I need the straight and simple facts on dewormers/mite control

[elmo]

Quote:
Really? What makes you think that?

Tomorrow I'm going to inspect them and the coop more carefully for mite issues.

I'm guessing that a mite infestation severe enough to kill an adult chicken is probably going to be noticeable from a careful inspection of the birds and the coop. And although it's possible that a two year old chicken could pick up enough worms in two years to kill it, again I'm guessing that's not a common occurrence.

Three of our nine chickens are two years old this spring, and although we live in a very worm friendly climate, they don't have worms yet. I bring regular samples to our vet for a fecal check.

If you have alot of other kinds of manure on your property from other agricultural animals, the risk does go up.

 

[Judy]

Valbazen for worms, it is the only one that kills all kinds including tapeworm, and Sevin 5% dust, from the gardening dept., because you need to treat both birds and coop.

Have you thought to check your feed for fresh smelling and no mold? Sometimes the way it comes from the feed store is already a problem. Or any sort of something rotten they might get into.

How to do both:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=472405

To give an oral dose like this to a chicken, just squirt the med on a small piece of bread and hand feed each chicken in turn. I do this on the roost at night, for convenience. Best to use use a 1 ml syringe to measure.

Hope your flock gets better!

 

[NHchicks]

Quote:
I'm going to cry from frustration over this.

If this rooster dies, I am definitely sending him for a necroscopy, even if it sets me back $100, because I'm going nuts. He's only 1 yr. old.

I checked them yesterday for mites. The rooster is tired so he let me rummage thru his feathers, under the wing, all around. I didn't see anything. Nothing on their heads. I rummaged thru a couple hens' feathers. Nothing. There's a whole lot of down on those chickens tho, so it was difficult to see bare skin, even under the wing. And I did notice the hens preening a LOT on my doorstep, I was able to sit at the sliding glass window and really watch them closely without their knowing it. I didn't see anything, but it did look like they were itchy.

Yesterday I cleaned out the whole coop. No signs of mites. Re-hayed the nests. Re-shaving-ed the coop. I went in the coop with a flashlight last night and took a look at them from underneath on their roosts. Couldn't see anything.

I'm even wondering if all the snow melt which has created little streams on our property gathered some leaks from under the cars? We had a fuel line leak and a power steering fluid leak. My husband doesn't think that could be the case, but I'm suspicious of everything.

If it were the feed, I would think they'd all be sick.

I'm going to stick to my mite/wormer treatment and see what happens. And like I said, if the rooster dies, I'm sending his body in. I want a healthy flock like I used to have.

 

[NHchicks]

Quote:
Thank you for that thread link - I missed that one.

Instead of repeating all these directions over in different threads, is it possible to put a sticky thread up? I'm seeing bits and pieces of the same problems with not knowing how to worm/de-mite posted in different threads.

And why don't they just make standard products for poultry, instead of having to convert from sheep-size to chicken-size? You'd think there would be a huge market for poultry wormers/de-miters.