Help me decide how to worm my flock?

[ackie]

Chickens are walking stomachs, they eat more and excrete more. The wormer doesnt stay long in their digestive tract and is poorly absorbed and mostly excreted. That's why a higher dose is needed in chickens. Goats have a slower metabolism requiring less dosage because it stays in the digestive tract longer.
Another good reason to worm birds frequently especially if your soil is warm and moist most of the time.

thank you!

 

[ackie]

omg today's is going so much faster. yesterday I was marking each bird (zip tie on ankle) to indicate I'd done them and today I skipped that

 

[ackie]

@dawg53 today took half the amount of time! confidence helps a ton

I realized why I never thought to grab wattles... my girls dont really have them it works swimmingly on the boys though

my method is to just stick my fingernail between upper and lower mandible

so (record keeping for myself) 3 have completed dose 1, 1 is a wackadoo and has had none & the rest are on day 2. they are marked in a way so that I know who is who.

 

[ackie]

& I need to buy another bottle

 

[dawg53]

@dawg53 today took half the amount of time! confidence helps a ton

I realized why I never thought to grab wattles... my girls dont really have them it works swimmingly on the boys though

my method is to just stick my fingernail between upper and lower mandible

so (record keeping for myself) 3 have completed dose 1, 1 is a wackadoo and has had none & the rest are on day 2. they are marked in a way so that I know who is who.

Worming goes quick once you get the hang of it and do it enough times.
My EE's dont have wattles BUT they DO have skin under the lower beak kind of close where the neck starts. That's where I grab the skin under the beak and pull down, and their mouth will open, no problem. Same with pullets etc...
Currently I have 20 birds, a bottle of Valbazen (500ml) lasts alot longer than a 125ml bottle of Safeguard lol.

 

[ackie]

Worming goes quick once you get the hang of it and do it enough times.
My EE's dont have wattles BUT they DO have skin under the lower beak kind of close where the neck starts. That's where I grab the skin under the beak and pull down, and their mouth will open, no problem. Same with pullets etc...
Currently I have 20 birds, a bottle of Valbazen (500ml) lasts alot longer than a 125ml bottle of Safeguard lol.

yeah I didn't know about the valbazen until your first post & I'd already bought the safeguard

 

[ackie]

also I am downright amazed that all my birds let me grab them with the lights on. big rooster pecked at me so I shut the light off for him, but other than that everyone saw me coming and let me grab them - squawked and flapped a ton after that but yknow

 

[ackie]

I give my birds 1.50ml to each bird except my smaller EE's, I give them 1ml. When I administer it orally, I use a syringe without a needle and give it 1/2ml at a time. Anything greater than 1/2ml, they can aspirate.
However, Valbazen is my go to wormer of choice. Only 1/2ml is needed and only wormed a second time in 10-14 days.

is there a downside to valbazen?

 

[dawg53]

is there a downside to valbazen?

Heck no. It's probably the best wormer on the market.

 

[ackie]

Heck no. It's probably the best wormer on the market.

why doesnt everyone use it then? like, how did I end up thinking safeguard was the way to go