Hen with infected vent?

[mendozer]

I returned her to the coop today realizing there isn't much I can do for her. I would like to let her recover from her molt in solitude, but that might be too depressing. What i wasn't expecting was two of the three other girls kicking her *** once she got in. They were viciously pecking her comb and face. I had to intervene and kick them away. I ended up picking up the meanest (probably top hen) and holding her nearby to in a way desensitize her to the newcomer, although she's not really new. She only spent two nights away. She was actually fighting back, although I always thought she was on the bottom of the pecking order.

After about 10 minutes of on/off fighting it subsided a bit and she gave up fighting back. I'm hoping this is just them re-establishing the order and nothing serious. The third hen was just walking around staying out of they're business, a classy gal.

thanks to everyone for their tips.

If i do decide to de-worm them, what's the best medication? Also, is it necessary if there are no worms in their poop?

 

[speckledhen]

You don't usually worm a chicken in molt. One wormer in particular, I think it's Safeguard, also called Panacur or fenbenzadole, can result in incoming feathers being deformed. Molting is very hard on them. Worming is very hard on them as well. I would wait a bit, if it was my own hen, until her feathers came in more and she was on the upswing. You don't usually have to worm free range chickens much at all. Penned ones do need it on occasion. There are numerous threads on BYC on worming for your reading pleasure. Some recommend Wazine, but that only gets round worms and I have never used Wazine. I use generic invermectin when I do finally worm a group of birds.

 

[casportpony]

Per my avian vet, I use fenbendazole 10% (Safegaurd or Panacur, liquid or paste) at 50mg/kg by mouth and repeat in ten days. Unlike other wormers, it can be used on all species and ages (kittens, puppies, foals, chicks, calves, goats, pigeons, doves, reptiles, camelids, etc.) Although it *can* cause issues with feathers when molting, I have not experienced that, but I've only wormed a dozen or so that were in molt. Whenever I have a sick bird, worming is one of the first things I do, even if the bird is molting. I figure it's better to have a live bird with ugly feathers than a dead one with pretty feathers.

I've had birds die due to disease from worms (blackhead) and never saw a single worm. Worms can weaken can weaken the immune system and open the door for all sorts of illnesses, even reproductive issues, I think. When in doubt, worm...

Wazine (piperazine) only gets roundworms.

Safeguard or Panacur (fenbendazole) when given at 20mg/kg three days in a row gets roundworm, cecal worms, gapeworms and one species of tapeworm.

Valbazen (albendazole) when given at 20mg/kg once gets roundworms, cecal worms, tapeworms and maybe some others, but it can cause death in pigeons, doves, crias and aplastic anemia in other species.

Ivermectin... There is an abstract that says it's an ineffective wormer in poultry. Dawg53 is known on BYC as the expert on worming and he'll say the same about it. I still use it for mites.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Fenbendazole info:
















Source:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6750887

Efficacy of fenbendazole against helminth parasites of poultry in Uganda.



Ssenyonga GS.

Abstract



Fenbendazole 4% (Panacur, Hoechst) administered in feed was used to treat chickens infected with Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum and Railletina spp. It was also used to treat Syngamus trachea in broiler birds. There was a marked drop in helminth egg counts in the faeces on the second day of treatment and the faeces became negative by the seventh day after the last treatment. Post-mortem examination 15 to 21 days later showed that the drug was 100% effective against Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum at 10 mg/kg. However, for complete removal of Railletina spp. 15 mg/kg was required. Similarly 20 mg/kg fenbendazole was effective against Syngamus trachea. It was concluded that fenbendazole is suitable for the treatment of the important intestinal and tracheal worms of poultry, a dose of 15 to 20 mg/kg for 3 consecutive days being recommended for use under field conditions.

 

[casportpony]

Ivermectin info:


Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2816174
Abstract

To evaluate the use of ivermectin as a bird anthelmintic, 29 White Leghorn hens naturally infected with Ascaridia spp., Heterakis spp. and Capillaria spp. were treated with 0.2, 2 or 6 mg/kg intramuscularly or 0.2 or 0.8 mg/kg orally. Faecal samples were collected before treatment and at autopsy, 2, 6, or 16 days after treatment, when the intestines were also examined for helminths. None of the treatments gave satisfactory anthelmintic results.

 

[mendozer]

but if only one is sick, and it's an unknown cause, should I just worm them all anyways? You say it's hard on them, but is it even necessary for otherwise healthy birds

 

[casportpony]

but if only one is sick, and it's an unknown cause, should I just worm them all anyways? You say it's hard on them, but is it even necessary for otherwise healthy birds

It's up to you... Just remember that parasites can cause many things just by weakening the immune system.

