black bugs

[casportpony]

Eggsited4life - Thankyou so much. Vet here - and I'm in New Zealand - said Ivermectin has not been officially approved for poultry, but is widely used, hence extra precautions like egg-withholding. Interesting the warnings re dogs!

Sorry, forgot to say "Welcome to BYC!"

 

[EggSighted4Life]

The vet said Eprinex would not treat the scaly leg mite or internal parasites

The standard Ivomec is supposed to treat scaly leg mites and depluming mites. In addition, it IS a bovine dewormer (as far as I know) and WILL treat SOME internal parasites though I don't know which ones.

The eprinex must be a very different formulation, because the withdrawal period I read even for cattle was quite a long time. But cattle and chicken are two very different species and so I/m sure metabolize things differently. And maybe the warning regarding dogs is specific to ingestion? Since I totally use it on a pup under vet supervision before.

So the Eprinex might be a great alternative with less side effects for specific uses. Even though I try to be chemical free, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And it's great to know there are alternatives.

So I'm gonna try to take my first chicken fecal float in today and see what it looks like. I never worried about it too much, partly for the first many years because I didn't know about it being an issue. None of my birds look haggard, but one girl doesn't have what I expect from normal droppings. And they DO eat earth worms all day long. I wonder if red wigglers have the same possible eggs on them? I can't wait to get the results so I can know the truth.

I couldn't believe on Fresh Eggs Daily website, she claimed to add 2% DE to her feed mix and said to "never" had worm issues. Well 2% is the standard accepted by USDA/FDA (whoever it is), in commercial feed products in order to resist clumping. I KNOW DE doesn't work as a wormer as PROVEN by scientific studies NOT because it's greatly debated! I wonder if she ever had a fecal float done or like me, raising chickens for 8 years... never saw signs and makes assumptions. Thought about trying to email and ask since so many take those sites as the end all word to their issues, but decided it was likely a waste of my time since she considers it a debate. Can't be using that site for any reference in the future. Because with VERY clear misinformation, what else is being offered up.