General Question about Albendazole + Molt

[BuddingGardener]

Hey everyone! I had to treat my chickens with dewormers at the start of a heavy molt (For two of them). I had previously had fecals done and it came back positive for tapeworm, so I started with praziquantel -- then one of my other hens got extremely sick and expelled a roundworm with her droppings, and had to treat for roundworm, as well. I had Albendazole on hand and treated two rounds 10 days apart dosed by weight. My whole flock appears active and healthy, now!

I was mostly wondering about feather regrowth and whether it will cause my chickens any issues to have some feather fretting. The hen who was sickest has a few feathers with fretting on her tail, and that's all I can see so far. Will this cause her any physical health problems for this year? We can try to time worming so that it doesn't interfere with molting, but it's a bit tough for fall -- some of mine tend to molt in late July to early August, and the rest staggered through September-December. And in this case, I was more concerned about my hen's activity and health than her feathers; she desperately needed the deworming and her behavior and appetite turned completely around once the albendazole did its thing.

Thanks for the info, I just want to know what to expect. Hoping it's just cosmetic for my pets. They're not show birds by any means.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey everyone! I had to treat my chickens with dewormers at the start of a heavy molt (For two of them). I had previously had fecals done and it came back positive for tapeworm, so I started with praziquantel -- then one of my other hens got extremely sick and expelled a roundworm with her droppings, and had to treat for roundworm, as well. I had Albendazole on hand and treated two rounds 10 days apart dosed by weight. My whole flock appears active and healthy, now!

I was mostly wondering about feather regrowth and whether it will cause my chickens any issues to have some feather fretting. The hen who was sickest has a few feathers with fretting on her tail, and that's all I can see so far. Will this cause her any physical health problems for this year? We can try to time worming so that it doesn't interfere with molting, but it's a bit tough for fall -- some of mine tend to molt in late July to early August, and the rest staggered through September-December. And in this case, I was more concerned about my hen's activity and health than her feathers; she desperately needed the deworming and her behavior and appetite turned completely around once the albendazole did its thing.

Thanks for the info, I just want to know what to expect. Hoping it's just cosmetic for my pets. They're not show birds by any means.

As far as I know the fretting on the feathers will do not harm, they are just an indication that at some point the hen(s) were ill/in poor health. Unlikely due to Albendazole, I do not know of any info regarding not using it during molt due to feather quality issues, only Fenbendazole (Safeguard).