Are we going to have worms forever?

[calicokat]

We just started worming the chickens again, after seeing worms in one's droppings. Wazine in the water for a day, then the horse worming paste (a pea size dose, for Large Fowl, half that for bantums) 10 days later. And of course, throw out the eggs for 20 days.

We just did this in March. And I think again in Dec. or so. I have a problem with wild birds coming in the coop but can't figure anyway to restrict them, but still let my girls come and go freely (Mine free range most of the day).

We also had a lice outbreak in April (I think it was) so we've dusted with sevin and cleaned the coop and put down all new bedding 2x (10 days apart) too. We use the deep litter method with DE, and used to have no problems, but this last 6 - 8 months we've had these outbreaks.

The only other oddity with our setup is, we have a blind bantum D'Uccle who is always in there, roosts on the floor and doesn't move around much, so he may be more prone to picking things up from the bedding and coop area and then passing it on to others through contact??

So my question is, is it safe to be worming them every couple of months? And is there something I"m missing that might help us knock out this problem better?

 

[bryan99705]

How about switching to sand and sevin (maybe some DE too) and dehydrate them to death

 

[calicokat]

Dehydrate the worms, I"m guessing . . . . . not the chickens (unless that was sarcasm??)

Would the sand and sevin work, since these are internal parasites, and the sevin works externally?

 

[dawg53]

I recommend you clean your coop out once a week or once every 10 days. I clean mine once a week, put fresh hay in it and lightly sprinkle sevin dust on the hay and nests, and pat it down with a broom to settle it. Never had a lice/mite problem doing it this way.
Forget the wazine and use valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer. Dosage is given orally...1/2cc for standard size chickens and 1/4cc for smaller chickens. There's a 14 day withdrawal period. Redose in 10 days again with the valbazen or use safeguard equine paste or the safeguard liquid goat wormer. Safeguard equine paste dosage is given orally, a "pea" size amount for each chicken. The liquid goat wormer dosage is given orally...1cc for giants, 3/4cc for large chickens, 1/2cc for standards, 1/4cc for smaller chickens. There is a 14 day withdrawal. However if you redose on the 10th day, grand total withdrawal is 24 days. Try a worming schedule set up at your convenience to worm 3 times a year. I worm every 4th month without fail.
Sand works best in your pen or run. It keeps it dryer and keeps the fly/bug population down to a minimum. When it rains, it is quickly absorbed and dries quicker. It is easier to scoop poop as well.
When using sevin dust, once you dust your chckens and the inside of their house and nests, the dusting must be repeated in 10 days to kill nits that have hatched since the first dusting to break their lifecycle.

 

[kcfuerst]

I agree with dawg. Further, you really should find a way to secure your coop so NOTHING but your chickens gets in. If wild birds can get in, so can rats, mice, weasels and other sundry predators.