long term use of de-wormers

[aldarita]

I have a flock of 19 pullets and hens (hens are of different ages from 2 to 8 yo). Their yard unfortunately is contaminated with round worms. I live in a very hot and humid area that does not help with the situation. I have been treating my hens with alternating doses of Valbazen and Safeguard for five years. I treat them 2 or three times a year depending on their load (I do my own fecal floats). I worry about resistance and also I would like to know if long use of the de-wormers is very harsh on my hens. I don't think I have a choice other than move them to a complete different yard which is not possible.
Any experience with long term use of these meds and is there another one that I should try to avoid resistance?

 

[Eggcessive]

@dawg53 is a good person to advise you, since he has to worm his chickens often. Have you had your chicken’s droppings checked to see if they have worms, and what types they may have? Have you seen any in their droppings? Those 2 wormers are some of the best and safest ones to use. Levamisole is another that you could consider rotating, and it is sold under the name Prohibit in the US. Pyrantel can treat round worms. You could try to make it hard for the worm cycle to continue by removing intermediate hosts that harbor worms. Knowing what type of worms they have would help with that.

 

[Eggcessive]

Earthworms, snails and slugs, flies, and grasshoppers are some of the intermediate hosts of many worms. When chickens eat those or mature worm eggs they can get worms. Here is a good article about worms in poultry:
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AA078

 

[dawg53]

I have a flock of 19 pullets and hens (hens are of different ages from 2 to 8 yo). Their yard unfortunately is contaminated with round worms. I live in a very hot and humid area that does not help with the situation. I have been treating my hens with alternating doses of Valbazen and Safeguard for five years. I treat them 2 or three times a year depending on their load (I do my own fecal floats). I worry about resistance and also I would like to know if long use of the de-wormers is very harsh on my hens. I don't think I have a choice other than move them to a complete different yard which is not possible.
Any experience with long term use of these meds and is there another one that I should try to avoid resistance?

We live in a very hot and humid area as well. I worm my birds monthly and have been doing do for years. I mainly use Valbazen, but also use Safeguard, Pyrantel Pamoate or Levamisole on occasion.
All my birds are penned, they dont free range due to predators.
I use sand in the pens and it helps deter insects and parasites by keeping everything dry, like at a beach. UV rays from the sun eliminates worm eggs on the soil. Keep grass cut short. UV rays do not effect worm eggs IN the soil though.

That said, I havnt seen any resistance to any of the wormers I've been using. However, I've stopped using Valbazen to treat birds with tapeworms because it was only partially effective treating the tapeworms. I use Equimax equine paste to treat tapeworms only.

If you suspect resistance to Valbazen or Safeguard, you can increase the dosage given to each bird. Or you can use any of the other wormers I mentioned. If your birds arnt showing resistance, continue doing what you're doing.
I recommend putting sand in your pens. Keeping chicken pens feces free as best as you can, including inside coops. All of that will go along way keeping your birds healthy, as well a routine worming regimen.

 

[Banana01]

I don't think long term use of these dewormers is known. If it were, it would have to be on the drug label. There just isn't any published data available for long term studies. A lot of drug warning labels say "Warning. Long term side affects unknown" but not these.

Then there is the meat withdrawal and egg withdrawal periods. For some there is zero meat withdrawal and zero egg withdrawal. For some it is safe for human consumption after seven days, others fourteen days or longer. I'm sure you are aware the drug you are using is Fenbendazole and it has a zero egg and meat withdrawal. And the other drug you are using has a two week withdrawal or something.

We have to answer these questions and more:

Egg layers? Yes or no
Younger chicken development? Yes or no
Human consumption? Yes or no
Interrupt parasite egg lifecycle? Yes or no
Dosage time in days?
Single or flock treatment?
Retreatment necessary? Yes or no
Drug tolerance build up? Yes or no
Method of drug delivery?

That leads back to your question. You are treating a flock of 19 hens. Unfortunately you are stuck with a limited number of options to remain treating as a flock, due to other drugs having adverse affects on egg consumption. Sure there are other drugs that do not have a resistence problem, but they are not zero withdrawal time.

 

[aldarita]

@dawg53 is a good person to advise you, since he has to worm his chickens often. Have you had your chicken’s droppings checked to see if they have worms, and what types they may have? Have you seen any in their droppings? Those 2 wormers are some of the best and safest ones to use. Levamisole is another that you could consider rotating, and it is sold under the name Prohibit in the US. Pyrantel can treat round worms. You could try to make it hard for the worm cycle to continue by removing intermediate hosts that harbor worms. Knowing what type of worms they have would help with that.

Thanks a lot for your reply. I check my hens droppings often by doing fecal floats, I only see round worms although years ago they had tapes. Every time it rains they love to go out in the yard (they roam in a 1/4 of an acre fenced area) pulling earth worms from the ground, I know they are going to have parasites for sure. Also grasshoppers are abundant in the summer so it would be very hard to remove the hosts. My option will be to keep them in the run but I really don't want to do this since they have "free ranged" all their lives.
Thank you for the info of other de-wormers, I would certainly like to rotate them.

 

[aldarita]

We live in a very hot and humid area as well. I worm my birds monthly and have been doing do for years. I mainly use Valbazen, but also use Safeguard, Pyrantel Pamoate or Levamisole on occasion.
All my birds are penned, they dont free range due to predators.
I use sand in the pens and it helps deter insects and parasites by keeping everything dry, like at a beach. UV rays from the sun eliminates worm eggs on the soil. Keep grass cut short. UV rays do not effect worm eggs IN the soil though.

That said, I havnt seen any resistance to any of the wormers I've been using. However, I've stopped using Valbazen to treat birds with tapeworms because it was only partially effective treating the tapeworms. I use Equimax equine paste to treat tapeworms only.

If you suspect resistance to Valbazen or Safeguard, you can increase the dosage given to each bird. Or you can use any of the other wormers I mentioned. If your birds arnt showing resistance, continue doing what you're doing.
I recommend putting sand in your pens. Keeping chicken pens feces free as best as you can, including inside coops. All of that will go along way keeping your birds healthy, as well a routine worming regimen.

This is great information, I knew you were the expert in parasites treatments. My hens run has sand from a river bank, I don't think there is any other way to keep it dry but with sand, when in rains in I rake it to help with the drying. I pick up the droppings every day and keep the grass short. Coops get clean every day. It is a chore but I clean their yard twice a day with a scooper my husband designed that makes it easy, this way there is a reduction in re-contamination.
I am taking notes on the de-wormers you use. I thank you dearly for your reply.