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cochingirl1178

cochingirl1178

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Hello everyone. I am new member. I was around chickens when I was little. My 2 year old wanted chickens so we bought chickens. I need to know a lot of things so any help offered would be great.

I live in alabama, central area. When do you worm chickens and how often? Tell me about feeding chickens oatmeal and yogurt and how often this should be fed to the chickens. Now I hear about apple cider vinager water. Is this something you keep in their water all the time or monthly or what?

I see a lot on my local web pages and all of this is very confusing. What type wormer, feed, snacks, etc. etc. Please help with any advice you can give is appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Hi, welcome.
Worming is more climate specific. I'm in MO and have only wormed once in many years of raising chickens. In warmer climates it may be more necessary.
I recommend posting here and ask people from AL what they do.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/29002/alabama
That said, I recommend getting a fecal sample tested to see what worms your chickens have so the wormer can be specific for that helmintic. If chickens forage they'll have worms but a healthy chicken with good gut health can handle a light load. Take the fecal sample midday so it will be most indicative of actual load.

ACV is all over the board. Some use it daily, some weekly, some not at all. It does have good qualities and when I use it I do 1 Tbsp. per gallon.
I don't feed oatmeal, most do it for a treat.
Plain yogurt is good for protein and probiotics. I try to get good probiotics in chicks as early as a couple of days and periodically throughout life. I have no interest in the company but I found a good product especially formulated for chickens. Gro-2-Max, a 100 gram packet treats 28 gallons of water or 400 lbs. of feed so is very cost effective.
Best bet is to provide a feed formulated for your chickens' age. Starter/grower(low calcium) till you actually start getting eggs, then switch to a layer feed(high calcium). If your birds aren't all laying or stop for molt/winter, switch back to grower and provide oyster shell for those still laying.
They're omnivores so for snacks, any fruit, vegetable, meat, fish, etc.. If giving things that are hard or tough like carrots or apple it's best to chop it up fine since chickens don't have hands or teeth so bite size will be welcomed.
Limit snacks to 10% of the diet till you learn more.
A little grain scattered on the ground is good too. Primarily in afternoon. Morning and afternoon in very cold weather. I use wheat and sunflower seed.

Good luck.
 
Thank you so much. This is so helpful. I haven't seen signs of worms but since I am new, I thought I would ask.
 
I have more questions. If your hens are laying eggs and you have to give them wormer or antibiotics, what should happen to the eggs? Throw them away? If you have to dispose of eggs, how long do you have to dispose after medicstions
 
Like I said, chickens will have worms but if they're not scrawny or otherwise look poorly I wouldn't worry too much.
If I was in the south, I'd probably get a fecal sample done once a year, perhaps late spring or early summer.
 
Most wormers will say what the withdrawal period is. It's important to always follow label directions. Don't take hearsay as gospel.
As far as I know, there are 4 approved for poultry and another 4 not approved but effective.
For those approved for poultry the withdrawal period is 7 days and I would probably compost any eggs during that time. Some think that is poisoning the compost but the dosage would be quite small.
Some people will time worming with molt or winter downtime since they won't be producing.
There are dozens of kinds of roundworms and flatworms. Each has a wormer that is most effective. If you end up worming on a schedule, make sure you change meds since they can become resistant in very few generations.
 
Welcome! Glad you joined us.
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