Need advice for worming chickens

[Brienna]

I would need some advice for worming chickens. My hens are around 24 weeks old and I have never wormed them. They started to do a strange movement in the chest area, moving the chest/nest side to side, up and down, quite quickly, and this only at night time while on the roost. It doesn't seem to be a crop problem, I check their crops every morning to make sure they are emptied. My boyfriend gave the vet a call last Friday, and he didn't seem to take us seriously, which is really starting to be frustrating as it is hard to find a vet that treats chickens in my area. As soon as we mention we have only 4 chickens, they make us feel as if we're stupid for calling them and as if we're wasting their time. So anyway, the vet wasn't very helpful, and said it was probably nothing if they are acting fine as usual apart from the strange movement at night. My boyfriend asked if worms could maybe be the cause, but the vet said that chicken don't get worms? what?! I've been reading so much about chickens and I've read everywhere that chickens do get worms.

I've read that we can worm our chickens by preventive measure, right? So since my vet says they don't get worms, we can't get some dewormer from them, so I've been searching the web to buy some online. (where I live, we can't get some at the feed store, we have to go through a vet). I found this one on Amazon, I'm wondering if any of you would recommend it?

http://www.amazon.ca/Durvet-Rooster...id=1411949183&sr=8-1&keywords=rooster+booster

Any advice would be great thank you!

 

[seminolewind]

I had asked about that Rooster Booster stuff on Amazon and never got an answer, but I can not find One ingredient in it that kills worms. So I certainly would not bother with it. Hygromycin B is an antibiotic, which is in there.

The best advice there is comes from Dawg53 and others, is to buy Safeguard Goat wormer liquid, and give your little ones about 1/3 ml for now. In 2 months, give them 0.5 ml. each. And if they become big birds next time use 1 ml. Most people I think worm about every 4-6 months but I'm sure there are differing opinions. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me can either correct my math or leave it.



I think chickens make funny movements like that to "adjust" their crop. Maybe that's it.

 

[hennyannie]

Are you saying on the roost in the dark? It is possible they are just trying to see you clearly, remember their vision is limited in the dark.

 

[Brienna]

I had asked about that Rooster Booster stuff on Amazon and never got an answer, but I can not find One ingredient in it that kills worms. So I certainly would not bother with it. Hygromycin B is an antibiotic, which is in there.

The best advice there is comes from Dawg53 and others, is to buy Safeguard Goat wormer liquid, and give your little ones about 1/3 ml for now. In 2 months, give them 0.5 ml. each. And if they become big birds next time use 1 ml. Most people I think worm about every 4-6 months but I'm sure there are differing opinions. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me can either correct my math or leave it.



I think chickens make funny movements like that to "adjust" their crop. Maybe that's it.

Thank you for your advice, I will look into this. I think it might be some crop adjusting too since they are acting normal otherwise, the weird thing is that it started only around 2 weeks ago.

Are you saying on the roost in the dark? It is possible they are just trying to see you clearly, remember their vision is limited in the dark.

Yes, on the roost in the dark, but it is not them trying to see me, because I am not there I Watch them on our cameras we set up in the coop. It's not just head tilting, it's really looks like their whole front area (crop, neck, chest) moves around quickly in circles, the whole area moving back and forth... it's really strange!