Howdy all. Im a 30 yr old woman from Sydney Australia. Ive kept birds all my life, started with a few rescues and now my flock is thus- Wist a 6 yr old Pacific Black Drake Piper not yet a year old (but almost) Pacific black female (Pacific Blacks are similar to Mallards and Call Ducks they are a wild breed - these two came to me as eggs and were incubated by me) Syanne female Peking bout a year or 2 old Ephinny and Varia, mixed breed females, bout a year or 2 old. These three were picked up from a private breeder as girlfriends for my drake. Ive had them a few months. They tower over the little ones and my drake is very intimidated! Not sure what to do to help him out....They are all very ready, just too pushy for my spoiled boy! Sheila the chicken, bought at the markets a few months ago, And Sheena the new chicken, Isa Brown, bought last Sunday at markets. Im mostly joining for Sheena. Shes about a month old, very small, no baby fluff left, all adult feathers. She is VERY clingy, runs over to me and begs to be picked up, having trouble intergrating with the others, Im still putting her in a brooder at night. She seems very healthy but is a bit slower than the others and has a bad smell, which I thought was from being in a box at the markets with other chicks. Her poops are solid looking and normal but I feel I should worm her - and maybe everyone else? I have some worm Enda which is praziquantel, I thought I might give her some of that until I can get something to worm everyone with. Can I use Worm Enda, Praziquantel, on a young chicken? Will it hurt her or do the job? What do you recommend to worm both chickens and ducks? Wormer that goes in the water wont last long around my big ladies, they chuck water everywhere. All my flock live in a very large pen - half my yard, fenced off - they have lots of grass and trees to pick through, and a shed to go in at night. Pond, water and other dishes moved a few times a week, I try to keep everything well dried out and rotated. All birds have lovely glossy feathers and are lively and happy except for Sheena who looks ok but is not as lively. Oh, and nobody has ever laid any eggs!
Hello and welcome to BYC Sorry, I'm not familiar with the dewormers you mentioned. I don't know if you'll get it in Australia, but I hear Wazine is an excellent dewormer. If you can't get that I'd suggest asking your local vet. Mine recommended ostrich dewormer LOL. He also said to wait until your chickens are at least a month old before deworming them. After that every 6 months, unless, of course you see evidence of worms in their poo. If you get a dewormer that you need to put in they drink water, give it to them first thing in the morning, when you let them out, or take away their food and water for 3 hours prior to giving them the medicated water. (Less than 3 hours if it's really hot). That way you can be sure they all got dosed.
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan I would suggest posting your question in the Ducks forum, lots of very helpful folks there.
