how soon can you re-worm?

[aymer]

this is my neighbors 6 month old buff orphington. four weeks ago while i was chicken sitting i noticed one of the buffs was lethargic (flock of 17). i brought her to my house and put her in a rabbit hutch for observation. while she was walking around my laundry room floor she pooped out a round worm. i treated her with wazine (and the whole flock) and then ivermectin pour on a two weeks later. she still was not improving. my flock had coccidiosis running through it so i treated her with corid last week just in case. still no improvement. my neighbor wants to cull but i have decided to keep trying. i named her mary.

her signs and symptoms include diarrhea (water like with bits of feed in it), lethargy, being puffed up, and a pale comb and waddles (almost white). she is losing weight (about a half pound over the month) but she is still eating and drinking (chick starter and vitamins in her water).

the only thing i can add to this is one of my neighbors birds died from mareks (month ago and i had an autopsy done to confirm). mary is vaccinated but i know this really does not matter.

any thought?

 

[schellie69]

At 6 month old you can switch to a grower or layer feed does she have access to grit. I am not thinking it would be worms since you just did the de-worming. I would change her feed and give her grit and see if that helps. Good luck

 

[aymer]

sorry i forgot to say that she was on layer feed and laying. i switched her back to chick started for the extra protein because she is losing weight.

i forgot about giving her grit. i have a gravel driveway so i do not have to worry about that but she has been in my house for a month and may need some!

 

[schellie69]

Try a game bird feed it is not medicated and has 22% protein then offer free range oyster shell and grit that is what I use for my girls also give her some yogurt with cat food mixed it after de-worming it is a great idea to help put the good Bactria back in their system I used a dry cat food mixed with plain yogurt your could also use pumpkin mixed in also. hope she gets better.

 

[aymer]

thanks for the ideas!

 

[ND]

I know everyone on here recommends the topical/pour on dewormer, but I'm not terribly sold on it.
I decided that it'd be easiest, so that what I decided to use. Didn't see any worms shed at all. No biggie, I thought, must not have been a heavy worm load.
About a month later, I decided to dose with something that would target tapeworms (didn't have any on hand initially) and when I did an oral dose of Zimectrin Gold (or however ya spell that!), I then found worms in their poop... very *adult* worms that SHOULD have been killed/shed with the other deworming. (these weren't tapeworms)
It was only after this deworming that a few of them picked up on their weight (a tad on the low side, but nothing serious)...and my feed consumption actually went down a bit!
I won't be using the pour on anymore. It just didn't seem effective with my flock.

In any event, the pour on won't target tapeworms. If it's been 10-14 days, I'd re-dose with something that will target tapeworms anyway.
One last thing to look at is if you think it's possibly cocci, you might try Sulmet instead of Corid. Some strains of it are better treated with Sulmet than Corid.

No mild respiratory symptoms showing?

 

[aymer]

i am not sure if i am sold on the pour on either... even though i found a worm in mary's poo before treatment, i have not seen another worm from her or any of the other birds. this concerns me because i read that if you find a live worm then all of your birds probably have worms??

Zimectrin Gold - should i buy the paste or injectable? do you put it in their water?

i am going to bring a poo sample to the vet this week. hopefully i will have an answer.

thankfully, no respiratory symptoms.

 

[ND]

Buy the paste... it's horse dewormer. (there's another brand... Equicare plus or something... just make sure the packaging says it also targets tapeworms)
Give each bird a pea sized dose orally. Some people put it on bread and feed each a piece of bread dosed with it...but I just grab a bird, dose it out on my finger, get their beak open and scrape it off into their beak. (all easier done if you have a helper to hold the bird too, but I manage to do it by myself, bird set on a table, tucked under one arm, using that hand to gently open beak, etc) Don't be concerned if you accidentally dose a bit too much... it's pretty safe... I've probably accidentally dosed nearly double once or twice with no ill effects to the chicken. (it's not toxic to like 20X's the recommended dose by weight in animals it's labeled for)


IMO, any chicken... or actually, anything else that eats grass, dirt, or rolls around in the dirt WILL have worms. There's just no way around it. Worms in livestock are a management thing... you can't/won't ever eliminate them entirely, you cannot prevent them... all you can do is have a good management program suited to your needs and the particular climate you live in. This keeps the worm load minimal, causing the least amount of health issues and keeps feed conversion cost lowest. You will usually NOT see worms, even if a bird/animal are heavily infested. On a very heavy infestation, you may see some in droppings rarely, but healthy, live worms don't leave the host... only dead/dying/sick worms get pooped out. Also, most dewormers only target worms in certain stages... adult worms, some in other stages... but it won't kill eggs or certain stages of larvae. In a heavy infestation, that's why fairly close follow up dewormings are a good thing. Overall, that's why a good schedule for deworming is good.


Granted, this comes from someone who believes in a management approach to deworming with my livestock and pets. I don't personally feel there's any benefit to 'natural' dewormers or preventatives, and I'm not opposed to using what works, chemically, for my livestock as needed. Others feel very differently on the subject... so you have to decide what's best for you and your flock.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
x 2. Well said ND.

 

[aymer]

thanks for all of your help!

is this the product you recommend for tapeworms:

http://www.amazon.com/Pfizer-EquiMA...4W8A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290392807&sr=8-1

is this the Zimectrin Gold? it does not say paste anywhere:

http://www.amazon.com/Zimecterin-Go..._1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290393871&sr=1-1-catcorr