I imagine those of you who have to constantly respond to worm questions are a bit tired of it, so I apologize ahead of time, but here goes anyway. I noticed a few worms (round worms) in one of my chickens droppings last week. I have been trying to research what to do, and see a lot of different ideas/thought/products. So, I have several questions.. I have 13 chickens, some do look a bit scraggly. They are in a coop/ large run with bare ground. It's not easy to get my hands on them, and I think trying to do so and administer medicine orally would be tough, especially in this heat. Pour-on type treatment would also be difficult. So I am trying to find something to put in water/feed. I do not know which birds have worms (although all have a decent probability since in a confined pen on dirt). I do not intend to take samples and send to a vet. I have seen to use Wazine in their water. I looked at a bottle of wazine the other day, and it says on the back do not use for chickens producing eggs for human consumption. Have they changed the label recently (since people would have written post), or are all these people using it off-label? I purchased a 1.1 lb bag of the multi animal Safeguard (fenbendazole) at the advice of a feed store salesperson (who called their supplier). So chickens aren't listed on the label, but it does have turkeys. Can anyone please advise if I can use this product? I think my feeder is a 7 or 10 lb hanging type, and the girls usually empty it in 2.5-3 days. I feed crumbles so I would have to crush the pellets up. What would be the dosage to give them, and how long should they get the treated food? Retreament and time period? Egg withdrawal time? I would prefer to use the product I have already bought if possible. Thanks for any help you can give.
Dawg 53 is kind of the worm expert on here. He usually recommends Valbazen since it treats all chicken worms, then Safegard liquid goat wormer which treats most except for tapeworm. Thirteen chickens would not be that difficult to do if you wait until they are on the roost after dark. I believe the dose is 1/2 cc or ml for most regular size birds. I have read that those pour on meds like Ivomec may not work on worms. Most chicken medicines are used off label I have found when considering egg withdrawal. I'm not familiar with Safegard granules, but if it were me, I would take them back and exchange them for the Safegard Liq. Goat Wormer.
Thanks Eggcessive, What is the egg withdrawal period for the valbazen? Whew that's some expensive stuff, but I assume the bottle will last for a long time. Is the 500 ml the smallest bottle available?