WORMING CHICKENS

[J ALLEN]

What do I use to worm my chickens (13) and how often do I need to worm them? My birds stay in a 20x20 yard.

 

[MelissaTXRn]

Most people worm twice a year. You can use safeguard paste. Do a search on here for dosages.

 

[BantamLover21]

What do I use to worm my chickens (13) and how often do I need to worm them? My birds stay in a 20x20 yard.

A lot of people worm twice a year, while others only worm when they think they have a problem. Some wormers to use include Safeguard, Valbazen, and the Worminator, which contains Flubenvet. There is also Wazine and Ivermectin. However, Wazine only works on roundworms, and a lot of worms are resistant to Ivermectin, so it, too, is rather worthless.

Most of those wormers can be purchased from a livestock supply store. The Worminator, which I use, can be ordered online from here: http://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=584 The Worminator dosage for large-fowl is 2 drops orally, and for bantams it is 1 drop orally. You can repeat it 18 days later, and it kills all worms except tapeworms. You can find the dosages for the other Wormers by searching around on BYC, or the Internet.

Hope I've helped!

 

[Michael Apple]

I've found liquids much easier to administer than pastes or capsules. Valbazen liquid goat wormer contains Albendazole which destroys all worms including tapeworms. Safe Guard liquid suspension gets all of them except tapes. Either should be given orally @ 1/2 cc for Standard breeds and 1/4 cc for Bantams. They are both practical because most feed stores carry them. You worm once, then again 10 days later. Don't eat the eggs for two weeks after the last worming.

 

[jdoane]

What about DE. Read somewhere that it can be used for worming (the pure white kind). Any thoughts?

 

[BantamLover21]

What about DE. Read somewhere that it can be used for worming (the pure white kind). Any thoughts?

There are a lot of misconceptions about DE. One of them is its use as a wormer. Put simply, DE is useless once it gets wet, so using it as a wormer is usually ineffective (the digestive tract is wet). Despite this, some people report success using DE as a wormer, but that fact has not been proven.

 

[Michael Apple]

What about DE. Read somewhere that it can be used for worming (the pure white kind). Any thoughts?

There have been a number of people who have had birds eating DE in their diet and they still end up with intestinal parasites. It may prevent rapid increase in populations, but is not an effective wormer. Keeping the grass cut short in the yard or ranging areas is a better preventative because the host invertebrates which carry worm eggs are less likely to find a habitat to thrive in. Some feed mills are adding DE to their rations but cannot guarantee it will prevent intestinal parasites. Some people err in their thinking by believing that just because they don't see the proof in the droppings, there must not be any. Not all worms are visible to the human eye. I've wormed birds generally twice a year for a long time with Valbazen, Wormazole, Safe Guard, and never witnessed a bad reaction to any of them.