Cocci & Worms in Flock--How To Treat?

[NightingaleJen]

After being repeatedly rebuffed for a fecal float at our own vet, our secondary vet (long story) was happy to do a float for our flock, though they do not treat chickens. Our dozen girls (who act pretty happy and healthy and begin hollering if we don't let them out of the run on time in the evening) came back positive for both cocci and for whipworm & hookworm.

I have powdered Corid (only thing available where we live) and will begin treating the cocci immediately. But what about the worms? Since neither vet treats chickens they could only tell me what to do. Is there a way to treat the girls' worms without having to dose each of them individually every day? Gail Damerow's "Chicken Health Handbook" suggests giving each girl a bit of bread with the appropriate dose. Not ideal, but we have twelve girls and I'm alone most of the day.

Also, is it all right to treat cocci and for worms at the same time? I believe I've also read it's all right to do that but wanted to ask the many experts here.

They get fresh water in covered containers daily, eat Purina All-Flock, and have, I will admit, gotten lots of ice with a handful of berries or chopped cucumbers frozen inside during the heat wave. I do also give them veggie scraps from my own cooking—mostly greens, cucumber bits, strawberry caps, and odds and ends of herbs. That and whatever they pick up while free-ranging.


ETA: By "lots of ice", I mean big giant blocks of ice.

 

[DobieLover]

After being repeatedly rebuffed for a fecal float at our own vet, our secondary vet (long story) was happy to do a float for our flock, though they do not treat chickens. Our dozen girls (who act pretty happy and healthy and begin hollering if we don't let them out of the run on time in the evening) came back positive for both cocci and for whipworm & hookworm.

I have powdered Corid (only thing available where we live) and will begin treating the cocci immediately. But what about the worms? Since neither vet treats chickens they could only tell me what to do. Is there a way to treat the girls' worms without having to dose each of them individually every day? Gail Damerow's "Chicken Health Handbook" suggests giving each girl a bit of bread with the appropriate dose. Not ideal, but we have twelve girls and I'm alone most of the day.

Also, is it all right to treat cocci and for worms at the same time? I believe I've also read it's all right to do that but wanted to ask the many experts here.

They get fresh water in covered containers daily, eat Purina All-Flock, and have, I will admit, gotten lots of ice with a handful of berries or chopped cucumbers frozen inside during the heat wave. I do also give them veggie scraps from my own cooking—mostly greens, cucumber bits, strawberry caps, and odds and ends of herbs. That and whatever they pick up while free-ranging.


ETA: By "lots of ice", I mean big giant blocks of ice.

How old is the flock?

Can you get a bottle of Safeguard liquid goat wormer?
The dose is 0.23 mls per pound of bird, 5 days in a row.
This is easily done just after they've gone to roost so it's still light enough for them to see, but it is easy to grab them off the roost. Squirt the dose onto the bread, take the bird off the roost to a place the others can't steal the bread and feed it to her. I've done this for a flock of 30. That takes time but only on the first day as you have to get their weights. Once you know that, you know how much each bird needs and it goes faster.

 

[NightingaleJen]

How old is the flock?

Just turned a year old yesterday!

Can you get a bottle of Safeguard liquid goat wormer?
The dose is 0.23 mls per pound of bird, 5 days in a row.
This is easily done just after they've gone to roost so it's still light enough for them to see, but it is easy to grab them off the roost. Squirt the dose onto the bread, take the bird off the roost to a place the others can't steal the bread and feed it to her. I've done this for a flock of 30. That takes time but only on the first day as you have to get their weights. Once you know that, you know how much each bird needs and it goes faster.

Thank you for the advice. If our feed store or TSC don't have Safeguard, Amazon will. Any thoughts on flubendazole, or is that not the best option for these worms (or are we speaking of one and the same--thoughts seem to vary here)? Not one of my poultry books even mentions hookworm...! (Which as a MI girl I know exist, but still.)

Also...best way to weigh the ladies. Have human weight and stand on the scale with hen? Not sure I'm ready to give up my beloved kitchen scale to chicken feet.

Is it okay to treat for the cocci and worms all at once?

 

[DobieLover]

Just turned a year old yesterday!



Thank you for the advice. If our feed store or TSC don't have Safeguard, Amazon will. Any thoughts on flubendazole, or is that not the best option for these worms (or are we speaking of one and the same--thoughts seem to vary here)? Not one of my poultry books even mentions hookworm...! (Which as a MI girl I know exist, but still.)

Also...best way to weigh the ladies. Have human weight and stand on the scale with hen? Not sure I'm ready to give up my beloved kitchen scale to chicken feet.

Is it okay to treat for the cocci and worms all at once?

I use a digital kitchen scale with a large plate.
Safeguard contains fenbendazole, not flubendazole. Flubendazole is difficult to get in the US and the treatment is administered via the feed. I do use that regularly as my flock is very prone to getting round worms. I buy Wormer Plus for fish and mix it into my flock's fermented feed.
It should be fine to treat both at the same time if they are not lethargic.

 

[NightingaleJen]

Thank you, we'll get to that then. For the moment I'll stick with Safeguard and see how the girls do! Just the 5-day treatment then?

And they are all acting normally. Let them out tonight while I did some work in the garden and it looked like a very odd spoof of the Kentucky Derby.

 

[Swbertrand1]

Also...best way to weigh the ladies. Have human weight and stand on the scale with hen? Not sure I'm ready to give up my beloved kitchen scale to chicken feet.

Digital postal scales are sold at many retailers like Target, Walmart, K-Mart, etc and work great for weighing chickens. We use one.
Most I've seen measure in both pounds (down to 1/2 an ounce) and kilograms (down to a gram).
They're great for weighing for medications as well as to track a bird's weight when necessary...