Deworming thoughts/poll

[Shadrach]

I thought my earlier post would have made a logic point clearly.
There is no point in worming chickens if they don't have worms.
Doing a routine worming in the hope that on the off chance one or more of your chickens might have worms on that day just doesn't make any sense, not economically, not for the health of the chicken and not for the longevity of the effectiveness of the drugs used.
While knowledge regarding the life cycle of various worms is interesting and makes an impressive read, the common sense aspect gets drowned out in the noise.
Sure, climate and soil conditions will effect the probability of there being worms in the ground and will have a bearing on the probability of a chicken picking them up.
Yes, there are measures you can take to reduce the worm load in the soil the chickens peck at.
In a small run, parasite eradication is relatively easy, which is why the opposite of what has been written above is true. Free range chickens are at a greater risk of contracting worms than those contained in a run because you can manage a run but not how every many acres of land your chickens may forage over.
There are no proven worm preventatives. It's true that many chickens carry worms without the load being harmful. The problem is when the parasite load makes the chicken sick.
Hopefully an attentive chicken keeper will notice a sick chicken. Some may have sufficient experience to correctly diagnose the cause of the sickness and in the case of worms, whatever variety, administer the correct compound for that type of worm at the correct dosage. The wormer's I've used don't come in a one dose kills all worms format.
You need to know which type of worm you are dealing with to administer a) the correct wormer and b) the correct dose over the correct time period.
How do those of you who worm by routine work out which worm you are dealing with and which medication to give? Do you just hope say a 7 day course is going to deal with all types of worms and their eggs?
It's far more efficient to get a fecal analysis done, find out which worm you are dealing with and then medicate with the correct wormer with the correct dose.
Anything else seems to be like throwing darts blindfold.

 

[dawg53]

I thought my earlier post would have made a logic point clearly.
There is no point in worming chickens if they don't have worms.
Doing a routine worming in the hope that on the off chance one or more of your chickens might have worms on that day just doesn't make any sense, not economically, not for the health of the chicken and not for the longevity of the effectiveness of the drugs used.
While knowledge regarding the life cycle of various worms is interesting and makes an impressive read, the common sense aspect gets drowned out in the noise.
Sure, climate and soil conditions will effect the probability of there being worms in the ground and will have a bearing on the probability of a chicken picking them up.
Yes, there are measures you can take to reduce the worm load in the soil the chickens peck at.
In a small run, parasite eradication is relatively easy, which is why the opposite of what has been written above is true. Free range chickens are at a greater risk of contracting worms than those contained in a run because you can manage a run but not how every many acres of land your chickens may forage over.
There are no proven worm preventatives. It's true that many chickens carry worms without the load being harmful. The problem is when the parasite load makes the chicken sick.
Hopefully an attentive chicken keeper will notice a sick chicken. Some may have sufficient experience to correctly diagnose the cause of the sickness and in the case of worms, whatever variety, administer the correct compound for that type of worm at the correct dosage. The wormer's I've used don't come in a one dose kills all worms format.
You need to know which type of worm you are dealing with to administer a) the correct wormer and b) the correct dose over the correct time period.
How do those of you who worm by routine work out which worm you are dealing with and which medication to give? Do you just hope say a 7 day course is going to deal with all types of worms and their eggs?
It's far more efficient to get a fecal analysis done, find out which worm you are dealing with and then medicate with the correct wormer with the correct dose.
Anything else seems to be like throwing darts blindfold.

Do you know what a wormload is? Do you know what exactly causes birds to become sick from worms? I'm sure you know that worms steal nutrients from birds making them susceptible to other diseases that are often misdiagnosed, and the true root of the problem is worms.
It is worm excrement that causes birds to get sick.
Birds on the same soil are more susceptible to reinfection unless the soil is sterilized, even then worms eggs are resistant to the elements.
By the time you see symptoms of worm infection, the damage has already been done internally.

 

[Shadrach]

Do you know what a wormload is? Do you know what exactly causes birds to become sick from worms? I'm sure you know that worms steal nutrients from birds making them susceptible to other diseases that are often misdiagnosed, and the true root of the problem is worms.
It is worm excrement that causes birds to get sick.
Birds on the same soil are more susceptible to reinfection unless the soil is sterilized, even then worms eggs are resistant to the elements.
By the time you see symptoms of worm infection, the damage has already been done internally.

I do know. I guess I've done much the same as yourself and researched the subject. It's not difficult to understand and the relevant information is easy to find.
None of what you've mentioned supports the idea that routine worming makes sense.
I can see that this is a topic some feel they have a particular expertise in and rational arguments are not going to be productive, so I'll let readers make up their own minds hopefully using logic rather than conviction.

 

[BugStalker]

I started doing fecal floats this year because I hated the guessing game, and didn't want to deworm regularly anymore. I've been testing twice a month. We'll see how it goes...

 

[Saaniya]

I started doing fecal floats this year because I hated the guessing game, and didn't want to deworm regularly anymore. I've been testing twice a month. We'll see how it goes...

Testing is the best thing

 

[BugStalker]

I also intend to try selective
deworming, leaving some animals untreated to decrease anthelmintic resistance and possibly withdrawn eggs. Mostly, this is because my old rooster seems to have resistance to the parasites, as well as some kind of liver problem, most likely, and his counts have mostly been negative all year. I expect the others will need some help from time to time, but intend to treat individually. So far, I haven't treated any for about a year. I am mostly doing the floats myself, but have had vets confirm. I expect this year's pullets to develop a count at some point.

 

[BugStalker]

Sad update: My old rooster died. His EPG was still only 50 when necropsied. It looks like old age, liver not too bad, actually. A few tests still pending... I miss him.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

It is worm excrement that causes birds to get sick.

can you elaborate on this?

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Sad update: My old rooster died. His EPG was still only 50 when necropsied. It looks like old age, liver not too bad, actually. A few tests still pending... I miss him.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[dawg53]

can you elaborate on this?

It's called "Verminous Intoxication."