we need to give our girls any extra vitamins or nutrients during treatment?

 

[dawg53]

Thank you so much!
Do we need to have an egg withdrawal period during and after treatment?
Do we need to give our girls any extra vitamins or nutrients during treatment?

We eat the eggs after using Valbazen (Albendazole) or Safeguard (Fenbendazole). However, if you suspect that you or a family member might have a reaction to the minute residue in the eggs, discard the eggs in the garbage for two weeks after the last dosing. Do not feed the eggs back to your chickens.

Sometimes I like to give my birds plain boiled white rice mixed with buttermilk after worming. The rice settles their guts and the buttermilk is a better probiotic than yogurt and it coats intestinal lining. Yogurt tends to run out the rear end.

 

[Sussex19]

What I do is along the lines of what is recommended for horses and goats,
I can't see any reason that chickens would be different.
I don't treat for them unless they really need it, e.g. if the worms are causing any symptoms.
If one needs continually treating, then I will cull it. (there has not been any need for this so far)
The thinking behind this is that if you treat on a regular basis what happens is you kill all the none resistant worms, but leave the resistant ones. And then you have supper worms that no wormer will kill.
But if you leave hens which are resistant enough for the worms to not affect them, then you can keep a small population of none resistant ones, so if you do need to treat then it will kill them.
I believe that chickens can cope with a small worm load, as can horses and goats. (and with these animals it can even be beneficial, but I have not seen any studies done on chickens to say if its the same.)

This is just one way of doing it, and so far for me it is working very well, but I can't say if it would work well for anyone else.

 

[dawg53]

@Sussex19 Chickens arnt like horses and goats. Birds are a different ballgame. As you know, birds are experts at concealing illnesses as not to be eaten by predators nor picked on by flock members.
By the time you see symptoms of worms, a bird will just about be on its deathbed and the damage caused by worms has already been done internally. By the time this happens, the bird should be culled, but couldve been prevented by worming them as you see fit, and soil conditions play a big part how often birds should be wormed.

You are correct about wormer resistance, it doesnt happen over night. It takes years. There are wormers I avoid because they are ineffective. Ivermectin is the main one due to its overuse as a miteacide over the years in poultry when its main purpose is for worming. Ivermectin was never recommended as a poultry wormer nor for mite treatment by the manufacturers in the first place.

Regarding a small worm load; what are the worms doing internally to the chicken? Having a party? A party to suck the life out of the chicken and reproducing in which hundreds of thousands of eggs are excreted onto your soil and picked up by your other chickens to become infected. We all know that chickens constantly peck the soil and in doing so, they pick up worm eggs and swallow them and the worms lifecycle is started.
I recommend that you take a look at the poultry Direct Lifecycle of roundworms.

I have been using Valbazen, Safeguard and few other wormers for years and havnt encountered resistance except for Ivermectin. If I had, I wouldve stated it in this forum.

 

[Wot The Flock]

I do worming when I see a number of 'mucky butts' in the flock. Whenever that may be.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Depending on your space, worming might not be needed at all. I would keep the meds on hand, but you may not have to use them for years. Some people can keep everything clean and still get worms. Some people have just the accidental or right combination of free range, number of birds combo where they don’t have worming issues.

 

[TheFugitivePen]

I do worming when I see a number of 'mucky butts' in the flock. Whenever that may be.

I'm brand new to chicken keeping. I've noticed a couple of my girls have some light dirty spots on their bums. Would that be "mucky butts," or am I looking for a serious mess?
Thank you!

 

[Wot The Flock]

some light dirty spots on their bums

Possibly. I think it is one of those 'you'll know it when you see it' things. Usually caused by sloppy droppings sticking to the feathers.