INTERNAL PARASITES

[PamLa]

A friend told me you could put a little Clorox bleach in the chickens waterer to keep them from getting worms - or kill the parasites if they already had them. Is this correct?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Chlorine just disinfects the water, the same as is done in public water supplies, and chlorine is toxic in too high a dose. It won't prevent or treat worms...unless maybe you give them enough to put them on the brink of death.

 

[JaeG]

I've never heard that. All it will do is kill algae in your waterer as bleach dissipates pretty quickly. Some people worm their birds every 6 months with an approved medication. Some offer raw garlic or cayenne pepper to their birds as a way of keeping internal parasites in check. Offer it separate to their regular food so you don't overdose them (cayenne can be rough on their digestive tract in excess and too much garlic can give their eggs a funny flavour). They know how much they need. Fermenting their food is supposed to help too.

 

[nchls school]

You will find info on the net about the use of chlorine bleach with birds. Check the ingredients of Clorox Bleach as it may have additives that are harmful. I used chlorine bleach added to water 4 decades ago with success. I no longer remember if it was effective as a wormer, but was effective with intestinal bacterial infections. As it gets harder to buy antibiotics without a vet's prescription, I am considering using chorine bleach as I did so many years ago. Take the time to read up on this...and good luck.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I would NEVER take chicken advice from that well meaning friend, EVER!

Are you kidding me?! Most people who live in the city already have chlorine in their tap water. Anything that will kill the bad stuff will also kill the good stuff.

Ways to keep internal parasite down would be not overcrowding your flock, don't do things to attract wild birds to your yard, maintain good cleanliness in your coop. and don't feed directly on the ground.

I personally don't randomly worm because what a waste of time, A) if you don't have worms in the first place. B) if you don't end up treating for the correct worms. C) worms build resistance to the medications.

If you suspect you have worms (only roundworms can been seen in droppings), it is worth it to have a fecal float done at the vet. usually around $15. They will do a count which includes species so you can be sure and treat for the right thing, or maybe not treat if it isn't needed!

Many people will claim they treat with things like DE and "don't have worms." But NONE I have seen have done a single float test before OR after to see if they even had worms and then to see if their (truly ineffective) method had the desired effect in their SUPPOSED worms. Some climates simply have less issues than others. In 6 years, I haven't had to treat for worms yet. Partly because I didn't know you needed to way back when. But currently because I don't have any symptoms that warrant it. I did buy a microscope to do my own floats, but with it being so easy to count bubbles thinking they are eggs with the home method.. I plan to just have the vet do a float annually (not sure what time of year I will choose), and I will try and do my own with the same sample so I can compare my amateur results.

Though NO worm load would be ideal.. there is often some worm load. But there is a threshold for when treatment is needed, according to the count.

Best wishes!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

(not sure what time of year I will choose)

I have pondered this too and logical me says after it is cold enough to diminish the amount of parasites in the environment that they can become reinfected with. This way they will be cleared out for the winter time (which is good because water intake tends to be lower and you are feeding more prepared foods, so who wants those resources going towards supporting the parasites?) and any that survive and are excreted during treatment hopefully will find a harsh environment that they cannot proliferate or go dormant in.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

On the coast here, there is no truly "off" season. We stay between 40 and 60 degrees year round. But I do notice things still seem to have A season. Sometimes it's the spiders, others is mosquito, spring would be cocci, etc.

But I'm thinking if I do treat, it might be mid to late fall. Partly because that is when egg production should be slightly dropping anyways, diminishing that loss. But I may also go ahead and discuss this with my vet to see if he has a specific suggestion for our region. He did tell me that winter is our heavy lice season.

But yes, I'm in agreement that makes sense.