Ivermectin Questions

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I want to use ivermectin to treat my chickens for mites and/or lice. First, I have some questions:

1. What is the dosage for bantams (ranging from bantam brahma sized to serama sized), a standard/bantam cross, and a young standard cockerel?
2. What is the egg withdrawal time?
3. Do I have to treat them with ivermectin again, and if so, how long after the initial treatment?
4. Does ivermectin work against lice and mites?
5. Is there a certain brand of ivermectin that works better?

 

[Kiki]

I would use Permethrin based spray just because it works and there is no egg withdrawal.

 

[trudyg]

Ivermectin should work if it's a pest that gets to the bird's blood. some pests only eat feathers, skin dander, etc, but don't get actual blood. For the non-blood, try permethrin dust or spray. For the blood suckers, I use ivermectin drop-on (goes in thru the skin, just like your dog's flea drops). I get it at Tractor Supply in a big bottle (pour-on for cows). They also sell syringes, so I buy several small ones (no needle). I suck the ivermectin into the syringe(s), put them into a plastic baggy and carry that to the coop (usually around 4 am). Nuzzle the tip of the syringe down into the feathers so you get the stuff onto the skin (wear gloves if you don't need a dose yourself!). Squirt it onto the skin, usually between the shoulder blades, but any skin will do--some put a drop or so at the vent for mites there. I usually use 4-8 drops per bird (more if bigger, less if smaller birds). Someplace on here has the mls/pound.

IF you get some on yourself, wash soon. It is used for parasites in humans, so a drop or so won't kill you. IF you overdose your birds (like I did the first time--by a lot, math challenged), it should be okay. Mine were, just a bit runny poops that day.

I think standard withdrawal for eggs is 14 days and don't feed them back to the chickens (what medicine is in the eggs will go the the eater). I don't give away those eggs to friends, but I do eat them myself (and DH). I don't think I'd get a big enough dose to worry about.

Also, I think it's standard to re-treat the birds in 10 days. This gives any eggs time to hatch but get killed before they reach the age to reproduce. If your birds have a heavy worm load, you may want to treat with wazine first because huge amounts of dead worms (killed by ivermectin) can cause problems. Wazine will gently kill a bunch and then the ivermectin a week later gets the rest.

As with all chemicals, be careful. don't over or under apply. don't get dosed yourself. Safely dispose of packaging, etc. I have washed and reused syringes, but they are fairly cheap.

I hope this helps you. Sorry for not getting the exact doses for you, but it's in the site somewhere and I'm sure you're reading up on it.

 

[MichelleinJax]

Ivermectin treats external parasites only, correct?

 

[scottcaddy]

I want to use ivermectin to treat my chickens for mites and/or lice. First, I have some questions:

1. What is the dosage for bantams (ranging from bantam brahma sized to serama sized), a standard/bantam cross, and a young standard cockerel?
2. What is the egg withdrawal time?
3. Do I have to treat them with ivermectin again, and if so, how long after the initial treatment?
4. Does ivermectin work against lice and mites?
5. Is there a certain brand of ivermectin that works better?

A good person to contact for this kind of info is @casportpony She knows most everything that you need to know about dosing.
Hope this is helpful.
Scott

 

[casportpony]

Ivermectin treats external parasites only, correct?

Welcome to BYC! Ivermectin will treat some internal parasites, but not many. I use it to treat poultry lice.

 

[casportpony]

For those wishing to use pour on ivermectin the max dose is 1 mg/kg. per pound that = 0.09 ml per pound, or 0.45 ml for a five pound chicken.

The 1% injectable dose is half those numbers.

 

[sbhkma]

Kathy comes through for us again

 

[trudyg]

Casportpony, maybe you can answer my question. All of my hens have this white stuff on the feathers near the vent but my roo does not. It's not near the skin but near the tips of the feathers. I've treated with ivermectin and permethrin (repeating the treatments in the specified times) and have a brand new coop with all new bedding, etc, that was thoroughly sprayed before they even went in the first time. I do not see bugs of any sort, either on the bird or on the underside of the roost at 3 am. This doesn't look like lice eggs to me. Sorry but, due to physical issues, I cannot get a picture to post until someone can help me. Two of my birds, a hen and the roo, look like they are starting to molt and I have feathers all over. Could this be anything other than lice or mites? I've asked in the past and been advised to post a picture, which I am unable to do, and treat, which I have done. I've researched and come up empty. Could it be semen remains? Anything else you can think of? The only one who looks at all unusual is the hen molting and she looks thin.

 

[Kiki]

Casportpony, maybe you can answer my question. All of my hens have this white stuff on the feathers near the vent but my roo does not. It's not near the skin but near the tips of the feathers. I've treated with ivermectin and permethrin (repeating the treatments in the specified times) and have a brand new coop with all new bedding, etc, that was thoroughly sprayed before they even went in the first time. I do not see bugs of any sort, either on the bird or on the underside of the roost at 3 am. This doesn't look like lice eggs to me. Sorry but, due to physical issues, I cannot get a picture to post until someone can help me. Two of my birds, a hen and the roo, look like they are starting to molt and I have feathers all over. Could this be anything other than lice or mites? I've asked in the past and been advised to post a picture, which I am unable to do, and treat, which I have done. I've researched and come up empty. Could it be semen remains? Anything else you can think of? The only one who looks at all unusual is the hen molting and she looks thin.

Feather shaft "stuff"
Let me see if I can find a photo of this "stuff" for you.
(I don't know the proper term for it)

It might be called sheath covering.