General Wormer?

[Sunshine_Chick]

I have 3 Hens. 2 have a dirty rear end, they'll be a year old in May. They're laying daily, eating & acting normal. Poop seems normal & have never seen worms. I realize that not all parasites are visible to the naked eye. I'm unable to get a fecal float done. The other hen has a nice clean bum, but she's around 4 and hasn't laid in months. They free-range & rarely get treats. They eat pellets & wetted pellets/kinda fermented. They have plain water, water with some ACV always available. We live in Florida & they've already had electrolytes water a few times this year. I tend to offer that in addition to their other beverage choices once we hit mid to upper 80's. I've never wormed them & think it might be something to try to see if their bums stay clean. I have no problem putting them in a bucket to wash their bums, but never had to do it to other chickens, just these two. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm not a huge proponent of worming just to worm - but as you've not done it in a year, you currently aren't engaged in that practice. The best general purpose dewormer for chickens is Fenbendazole, usually sold under the name "Safe-Guard". You should be able to get it, in a bunch of formats, at your local TSC and similar.

Dosage depends on format. There's a water soluable/water suspended version, and also pastes (if they are out of paste for chickens, you can also get for horse, goat, or cattle, then adjust dosage). Plenty of people here on BYC will helpo with that.
Get the smallest package you can - you don't need much.

I just spent $23 or $29 on a tiny (water suspended) bottle of safeguard to treat my whole hobby farm (see sig) for a week, and I have enough to redose them in the future, if/when I have to do it again.

 

[Sunshine_Chick]

Thanks for replying! No, I've never dewormed any of my chickens and am apprehensive about deworming them since I don't know if they even have worms. I just know they have dirty bums & would prefer them to be clean & fluffy. Could there be any other reason for untidy bums?

 

[bhaugh]

Dirty bums could be something else. I worm only when I see them. If they are fighting something off, you injecting them with an insecticide which may make matters worse. Trim the feathers around the vent then keep an eye out for changes

 

[coach723]

The climate and soil in Florida is really hospitable to parasites, so if you have never wormed and are seeing lots of runny droppings with no other identifiable cause, I would worm them. Having said that, drinking lots of water can make droppings runny also, so when it gets hot out runny droppings will increase. Some birds just have lazy cloaca's and don't push as hard, which can result in dirty bums. Safeguard (fenbendazole) and Valbazen (albendazole) are really pretty safe wormers, I've been using both for a very long time and have never hurt a chicken with them. It's really unlikely that worming them will have any negative effects. Safeguard is usually the easiest to find locally, either the liquid goat wormer or the horse paste will work, same dosing for both. My TSC is now locking up the goat wormer due to theft, so you may have to ask for it. Dosing for Safeguard is .23 ml per pound of body weight, orally, dose 5 days in a row, that will take care of everything except tapeworm. You can usually get oral syringes at TSC also, if they are out any pharmacy should have them, just ask. A digital kitchen scale works well for getting a birds weight.

 

[Dawnhaschickens]

My hen gets dirty bum every also figured out she doesn’t like her roost so she choose a 2x4 sits low so think she poops then if didn’t scoop up everyday her bum get dirty. Just a thought