Piperizine 52 for Silkie Chicks?

[RavenWood]

I have 6 Silkie chicks, roughly 9-10 weeks that keep flicking their heads and 2 of them have a slight 'bobble-head' thing going on. I've asked on another thread about what the problem might be - some have said they are injured because of the holes in their heads, others that they have a nutritional deficiency and still others that they have worms and ear infections and need to be dewormed and given antibiotics. I don't know what to do and we have no 'chicken' vets out here They are on medicated feed - but I have no idea what it is medicated with.

I thought I'd tackle deworming and nutrition first since they are all still active, eating and drinking just fine. To that end, I bought the only dewormer for chickens I could find at our local feed store. They guy there knew absolutely nothing so I'm coming to the experts here on backyardchickens! I bought Piperizine 52 which says to mix with water and treat for 4-8 hours with a repeat dosage in 30 days. It is supposed to kill ascaris (roundworms, I think), but it doesn't say if it's safe to give chicks (just says chickens). There is no dosage per se, just the ratio to mix with water. It says to remove their water the night before treating - presumably so they are thirsty when you treat. Can they get too much this way and will it hurt them? Says there are no side effects, but I'm always leery about this kind of thing. Someone suggested panacur, but I can't find this brand of dewormer. What about Ivomec?

Then I figured I'd give them the vitamin supplement (also for mixing in water) after that in order to help combat any possible weakness left from the deworming infestation (if they even have one) and treatment. Some have suggested poly-vi-sol, but this package stuff is formulated for chickens so I figured that would be just as good and I can treat them all at once. It's also way less expensive than poly-vi-sol. If that doesn't help, others have also suggest tetracycline - an antibiotic to get rid of bacterial infection. I figured this might tackle the problem of an ear infection - if it's bacterial that is.

Any experts out there who can give me some much needed advice or thoughts on my plan of attack?

 

[RavenWood]

Gee, thanks for all the help.

Glad this wasn't an emergency.

 

[chickenzoo]

If it was an emergency you probably would have gotten a response. We don't get paid to answer questions and if people don't know the answer they don't want to post with incorrect information and make your situation worse. I know it can be frustrating but their is a search ontop of the page that can often be helpful until someone has an answer for you....
That said, the bobble head movement you are seeing is probably the beginning of wry neck, one of the most common Silkie afflictions. It can be caused by injury, but most commonly it is a vitamin deficiency. Vitamin E is very important to give, you can find it in gel cap form... Give a few drops twice a day for about two weeks or at least a week past when they seem normal. Also give either poly vi sol children's liquid vitamins or poultry nutri drench vitamins. It takes time to seem improvement.... I do not think worms but you can worm them with the piperzine. It is for round worms, I use a cap ful per gallon of drinking water for the days suggested, but I use safeguard which is panacure, more often for worming. I wouldn't suggest Ivomectrian on young Silkies with neck issues.

 

[RavenWood]

Thanks for the response. After giving them vitamins in their water they do seem to be exhibiting less bobble head movements.