de-worming chickens??

[Barn Maid Ann]

Quote:
Do you mean you have a fecal done by the vet? And do all wormers require handling of individual birds?

I have had my original 3 Comets since last year. Now this year we have raised 15 more and traded for 2 more, totalling 20 chickens.
They free range daily on our 30 acre property (only ranging about 5 of the 30) both horse pasture and wooded areas. I worm my horses regularly, but I have never wormed the chickens.

I did pick up some DE just recently. Is that enough to keep them worm free?

 

[gritsar]

I decided to start a regular worming program for my own peace of mind. I've never seen signs of any worms except a few of the girls were thinner than I felt they should be.
After looking at all the options I chose to use valbazen. It treats liver flukes, tapeworms, stomach worms, intestinal worms, and lungworms. Worth every bit of the $35 I paid for it just to cover all the bases. Huge bottle and it's good until 2011.
I didn't see much point in using Wazine, since it only treats roundworms and that's just one type of worm chickens can have.
There's no listed withdrawel time for eggs, simply because it's not a chicken wormer. The experts told me two weeks and that's what I'm going with.
I didn't find it hard to use at all. My SO grabbed them and held them, I opened the beaks and squirted it in. Wattles sure come in handy for something.

 

[Starwalker Fallen Angel]

Quote:
Do you mean you have a fecal done by the vet? And do all wormers require handling of individual birds?

I have had my original 3 Comets since last year. Now this year we have raised 15 more and traded for 2 more, totalling 20 chickens.
They free range daily on our 30 acre property (only ranging about 5 of the 30) both horse pasture and wooded areas. I worm my horses regularly, but I have never wormed the chickens.

I did pick up some DE just recently. Is that enough to keep them worm free?

I use the Iver but as my vet directed. He mixes it with (1 to 1) Lixotinic or if I want to spend more money...Polyvisol. As he explained Iver is an injectable and is less evasive on their system when mixed. It may burn something.

. Besides adding the vitamins gives them an added boost. Especially under weight birds. (I use the 1%) 1/2 cc for bantams, 1 cc for LF. Repeat in 10 days if necessary.(orally)

The Valbazen he prescribed mixing 1 cc to 8 cc's of water. Again 1/2 cc for Bantams, 1 cc for LF. (orally)

Dr. Waring said it is fine to hatch eggs. I have had NO ill effects. I generally worm them on the ladies vacation time so to wait two weeks is no problem. Fall, when they are taking a break and early spring before they start back up.

As a matter of fact even with ALL these birds. I had to BUY eggs.

I use the DE all year. In the coops, runs and in their food.

DE alone is great for traces minerals and "helps a lot" with worms but as an only source of worming. IMHO I don't think so.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

gritsar, if its not a chicken wormer, what kind of wormer is it? id be a little leary about using a wormer thats not meant for chickens on my chickens

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
It's a sheep and cattle wormer, but so are ivermectin and eprinex and just about every other wormer named in this thread. The only wormer I've found specifically labeled for chickens is the wazine and like I said, wazine only treats roundworms. There's this brand from a guy in Alabama (I think) that he sells as a "chicken wormer", but guess what? It's valbazen (albendazole) that he sells in really small bottles, puts a picture of a chicken on the label and sells for about 5 times as much.
Do a search here on BYC and I think you'll find that alot of the long time flock keepers use a sheep, cattle or swine wormer when they need a broad spectrum wormer.
My chickens were wormed with it two weeks ago and they look much better, not one side effect.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

ok that sounds good.....how much do you give them? is it something that i could get at tractor supply? whats the youngest that youve given it to them?

 

[gritsar]

The method I used is valbazen - 1/4cc given orally, undiluted for standard sized chickens. Don't eat the eggs for two weeks. I've only wormed once, at 7 months. I personally wouldn't worm before six months. Tractor supply should have it. Again, it will be with the cattle and/or sheep supplies.
The way we wormed them turned out to be easier than I thought it was going to be.
I enlisted the help of my SO. We went into the coop, he'd grab one, I'd squirt it into their mouth with a needless syringe and then we released them out the door. That way we knew we weren't double dosing anyone. For those chickens reluctant to open their beaks, just tug gently on the wattles. Presto! The beak opens automatically.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

ok thank you! i only have 3 birds that are exactly 7 mos old....the others are all 2, 3, and 4 mos and ive got some day olds on the way...i guess i could do the 3 that are old enough......

 

[texchi]

is there a wormer that you can put in water??

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
You can put the valbazen in water, 1cc to 8 cc of water for standard sized birds, but if you're anything like me that method would have driven me crazy. I'd be asking myself...did this chicken drink enough water to get enough of it? Did this one drink too much water and get too much?
By giving it undiluted orally you know they are each getting the correct dose.

An added commentary - You may find yourself having to adapt medications originally intended for cattle/swine/sheep quite a bit. The reason is simple. Cattle ranching and sheep farming are big $$$ busineses in this country. Cattle and sheep are raised on the land. There's lots of money poured into the development of medications and preventives for them for that reason.
Commercial chickens on the other hand are very rarely raised on the land. They're kept in cages and/or on specially prepared floors in a broiler house. They aren't exposed to worms in those situations so there's no incentive for the big money flock raisers to invest in the development of medications for them.
My neighbor has been raising commercial chickens for 40 years and never once have they been wormed. Of course, her chickens have never even seen a blade of grass, let alone stood on one.