Ok to worm pullets?

[melissamar97]

I have recently wormed my laying hens with Safeguard liquid (the one for goats) and am at the tail end of the second 10 day egg withdrawal period. After I realized worming was necessary, I had already moved 7 pullets into the enclosed coop/run, sequestered in a rabbit cage, but they are living on the same ground. The pullets are now 7-8 weeks old and I am wondering if I should go ahead and worm them too. What age is the youngest it is okay to worm a chicken? How much Safeguard liquid do I dose each with? For context, I live in SE Texas and the ground has been very wet lately due to heavy rains. I have had 3 young hens die this year and I suspect they all could have been due to worms, but this hasn't been confirmed by a fecal float or seeing any worms.

 

[chickadoodles]

I have recently wormed my laying hens with Safeguard liquid (the one for goats) and am at the tail end of the second 10 day egg withdrawal period. After I realized worming was necessary, I had already moved 7 pullets into the enclosed coop/run, sequestered in a rabbit cage, but they are living on the same ground. The pullets are now 7-8 weeks old and I am wondering if I should go ahead and worm them too. What age is the youngest it is okay to worm a chicken? How much Safeguard liquid do I dose each with? For context, I live in SE Texas and the ground has been very wet lately due to heavy rains. I have had 3 young hens die this year and I suspect they all could have been due to worms, but this hasn't been confirmed by a fecal float or seeing any worms.

If your young pullets have never been wormed you should use Wazine for their first worming. I worm my hens in the fall and early spring.

 

[dawg53]

I have recently wormed my laying hens with Safeguard liquid (the one for goats) and am at the tail end of the second 10 day egg withdrawal period. After I realized worming was necessary, I had already moved 7 pullets into the enclosed coop/run, sequestered in a rabbit cage, but they are living on the same ground. The pullets are now 7-8 weeks old and I am wondering if I should go ahead and worm them too. What age is the youngest it is okay to worm a chicken? How much Safeguard liquid do I dose each with? For context, I live in SE Texas and the ground has been very wet lately due to heavy rains. I have had 3 young hens die this year and I suspect they all could have been due to worms, but this hasn't been confirmed by a fecal float or seeing any worms.

Now is the best time to worm your pullets due to your wet soil conditions; 1/2cc orally undiluted safeguard liquid goat wormer 3 days in a row. Worm birds early in the morning prior to their feeding.

 

[melissamar97]

Thank you both for the advice. I gave my mature birds 1/2cc undiluted Safeguard and redosed them after 7 days (was aiming for 10, but it didn't work with my schedule), which was about 10 days ago. So if I have this straight, I am giving the pullets 1/2cc each for 3 consecutive days? I did read somewhere that it is difficult to overdose chickens on Safeguard, but I still want to make sure I'm doing this right.

 

[casportpony]

Next time around you might want to get some Valbazen and use it instead since it only requires a one day dose (repeat in ten days) to treat most worms. Valbazen dose is 0.08 ml per pound, so and average sized Rhode Island Red Hen would get 0.5ml (1/2 cc). Valbazen is not usually sold at feed stores, so you would have to order it.

-Kathy

Edited to fix typo

 

[casportpony]

As for worming young animals with Safeguard, it's okay to use on young birds and mammals as long as you give an amount based on weight. The amount I use is 0.05ml per 100 grams. According to the chart below, your young birds should weigh 500-580 grams, which means they would get 0.25 ml to 0.3 ml.

Source:http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps046
Table 2.
Example of target body weights during the rearing of replacement pullets.
Age
(weeks)

Body weight
(Pounds)

(Grams)
1

0.14

65
2

0.24

110
3

0.40

180
4

0.55

250
5

0.71

320
6

0.88

400
7

1.10

500
8

1.28

580
9

1.50

680
10

1.70

770
11

1.92

870
12

2.09

950
13

2.27

1030
14

2.43

1100
15

2.56

1160
16

2.67

1210
17

2.76

1250
18

2.82

1280
19

2.89

1310
20

3.00

1360

-Kathy