Best way to deworm a large flock of chickens (in Canada)

[SteviS]

Hello all

I have around 50 chickens. Have are around 20 weeks old. The other half around 2 1/2 years old. They have never been wormed. Not able to do decal float test, but I have been noticing a lot of diarrhea type poops, pale combs, raggedy looking feathers on the older girls. The younger ones are all looking fine and poops are good.

They are all free range chickens in a very humid climate, and I think it would be good to try and deworm. ( just the older girls for now?!?, but will have to do all of them eventually)

Any advice on the best way and type of wormer for a large flock. I probably don’t have access to the same types of meds that are available in USA. (Sigh!)

 

[Gavinthechickenman]

Squash and pumpkin are both great dewormers

 

[coach723]

The two I use the most are Valbazen (albendazole) and Safe Guard (fenbendazole). Valbazen is liquid usually labled for cattle, you can get Safe Guard as liquid or horse paste. I do find them on some Canadian websites, but in pretty large quantities. I know some people purchase as a group and split between the group to make it more managable if you have to get it that way. When you don't know what particular parasite you are treating, I prefer Valbazen, dosing is a little easier, and that will take care of everything except tapeworm. For tapeworm (if you ever need to treat it) a medication containing praziquantel is usually best. I prefer to use medications that are directly dosed to each bird rather than mix in water (none of those I list above will mix in water, they will settle out), to ensure they get the correct dose. Under dosing can result in resistant parasites. You can divide a flock by breed, age groups, different enclosures, etc. to make it more managable if needed. I do 35 birds and it takes a little over an hour usually. If you can find peperazine, that is often mixed in the drinking water. It's not available here any more, not sure about everywhere else.
Pale and ratty feathers on the olders at this time of year could just be that they are old feathers and due to be replaced at molt, which will be coming late summer/fall, or even into the winter. I would check and make sure there are no external parasites (lice or mites) contributing though.

 

[nuthatched]

Squash and pumpkin are both great dewormers

Not really, that's residual information from the days where most squash were still bitter and toxic.

 

[Gavinthechickenman]

Well I used squash and it saved my flock I used the small tender ones and they work