Welcome to my world.
If you ever have any questions about MG, let me know. I haven't had the time lately to dedicate to as much research as I could, but I do have a lot of sources of information saved from when I first found out and can probably answer questions. Funny thing, my flock never showed symptoms, either, save for my little Sebright with sinus issues due to her wretched previous owner botching her completely unnecessary debeaking. It's just so mild that, realistically, unless you test your flock regularly for it, if your birds are outside the odds are high that they have it and you just don't know it! There are many professionals that believe MG could be in as many as 80% of backyard flocks without the owners knowing, a piece of information I wasn't sure I believed until I got the positive test back on my seemingly healthy flock.
Marek's versus MG, I'm not sure there's a comparison of which is worse. Marek's disease can have a lot worse symptoms, but
tends not to affect older birds, and it does not transfer through the eggs, so breeders can work with it and breed for resistance without concerns about passing the disease around as long as they make sure to wipe the shells of the eggs before incubation in case of dander sticking to them. MG is not a huge deal for the pet flock owner unless you have a strong strain of it that you keep having to treat and retreat for, but it does transfer through the egg, and so it puts a damper on me ever having a breeding flock along with my current flock. My options are to cull and start over (which I could never do to my babies!) or breed for resistance and live with the knowledge that I can never be NPIP certified in the state of Indiana (one of the very few, if not the only state that tests for MG for certification from my understanding--those of you who are certified testers can correct me if I'm wrong) and could possibly be passing the disease around to anyone I sell to in doing so, something I'm not sure I can do and feel okay with... Even if 80% of the flocks have it already, I'm not sure how okay I would feel about selling chicks and eggs from a flock
known to have it and possibly infecting one of the 20% without it, you know?
I am quite surprised that your vet would recommend using Wazine for threadworms!
Wazine is ONLY useful for treating roundworms in poultry, as is stated on the label, and will not get rid of any other kind of worm your birds have! Threadworms, AKA Capillary worms, are most effectively treated with Albendazole, but can also be treated with an aggressive round of Fenbendazole. Albendazole is really hard to find in feed stores; I had to get my bottle online. However, it is more recommended because it is safer; it slowly kills the worms to avoid a blockage of dead worms in the gut. Fenbendazole is available in goat liquid dewormer, horse deworming paste, and cattle dewormer, and is pretty easy to find in stores, but you may have to dose Wazine a few days beforehand to make sure that there isn't a blockage of roundworms in the gut as a result of using Fenbendazole. Both Albendazole and Fenbendazole require weighing each bird and dosing individually if you want to be accurate, so they are hard to use on larger flocks like mine, but worthwhile to know that they actually work! You can use the token 1/4 cc per bantam, 1/2 cc for large fowl, 3/4 cc for especially large chickens dose for Fenbendazole paste, but I have found this dose to be pretty far off of what you get when you actually weigh them and dose by that.
The dose for Safeguard Fenbendazole 10% Horse Deworming Paste is: 0.51 mL of paste per kg of body weight, once a day for 5 days in a row to treat Capillary worms.
The dose for Valbazen Albendazole 11.36% Liquid Cattle Dewormer is: 0.176 mL of liquid per kg body weight, dosed twice, the second dose given 10 days after the first. Make sure to shake the bottle thoroughly before drawing up doses!
The egg withdrawal for
both is 14 days after the
final dose.
Also, notice that both dosages are per
KILOGRAM of body weight, not per pound! The dosages can easily be calculated per pound if that's easier to work with; there are 2.2 pounds per kg.
For what it's worth, worms generally only show up in droppings if there is a HUGE infestation; your birds could have them and you would never know without doing a fecal float test or some other test for internal parasites. That's why a lot of people worm their birds once or twice a year just as a preventative. ACV is not a dewormer, either, and so the use if it is irrelevant to whether your birds have worms or not. If your birds are outside eating bugs and earthworms, odds are they will get internal parasites at some point.
RE: Names. Eh, there's nothing wrong with having a Lacy and a Lacey.
I have a Margie and a Maggie, both nicknames for Margaret (although I didn't think of that when I named Maggie). I also have three Wyandottes, one of which is named Miss Wyandotte, so...
It's so interesting how many vocalizations chickens have! My understanding is that they have a different call for every different perceived predator, so it doesn't surprise me that Lacy has a cat alert. She has you well trained.
Edited to clarify
