Actual Correct Dosage for Safeguard Dewormer for Chickens

[Eggcessive]

So if I wanted to treat 4 hens approx 5 lbs (silver laced and blue laced red Wyandottes), what would be the calculation for 2 qts of water? I'm great at math but didn't do well with chemistry and conversions, lol.

SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer is given orally for 5 consecutive days at a dosage of 0.23 ml per pound, which is about 1.25 ml orally for a 5 pound hen. It has to be shaken well before drawing up each dose, and it settles out in water, so it is not accurate to give it in the water. If a hen is not drinking well, you would not know if she has taken enough of the medication.

 

[Scott G in CT]

SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer is given orally for 5 consecutive days at a dosage of 0.23 ml per pound, which is about 1.25 ml orally for a 5 pound hen. It has to be shaken well before drawing up each dose, and it settles out in water, so it is not accurate to give it in the water. If a hen is not drinking well, you would not know if she has taken enough of the medication.

Makes sense. Thank you.

 

[Agarrett]

SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer is given orally for 5 consecutive days at a dosage of 0.23 ml per pound, which is about 1.25 ml orally for a 5 pound hen. It has to be shaken well before drawing up each dose, and it settles out in water, so it is not accurate to give it in the water. If a hen is not drinking well, you would not know if she has taken enough of the medication.

If you are using the Safeguard for chickens (aquasol) you 1/2 that dose because it’s 2x as strong. I mean 1/2 the dewormer for goats because Aquasol is stronger. I measured the liquid and ‘injected’ a cube of water melon. I have 4 chickens and I dosed them one at a time in my enclosed patio. Some chickens didn’t like watermelon w medicine so I soaked dried mealworms and some blueberries. It was a tedious process. Turns out Safeguard doesn’t work for tapeworms. I’m waiting a few more days to try Equimax (a paste for horses) which should work.

 

[Scott G in CT]

If you are using the Safeguard for chickens (aquasol) you 1/2 that dose because it’s 2x as strong. I mean 1/2 the dewormer for goats because Aquasol is stronger. I measured the liquid and ‘injected’ a cube of water melon. I have 4 chickens and I dosed them one at a time in my enclosed patio. Some chickens didn’t like watermelon w medicine so I soaked dried mealworms and some blueberries. It was a tedious process. Turns out Safeguard doesn’t work for tapeworms. I’m waiting a few more days to try Equimax (a paste for horses) which should work.

Problem is I'm guessing based on the Amprolium not working. Still has the diarrhea with the yellowish stuff. Thanks for the info!

 

[Eggcessive]

Aquasol is the same medicine as SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer, goes in the water, and does not have an egg withdrawal, but it only treats roundworms and cecal worms. It does not treat gapeworms or capillary worms, and is very expensive. Also the dosage is very complicated.

 

[Scott G in CT]

If you are using the Safeguard for chickens (aquasol) you 1/2 that dose because it’s 2x as strong. I mean 1/2 the dewormer for goats because Aquasol is stronger. I measured the liquid and ‘injected’ a cube of water melon. I have 4 chickens and I dosed them one at a time in my enclosed patio. Some chickens didn’t like watermelon w medicine so I soaked dried mealworms and some blueberries. It was a tedious process. Turns out Safeguard doesn’t work for tapeworms. I’m waiting a few more days to try Equimax (a paste for horses) which should work.

The last time I had to dose individually, I would wrap the hen in a towel and sit with her between my legs. My legs controlled her moving while I had 2 free hands to open the beak and squirt. Still not ideal, but it worked for me.

 

[Jan Clizer]

Hello backyard chicken people,
I was browsing the web for the dosage of safeguard dewormer for my flock and was met with a bunch of conflicting info and what seemed to be incorrect info according to my calculations so I wanted to post this and maybe use it as reference for my future self should I ever need it.

There are a lot of posts regarding the dosage for chickens for Safeguard suspension dewormer. The consensus seems be a around 0.23ml or approximately 1/4ml per pound of body weight per chicken. I want to say that this is most likely incorrect. Now before anybody refutes me or starts an argument, please know that I'm not here to change your ways and if this has worked for your flock in the past then by all means continue. Sometimes experience is key and I'm just here to show you my calculations.

I know most people here use the Safeguard suspension 10% dewormer for beef, dairy cattle and goats as the Safeguard Aquasol is expensive and difficult to find. These numbers will be for people using Safeguard Suspension 10% dewormer.

First of, let me show why I believe the dosage of .23ml per pound of body weight to be incorrect. I know most people are using the 2.3mg/lb to calculate the dosage that's on the safeguard website. But that is actually quite misleading.
It's 2.3mg/lb for 100lbs.
There is 100mg of fenbendazole per ml of liquid.
It means it's actually 2.3/100 == 0.023ml/lb of body weight.
The prove is in the chart on the same site: https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/safe-guard/cattle/products/safe-guard-suspension
A goat weighing 25lbs would require a dosage of 0.6ml since 0.023 * 25 == 0.575 ~= 0.6

Now does that mean a chicken weighing approximately 5 pounds would require 0.115ml of the dewormer?
NO. It does not. Because the dosage for a chicken is actually 0.454mg/lb as seen on the Safeguard Aquasol page: https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/species/poultry/products/safe-guard-aquasol

I quote from the Safeguard Aquasol page:
"Chickens: Dose calculation:
The daily dose of 1 mg fenbendazole per kg BW (0.454 mg/lb) is equivalent to 0.005 mL Safe-Guard® AquaSol per kg BW (0.00227 mL/lb). The required daily volume of product is calculated from the total estimated body weight [kg] of the entire group of chickens to be treated."

Now as it states above, when using safeguard Aquasol, the dosage is 0.00227ml/lb of the chicken's body weight. But as I said before, most people aren't using Aquasol, they're using the 10% suspension meant for cattle and goats. The main difference that I've seen between the two safeguard products is just the amount of fenbendazole per ml of liquid.
Safeguard Aquasol contains 200mg/ml.
Safeguard Suspension 10% contains 100mg/ml.
The cattle dewormer is half as strong as the Aquasol. Thus for chickens the dosage to administer is 0.00454ml/lb.

Here is also some more math if it feels like it shouldn't be this simple.
For the site to say that 0.00227mL/lb of Aquasol is equivalent to 0.454g/lb of 1mg fenbenazole, they had to divide 0.454 by 200 since Aquasol contains 200mg/ml of fenbenazole.
0.454 / 200 == 0.00227mL/lb
Using this formula, where the 10% suspension contains 100mg/ml.
0.454 / 100 == 0.00454mL/lb

Also I know the dosage for the 10% suspension and Aquasol both seem quite low but it you refer back to the Aquasol website, it states to use 25ml per day for 11,000lbs worth of birds. The 10% suspension is also only using a mere 0.6ml for a goat that weighs 25lbs. So 0.23ml/lb for a chicken is actually a very very high dose.

You can also read the labels for both medications here for more details: https://merckusa.cvpservice.com/product/basic/view/1047396?key=label
https://merckusa.cvpservice.com/product/view/1047550

TLDR: The dosage for chickens using Safeguard Suspension 10% is 0.00454mL/lb of body weight

MANY thanks for this valuable clarification!! We have to read and reread the info to get things right!