Ivermectin -- last resort cure for parasites?

Hello, my husband and I are fairly new to keeping chickens. We have had a parasite problem since summer. We have used DE and Sevin on the most resistant infestations. We have one han who has never gained weight who keeps getting reinfected with mites or lice. I want to dose her with Ivermectin except I am not sure where to get it or how to give it to her. I know we shouldn't eat any of her eggs for two weeks but apart from that what I have found on the forum doesn't answer my very basic questions. Thank you.

I have not used Ivermectin but here's what I have learned from a extensive reading. People generally use Ivermectin -pour on for cattle. You can purchase it at your feed store or perhaps Tractor Supply or Farmers Co-op.

Apparently the dosage is 5 drops on the bare skin on the back of the neck for a large hen and 3 drops for a bantam.

If your chicken is underweight you may be better off going with a lower dose, perhaps 4 drops.

If your chickens have not been wormed you may want to do a worming with Wazine or the like before using Ivermectin, since the ivermectin will kill a large number of worms at once which could cause problems. Look at some of the information on worming to see what people suggest prior to using Ivermectin.

If you have a infestation of mites you should give your coop a thorough cleaning, replacing all the bedding.
Hope this helps.

Good luck.

I don't know if this will help or not, but I have used the Ivermectin paste available at TSC before and have had no issues with it. I bought the horse paste Ivermectine. I put a SMALL amount smaller than a pea on a small piece of bread and fed it to each hen and roo. they thought it was a gooooood treat!!!!!!! my biggest problem was keeping them from stealing the 'treat' from each other. thank goodness for a spare set of hands. I used it because I thought I may have had gapeworm. That was early in the spring.

I did have a horrible infestation with lice and fowl mites a few weeks back. So bad that I lost a roo to it. for the lice/mites I ended up dusting them with poultry powder and the coop. It was nasty and dusty. Didnt seem to make a difference. BUT from the advise on here, i purchased some permithrin solution. It was called Permise I think? I mixed it with water (follow the directions) and put a 1/2 oz. on each bird. I also used this spray on the coop. CLEAN it out good. I vaccumed it too to get every nook and cranny. I then sprayed the roost, lightly hit the walls, the cracks , corners and anywhere an egg might be. then rebedded it. I did this all over in 7 days to hit the rehatching cycle.

here is the link to my mites/lice story.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=431942

Here is a link to a great thread on this with the worming. I am just starting the second worming. Let me know if I can be of any help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=420520

I wish you much luck and hope this helps.

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When you dusted your chickens, did you also dust their house, roosts/perches and nests? Then repeat again in 10 days the same as with your all your chickens? You have to dust their house as well or you'll never get rid of them and using ivermectin would be a waste of time and money.

Ya we have taken out their nest boxes which are metal and cleaned them and aired them out. Then we actually moved the henhouse to a trailer so we can free range them over the pasture in the Spring/Summer so it's a new henhouse. We took the house down and cleaned and sprayed it and then put it back up. Most of the hens are clean but one which is *very* affected and not putting on weight because of it. I wonder since she is a low-on-the-totem pole chicken if it's where she sleeps that's getting her infected over and over again....?

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What did you spray their house with? And, exactly what are you seeing on her...lice, or mites?

First we used De to just dust the inside of the henhouse and the hens. That seemed to work but then we had to move the henhouse and we used that excuse to do a major clean and took apart the hen house and cleaned and sprayed the henhouse with Sevin. That seemed to take care of most eceryone except one hen who is still infested with lice (peach colored segemented little bugs).

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Thank you for the additional info. I dont recommend using liquid sevin, you dont want moisture inside their house especially this time of the year. You can purchase a large canister of sevin dust for about $10 or the smaller canister at about half the price at any home improvement store, kmart, walmart etc...I recommend you dust ALL your chickens including the one hen that is infested with sevin dust (not DE). Dust their house with sevin dust as well. Repeat dusting your chickens and their house with sevin dust again in 10 days (not DE.)

I used seven and you could watch the bugs die immediately.
sharon

I use Permethrin 10% (found at my local feed store). Amount used would depend on infestation. For prevention or small amounts of pest I dilute 1oz in a 1gallon sprayer. For severe infestation (the max that I have used was) I dilute 2oz in a 1gallon sprayer. Spray best you can, but best if sprayed in most infested areas such as under the wings, under the hackle/neck feathers, and butt. If you can't get that close and personal, then try to spray as best you can and try to get them to flap when you spray to get the mixture under the feathers. Avoid spraying directly in eyes or mouth, or in the water and feed containers. I always change the water after spraying the ones in the smaller pens.