- Aug 27, 2010
- 16
- 3
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I'd like to say a word of caution on using ivermectin, especially the paste in small breeds.
Back in early October the Chicken Dr. on the radio said i should treat my bird with 1.8% ivermectin paste for worms that i was seeing, and to use a "pea size amount".
We have a pair of quail d'anvers who literally mean the world to us and the rooster is especially small. He didn't want to hatch when he was a baby, and I know your not supposed to but I had to give him quite a bit of help hatching (he literally made no progress on his own) We had to take extra special care of him and he has always been a bit small, but all the extra attention growing up made him extra tame and friendly.
We dosed all of our chickens with small pea size amounts of Ivermectin paste. Our flock is entirely bantams so we made sure the dosages were extra small. We finished administering the medicine around 9:00 AM on, when I looked out the window at 11:00 I could tell that something wasn't right. I ran outside and my little roosters limp lifeless body was laying there sprawled out like he fell over mid step and his sister was looking quite a bit drowsy. I scooped him up screaming "wake up Quincy! wake up!" He was completely limp with his eyes closed, just completely lifeless. I frantically called my girlfriend who had just left for work a little while earlier and said that I think we killed our little guys, so she instantly found the closest vet and got us in to see an exotic and small animal specialist within 15 minutes. I had never driven to town so fast in my life, honking the horn the whole way at cars in my way, and the whole time holding my limp little rooster in my arm. I got him to Dr. Silver who administered activated charcoal via a tube and put Quincy and Pearl in oxygen cages. Pearl being a little bigger recovered later that day, and Quincy came home the next day. It was almost $500, in vets bills but we were so happy to get our little family back it really didn't matter to us. I really didn't think I'd ever hear his little crow again.
Less than a week later we were seeing worms in the poop again. Dr. Silver prescribed "PanaCure" which is exactly the same thing as SafeGuard dewormer for goats.(fenbendazole 10% suspension) and told me to give them each 0.03 ml for 3 consecutive days. I had to go back into the vets office and ask them to show me 0.03 ml because I could not believe what a small dose that was. Not one third of a 1ml but one third of one tenth of 1ml. They told me that after I sucked up 0.03ml safeguard I could suck in some water to dilute it so there is more than a drop of liquid. This stuff must be safe because I had given my little bantams birds 10X that amount in the past. Anyways after 3 days of treating my birds every morning before I fed them the worms were gone and haven't come back since.
Anyways Quincy and Pearl had their first babies less than 48 hours ago, it looks like 2 roosters and a hen, and they would have never even been hatched if it were for Dr. Silver at Fortuna Vetrinary. Every day since October 1st we have been so thankful to have our little Butterbeards (that's their last name) back and wake up to his piercing crow in my laundry room (its too cold for him outside in the coop sometimes). I really can't fully describe how close to death he was on that day.
Pour on drops are probably safer, and none of my silkies had any issues, but I try not to even use ivermectin anymore.
Back in early October the Chicken Dr. on the radio said i should treat my bird with 1.8% ivermectin paste for worms that i was seeing, and to use a "pea size amount".
We have a pair of quail d'anvers who literally mean the world to us and the rooster is especially small. He didn't want to hatch when he was a baby, and I know your not supposed to but I had to give him quite a bit of help hatching (he literally made no progress on his own) We had to take extra special care of him and he has always been a bit small, but all the extra attention growing up made him extra tame and friendly.
We dosed all of our chickens with small pea size amounts of Ivermectin paste. Our flock is entirely bantams so we made sure the dosages were extra small. We finished administering the medicine around 9:00 AM on, when I looked out the window at 11:00 I could tell that something wasn't right. I ran outside and my little roosters limp lifeless body was laying there sprawled out like he fell over mid step and his sister was looking quite a bit drowsy. I scooped him up screaming "wake up Quincy! wake up!" He was completely limp with his eyes closed, just completely lifeless. I frantically called my girlfriend who had just left for work a little while earlier and said that I think we killed our little guys, so she instantly found the closest vet and got us in to see an exotic and small animal specialist within 15 minutes. I had never driven to town so fast in my life, honking the horn the whole way at cars in my way, and the whole time holding my limp little rooster in my arm. I got him to Dr. Silver who administered activated charcoal via a tube and put Quincy and Pearl in oxygen cages. Pearl being a little bigger recovered later that day, and Quincy came home the next day. It was almost $500, in vets bills but we were so happy to get our little family back it really didn't matter to us. I really didn't think I'd ever hear his little crow again.
Less than a week later we were seeing worms in the poop again. Dr. Silver prescribed "PanaCure" which is exactly the same thing as SafeGuard dewormer for goats.(fenbendazole 10% suspension) and told me to give them each 0.03 ml for 3 consecutive days. I had to go back into the vets office and ask them to show me 0.03 ml because I could not believe what a small dose that was. Not one third of a 1ml but one third of one tenth of 1ml. They told me that after I sucked up 0.03ml safeguard I could suck in some water to dilute it so there is more than a drop of liquid. This stuff must be safe because I had given my little bantams birds 10X that amount in the past. Anyways after 3 days of treating my birds every morning before I fed them the worms were gone and haven't come back since.
Anyways Quincy and Pearl had their first babies less than 48 hours ago, it looks like 2 roosters and a hen, and they would have never even been hatched if it were for Dr. Silver at Fortuna Vetrinary. Every day since October 1st we have been so thankful to have our little Butterbeards (that's their last name) back and wake up to his piercing crow in my laundry room (its too cold for him outside in the coop sometimes). I really can't fully describe how close to death he was on that day.
Pour on drops are probably safer, and none of my silkies had any issues, but I try not to even use ivermectin anymore.
