How soon to worm peachicks

[old biddy]

I have 4 peachicks at 5 weeks old. They are in a pen with their surrogate chicken hen mom. They look happy and healthy. I keep their pen clean and change their water daily. Should I consider worming them at this age? If so, should I use Safeguard for Goats? (That is what I used to worm my adult peafowl).

 

[KsKingBee]

It would probably be a good idea to dose them at six weeks and every six weeks until winter. A chicken hen is going to teach them to eat a lot of things a peahen would not.

 

[old biddy]

It would probably be a good idea to dose them at six weeks and every six weeks until winter. A chicken hen is going to teach them to eat a lot of things a peahen would not.

Will Safeguard Goat Wormer be all I need or do I need to give them something else?

 

[williamsingr12]

You should already have them on a medicated starter chick feed right now

 

[old biddy]

You should already have them on a medicated starter chick feed right now

Yes, they have been on medicated chick starter since the start.

 

[KsKingBee]

Will Safeguard Goat Wormer be all I need or do I need to give them something else?

Yes as long as you are orally dosing them.

 

[old biddy]

Yes as long as you are orally dosing them.

Great. When you say orally do you mean either by a paste on a piece of bread or mix in their water? I have read that the best way to administer Safeguard is by mixing it in their drinking water. For 6 week old chicks, do you know what would be the dose of Safeguard per gallon of water? The wormer I have is Safeguard for Goats.

 

[KsKingBee]

[="old biddy, post: 20123203, member: 68843"]Great. When you say orally do you mean either by a paste on a piece of bread or mix in their water? I have read that the best way to administer Safeguard is by mixing it in their drinking water. For 6 week old chicks, do you know what would be the dose of Safeguard per gallon of water? The wormer I have is Safeguard for Goats.[/QUOTE]
Safeguard is not water soluble and sinks to the bottom of the waterer where it is not available to the bird. We know the correct mg per pound that is prescribed but diluting it will render it too weak to work well. If you only kill 'most' of the worms the survivors will become resistant to the drug. It is like a doctor telling you to dissolve three aspirins in a gallon of water and taking a sip of the mixture. Three aspirin may work for you but dissolving them in water and taking a sip does not deliver enough of the drug to be effective. So placing the medication down the throat is always the surest way to dose.

 

[old biddy]

Got it. I'll place the medication down the throat. I have read that 1/2 cc is the dose for 3 month old chicks so I assume I just make it 1/4 cc for the 6 week old chicks...is that your thinking as well? I am really appreciative of your advice. These are my first peachicks and I want to do it right. Thanks for your help.

 

[KsKingBee]

Luckily Safeguard is just that, safe. 1/4 should be both safe and effective at that age. Remember that one day will get most all worms except capillary and tapeworms. To get the caps it will take five days and always another round ten days later to get the hatching eggs. If you use Valbazen it will also get the tapeworms.