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Here's my reasoning.
First, I always use Wazine at least for the first worming if the bird meets *any* of the following qualifications.
- Bird is younger than 4 months old (then I use wazine only, repeating it, unless a vet or expert advises otherwise
- The bird has gone more than 6 months without a worming
- The bird has an unknown worming history
- The bird is shedding worms
- The bird is underweight and has diarrhea
The reason is that Wazine (piperazine) paralyzes and expells only adult worms and few species (including the most important, roundworms). It does not kill larva. But this is good. Because if I'm worming any of the above birds, they could have a heavy parasite load without me knowing. Watching their droppings is a poor indication of parasite load as worms rarely leave the body or they'd die. Instead their manner of spread is by shedding worms. (Having a 'fecal egg count' done, not just a fecal exam, is the way to tell parasite load.)
So all birds in my list can be assumed to have a heavy parasite load. If I were to worm with the stronger more broad-spectrum wormers, I would kill and paralyze all worms. If they have a lot of round worms, poultry can sometimes go into shock as the now dead worms are recognized as "foreign protein" (like organ rejection), and sometimes lots of worms can clog a bird as they exit.
Rather than take that chance, I use the Wazine first. It will remove enough of the most prevalent worms to immediately help the bird. You could techically use it as your only wormer if you repeated and repeated. But I don't like for the little larva to stay in my birds and eventually go to the adult stage, reinfecting my flock.
So instead of repeating with Wazine, as it is designed, I use the broad spectrum wormer as the follow-up. THAT way I don't have to worry about stressing the bird, but I finally kill (not just paralyze) the remaining worms and also their larva so that they never get the chance to become adults.
Then I use the broad spectrum wormer twice annually.
I use more natural methods of worm control inbetween in hopes that I will have less worms to deal with. These products are NOT wormers, they do NOT expell worms. They are said to help repel worms to some degree but will not replace a worming program.
DE (food grade only - in the feed at less than 2% total feed weight; also used in dust-bathing areas lightly).
Cayenne - sprinkled on food daily
VermX - a self-purported worm repellent; must be used 3 consecutive days each month.
Dry environment: worms and their eggs cannot survive as well in a dry environment. So I prefer sand over soil in runs, compressed/dried pine horse-stall shavings in the coop over hay.
Basically, I use wazine to get the job done but instead of repeating as required with more wazine over and over, I use a broad spectrum wormer second to stop the cycle for a while. I don't use the broad spectrum wormer first so that I can avoid clogging and shock.
