North Carolina

[tammyfarms]

I have used both the bread and syringe methods for giving wormer... for the syringe, I asked at a pharmacy if they had an oral syringe, they just gave me one. Since large fowl only need 1/2 cc a 3 or 4 cc syringe is a good size. The oral syringe can be used without a needle and makes it easy to squirt the wormer in their mouths. Others say to use a syringe with a large needle and cut the tip off so it is not sharp. I tried this and didn't care for it as much as I was still nervous about the needle. As Beth said, put it in the bottom of their mouth and let them lift their head to swallow, otherwise it may go in the lungs. This is actually my back up method. If you can tell all of your chikens apart, or seperate them without too much stress, feed each of them a piece of bread soaked in wormer - use the syringe to measure the right amount and prepare the bread a few minutes ahead of time. Some of my more aggressive hens got double doses, but that won't hurt them - just don't let them get too much more than that

. The bread method goes really fast. They gobble the "treat" down and you are done. No catching, squirting, etc. Unfortunately, the roo I had would take the bread and drop it for the hens, He had to be caught and syringed. A few others had to as well. Either method is pretty easy. Roosting time or early morning is a good time, if early morning, just take them off the roost, worm them and return them to the run before you open the coop and run (assuming you have this type of set up).
2Sesslers, thanks for the article, I like the feed estimates! I don't do a good job keeping track of how much my chicks eat. This gives a good estimate of what it costs to raise/keep a chicken.
Luke - I love the pic!

 

[atmaclean]

I have been wormed a few times...not on purpose, mind you.

I think I was dewormed on Saturday when we treated our whole flock of chickens and guineas (80 total). LOL! I was covered in Eprinex, Sevin dust and Equimax. I think I may have screwed up, however. I did the Eprinex and Sevin for mites and the Equimax for intestinal worms and tapeworms. Someone said that the Eprinex would do internal worms as well...?? Everyone seems fine so I guess I didn't kill them.

I really don't see how people can treat any more than 80 birds in a day. I was about to die! We ended up bombing the house, spraying it, putting a barrier of poison around the house and on the decks, spraying each coop, nest box and run, perch, floor, ceiling, etc. We had to first clean out all the nest boxes, coops, etc so it was a LONG day....

What sent me on this bug holocaust was mites on one of my hens! The more I read about chicken mites, the more freaked out I became. By Friday, I was so stressed that I went to Walmart and bought $300 worth of chemicals to treat the house, coops, yard, hens and pets.

You are correct about the DE not working to kill mites! It may deter them somewhat but I had DE all around and this hen still got mites. I figured if she had them, then everyone else probably did too - I just didn't see them. I am really not sure how on earth this hen got them as I haven't added anyone new to the flock. It basically looked like she was dirty on her back at the base of her tail. It was so gross when I realized they were moving and were MITES!!!

We do have a bird feeder where wild birds come eat but I've never seen the chickens interact with wild birds. Nor do they let the wild birds get on the ground - they will charge them. I have since bathed the tree with bug stuff where the feeder hangs.

Another thing I found out is that giving them ACV, Oxine and vitamins in the water or feeding fermented feed and letting them free range, does not keep them from getting mites! I clean their pens out daily and keep feed in sealed rubbermaid tubs and thought I was doing all the right things for my fowl, but they still ended up getting mites.

Turns out, I think what I was seeing on our porch were tiny little gnats and NOT mites because I found out that mites don't have wings. I was so paranoid that mites from the chickens had gotten to the house! Either way, if there is a bug withing 1/2 mile of our property, I would be surprised! I'm sure there was a fog of chemicals over our place this weekend that NO bug would want to traverse.



I had a question about the eggs after de-worming.... Can worms from the hen's intestinal tract pass through into her eggs??? Or is it just the chemicals from the de-wormer that we want to avoid by throwing the eggs out???

 

[LukesCityHens]

on the wild birds coming in, They come in my pen all the time, I've seen finches land on hens backs and hang out. We worm a 2x a year or if we see anything unusual. The last batch of chicks annie hatched there was some brown yard bird that it seemed like she raised too, it still comes and hangs with them.....weird

 

[Tiddbit74]

This is annie! and both her hatches. I was concerned that her first hatch would pick on the new ones but she keeps them in line!

They are so cute!

My kids saw the picture and now they want our chickens to have babies, but won't happen without a rooster... not gonna happen. I have baby chicks on the way here right now, hoping to get them today.

 

[ramirezframing]

atmaclean- it seems like mites below in on the wind. My polish and or silkies get them first. Re dust in about 2 weeks to kill any eggs that might have hatched. Mites will also go for the weakest/ sick bird, if there is one. I don't know if worming will cause a worm in the egg, but there's pictures on here of worms in eggs.

They say its from an overload of the worms, when they get into the egg tract and thus the egg.

 

[ramirezframing]

ready for summer to be over, kids are already saying they are board and want school back

sounds like my place go be spanking clean this summer

 

[2Sesslers]

ready for summer to be over, kids are already saying they are board and want school back

sounds like my place go be spanking clean this summer

I'm thinking there are enough chicken lovers on here that have a few extra chores whenever you are done You can just pass them around. They'll never be bored again! ... says the teacher who has been waiting 180 days for summer...

 

[BHep]

ready for summer to be over, kids are already saying they are board and want school back

sounds like my place go be spanking clean this summer

Mine already learned in 2 days not to utter the word bored.

Saw this in FB:

 

[chicken dad]

This is Blue, the one that was broody.

Here are the chicks with mama while she eats some birdseed.

Hello everyone. Well I finally got some Silkies to hatch after 3 tries. 100% hatch rate for this batch. Trying to include some pics for all to see. Got 8 little ones.

 

[chicken dad]

Here is the proud daddy.