Ive never wormed my chickens

[M.sue]

I haven't wormed mine (9months old) but like the previous poster I did have a fecal check done early this fall which came back clear. I give my small flock pumpkin, squash & gourds all throughout the fall season.....seeds & all. They also get many onions from our garden.
I've never given them garlic, hesitant too....someone said it might affect the flavor of the eggs.???
My thinking on giving treatment is why treat them if they don't have them. Repeated unnecessary treatment just leads to the chance of them building resistance to the medication.

 

[dawg53]

Valbazen (albendazole) is the best wormer on the market. It kills all known worms that chickens can get, including flukes and eyeworm. You cant say that about safeguard, eprinex, ivermectin or wazine. Ivermectin and eprinex's primary purpose is a wormer, it's secondary purpose treats mites, neither will kill lice on chickens. As far as the organics go; they may prevent, but wont treat an infestation of worms. Injectable ivermectin is useless as a wormer in chickens, here's a link:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0450.1989.tb00635.x/abstract

 

[CluckCluck18]

I use Vermex, too. Trying to stay organic if I can. Seems to be working.....I give it once per month for 3 days. I don't put it in the water because you wouldn't know if they got it or not. I mix the Vermex, cod liver oil and a little buttermilk into pieces of whole grain bread and my girls gobble it up. Been doing this for almost 2 years and so far, so good.

 

[Johnn]

Quote:
no the only thing that made me want to do it is because there combs are shrinking but they arnt laying either because they stop in november then start again in febuary, but i really cant remember it there combs shrunk last year or not

Were they molting? Mine molted and stopped laying, the combs paled, but didn't really shrink that I noticed. They are just now starting back laying after the molt.

They all were molting at teh end of november apart from one that carried on laying there combs did pale and shrink but they finished molting a couple of weeks later and there combs went redder again but still shrunk abit more

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
no the only thing that made me want to do it is because there combs are shrinking but they arnt laying either because they stop in november then start again in febuary, but i really cant remember it there combs shrunk last year or not

Combs will shrink in a molt sometimes.
But that doesn't mean that they don't have worms.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=266475
see post #4

 

[flowerchild59]

Look at my signature line and you will see why worming is so important.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I use Ivermectin, you just squirt into their beak and make sure they swallow it.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Quote:
I couldn't agree more! Internal parasites cause so much damage and by the time a chicken is showing outward signs the infestation is huge. It's really hard on them. Fecal counts are ok but only IF you do them frequently. If the parasites are not shedding eggs at the time you do the count it's easy to get a false negative. To me it seems the cost of doing fecal counts often enough to be effective would be prohibitive, unless you are set up to do them yourself. Chickens scratch and peck in the dirt, wild birds carry parasites, it's pretty much a given that chickens are going to pick something up somewhere, eventually.

I have a flock of 9 and I deworm with Valbazen once or twice a year, I dose each chicken orally so I know each bird gets when he/she needs. I just bought a bottle this past summer and the expiration date is not until 05/2014. I figure even if I don't use it all before then it's well worth the money.

 

[2overeasy000]

Quote:
no the only thing that made me want to do it is because there combs are shrinking but they arnt laying either because they stop in november then start again in febuary, but i really cant remember it there combs shrunk last year or not

I am also curious because I have never wormed either. Everything seems to be going well. Should you regularly worm your chickens?

 

[galanie]

Quote:
This fella knows his stuff. I'd give what he says a lot of weight. No, I'm not kidding. There is absolutely no evidence that any "natural" or "organic" wormer works other than anecdotal. In fact I've read plenty of evidence to the contrary.