How and when should I worm my chickens?

[casiphia]

Hi all. I hope everyone is enjoying theirs Sunday! My question: from reading other posts, I didn't know I should worm my chickens. How do I worm them and where do I get the wormer? Do I have to take them to a vet? I don't know if there is a vet here that look at chickens. Though I have had them for almost a year in still learning how to take care of them. Have one that gets a poopie butt and have given her a bath. Now it looks like I'll have to trim her butt feathers a bit. She's the only one of the 5 that has this issue. She acts normal otherwise. So looks like another bath or warm damp towel wipe. Will have to go get some silcissors to trim or should I get one of those electric trimmers? Thank you a heading time.

I have learned that life is great with chickens in it. I do so love my chickens though I would of never thought to get any. My daughter started this! LOL

 

[Eggcessive]

I use scissors to trim vent feathers that get droppings on them. Some people never worm their chickens, while most chickens do get worms from the soil. It depends a lot on your climate for how often to worm. Many worm chickens twice a year in fal and in spring. Others who live in warm wet environments, may worm every 3 months. You can always collect several fresh droppings, and get a local vet to do a fecal float to identify any worms and what types. I like Valbazen sheep and cattle wormer, since it treats all chicken worms with a dosage of 1/2 ml orally to each chicken, and repeat in 10 days. Larger birds get 3/4 ml, while bantams get 1/4 ml. Safeguard liquid goat wormer is another good one to use. To kill all hard to treat worms, it needs to be given 5 days in a row at 1/4 ml per pound. If your chicken only has roundworms, piperazine or Wazine can be used in the water for 24 hours, but it won't treat cecal worms, capillary worms, gapeworm, or tapeworm.