Deworming in hens

[JensChickies]

Hello to my fellow chicken lovers. I have some questions about deworming. My first question is that can it hurt the chicken if it's not needed? And my second is what is a good product to get?? Mine don't have any worms so I really want to keep it that way. All answers are welcomed! Thank you!

 

[Julessrq]

I put Food grade DE in their food and never had a problem with worms or hurting them....

 

[JensChickies]

Oh ok. I have DE and I put it in their coop I didn't know it can be used for de worming. Thank you for the insight.

 

[Julessrq]

I'm only passing on info I've learned from here!! Lol! I'm no expert that's for sure! : )

 

[Suzie]

IF your chickens touch the ground...as has been explained by Dawg53...they risk the issue of having worms...DE does NOT get rid of worms...worms will kill a chicken if they are infested with them..fact.

Safeguard seems to be the best product recommended here on BYC for treating a worm infestation....IF you ever see worms in the poop of a chicken it is heavily infested with them. It is prudent to treat the flock every 3 - 6 months with a de-wormer depending upon your soil conditions. All eggs must be dispensed of during the treatment period...after the initial dose you should re-treat in 14 days...so eggs must be dispensed of for 28 days in total.

I have just de-wormed my chickens...after three days, they are laying more eggs than they have done in the past month...my dogs enjoy eating the eggs but they are not fit for human consumption..my chickens look great...try it please..the rewards are great for the chickens!

 

[JensChickies]

Ok. Sounds good. What product can I use? I know worms can be really bad....they are a parasite.

 

[Suzie]

Try safeguard / panacur....it is fenbendazole...whichever is as effective...use the paste and give a pea sized amount into the mouth of the chicken...you can pull on the wattles to open their mouth..apply and release the wattles immediately to allow them to swallow.

 

[Julessrq]

So does using De prevent worms? Thank goodness I never had any?

 

[cafarmgirl]

So does using De prevent worms? Thank goodness I never had any?

DE will not prevent nor get rid of worms. Chickens can have worms and you may never know it until they start looking raggedy and pale or until they have such a heavy load that they start pooping dead or live worms. OR if you happen to get a fecal sample tested just at the right time that the worms happen to be shedding eggs. It's very easy to false negative fecal samples. It's far better for the health of your birds not to let things get so out of control that their health suffers.

A better solution to keeping parasites under control it to simply keep birds on a regular deworming program and rotate between a couple of good dewormers. Treat all the birds and then do a repeat dose in 10 days since the wormers do not kill worms eggs so you want to clean up what hatched in the meantime.

Safeguard is a good product to use, I use the liquid Safeguard for goats, easy to administer. I like Valbazen the best, it's extremely effective and very safe as well. How often you deworm depends on your environment. Hotter/drier climates = less parasites while a warmer/wetter climate = more parasites. Where I live I deworm two or three times a year.

 

[Julessrq]

Thanks I guess I need to start!! Ty Ty