-Kathy

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: As I said, my birds are free range on a regular basis, except for the bantam flock, so they really do not need worming except very, very rarely. I've never seen mites or lice on any bird here, not in the 8 years I've had my own flock (other than the one rooster I bought who came to me covered in lice--DE dusting fixed his issue). So, I use what I have on hand. I have used Safeguard horse paste, a BB size portion swiped into the beak of each bird, but since I've never really had any worm issues in my flocks, I cannot say if it did any better than the invermectin generic pour on I used, which was more cost effective for the number of birds I had last time I used it.

Wormers can become ineffective if you have to repeatedly use them and use the same one over and over again. I'd say the same about Safeguard as well. I've never had to do that so the invermectin worked just fine for my situation.



Someone asked if it's necessary with healthy birds. Depends. If they are penned, I'd say yes. If they free range on a good sized property, probably not, or very rarely, as in my own case. Birds can carry small worm loads with no adverse health affect, but when you start seeing them squirming in the poop, you have a problem that really needs attention. Every situation is different. You have to do what you think is best for YOUR flock. I did not worm any birds here for their first two years, not until I saw one worm in the poop of a rooster who did not get as much free range time as the others, so I wormed them all for the first time then.

 

[rancher hicks]

As I said, my birds are free range on a regular basis, except for the bantam flock, so they really do not need worming except very, very rarely. I've never seen mites or lice on any bird here, not in the 8 years I've had my own flock (other than the one rooster I bought who came to me covered in lice--DE dusting fixed his issue). So, I use what I have on hand. I have used Safeguard horse paste, a BB size portion swiped into the beak of each bird, but since I've never really had any worm issues in my flocks, I cannot say if it did any better than the invermectin generic pour on I used, which was more cost effective for the number of birds I had last time I used it.

Wormers can become ineffective if you have to repeatedly use them and use the same one over and over again. I'd say the same about Safeguard as well. I've never had to do that so the invermectin worked just fine for my situation.



Someone asked if it's necessary with healthy birds. Depends. If they are penned, I'd say yes. If they free range on a good sized property, probably not, or very rarely, as in my own case. Birds can carry small worm loads with no adverse health affect, but when you start seeing them squirming in the poop, you have a problem that really needs attention. Every situation is different. You have to do what you think is best for YOUR flock. I did not worm any birds here for their first two years, not until I saw one worm in the poop of a rooster who did not get as much free range time as the others, so I wormed them all for the first time then.

I can't agree more. Having read many "opinions" on wormers or whether to worm or not, I do what I think is best. I've not seen worms nor mites.

I practice what I believe, for me, is preventative medicine. I worm and dust as often as I feel like it. Though all coops are heavily dusted with DE at each cleaning. Pay special attention to corners and roosts. I even toss some in their food.

I use Ivemectin pour on about twice a year. Like I said not that I've seen worms just because I don't want to. I also dust and worm birds leaving this farm. Unless it's to auction. Lord only knows what they'll pick up there.

Whatever helps you sleep at night,

Rancher

 

[casportpony]

Since you have used Safeguard Paste, you might find this post I did interesting

From: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/812128/worming-with-horse-wormer
I've read about people using horse wormer to worm their birds, but I've always wondered how much Safeguard/Panaur (Fenbendazole 10%) paste one would use. So i decided to do some weighing and math. As it turns out, you would give the same amount of paste as you would the liquid. For example, if you usually give a bird one cc of the liquid, you would give one cc of the paste.

This is applies to Fenbendazole 10% only, not Ivermectin and it's probably only useful to those that worm by mouth as I don't know if the paste would mix properly in the water.

Let me know if this is not clear enough since I seem to have trouble writing what I mean, lol.

It's important to understand how much your bird weighs and how many mg/kg your bird should get. Giving too little worming medication can cause resistance to wormers. Do you have any idea how many mg's of wormer are in a "pea size" amount? Well I was curious, so I measured it.

From left to right:
Small = 10mg ( .1cc) = enough for a 200 gram (7 ounce) bird at 50mg/kg
Medium = 25mg (.25cc) = enough for a 500 gram (17 ounce) bird at 50mg/kg
Large = 50mg ( .5cc) = enough for a 1000 gram (35 ounce) bird at 50mg/kg
50 mg/kg is what my vets recommended.




Weighed empty 6cc (ml) syringe


Filled with Panacur 10% paste and weighed. Difference is 6 grams, so 6 grams = 6cc's (ml)


-Kathy