I've kept bantam chickens for years without any signs of worms, but today for the first time I found a mature large-roundworm and its eggs on a roost in the coop - one of the chickens had pooped it out. So obviously there is a worm population though I try to keep the barn and run clean and dry.
I'll likely treat all of my chickens, but as they are bantams I don't want to overdose them with the amount that would be used on standard chooks. How much should I use, and if I use it in drinking water -- say, a gallon-size trough -- how many drops of Piperazine should I use?
As a side note --
Some Chicken Experts (including poultry author Gail Demerow) claim that if your birds are otherwise healthy they can tolerate a certain amount of worms and that it's better to keep a clean coop and yard and try to keep the worm population down naturally, than to subject the chickens to medication. It seems like the ecological approach of balancing pathogen and chicken so they can live in "harmony," but most people I know who keep chickens advise worming twice a year as a routine procedure.
Does anyone here do the "ecological balance" approach? Or does everyone worm?
Thanks for input!
I'll likely treat all of my chickens, but as they are bantams I don't want to overdose them with the amount that would be used on standard chooks. How much should I use, and if I use it in drinking water -- say, a gallon-size trough -- how many drops of Piperazine should I use?
As a side note --
Some Chicken Experts (including poultry author Gail Demerow) claim that if your birds are otherwise healthy they can tolerate a certain amount of worms and that it's better to keep a clean coop and yard and try to keep the worm population down naturally, than to subject the chickens to medication. It seems like the ecological approach of balancing pathogen and chicken so they can live in "harmony," but most people I know who keep chickens advise worming twice a year as a routine procedure.
Does anyone here do the "ecological balance" approach? Or does everyone worm?
Thanks for input!