Preventative maintain?

[sawilliams]

So since one of my hens was a stray and the other 5 from a friend. I'm still catching up on some of the need toos like de for thier dust baths and such. We checked them all before and after we brought them home but I wanted to go over my just incase list and see if anyone had suggestions.

I got de, just a small 2 pound bag to go in thier favor dusting places

Strike 3 for worming, I haven't seen evidence but want to make sure as I have 2 of laying age that are either not ready or still stressed and 1 that is slowly but surely developing watery poop (we've had then 3 1/2 weeks)

Also a probiotic, to help all but perticularly the one with loose poops. Also another bag of grower since the 2 10 week old are starting to try to get to the main feeder.

As of right now they all seem happy and healthy, 2 laying 2 waiting and 2 young ones. But I also have 2 cats and 2 dogs so especially something like worms I don't want to spread to the others.

I did mix in and refill the feeder with the grower and wormer. Any extra feed that was in the coop I put in a bag with scratch and black sunflower seeds for a treat mix later on.

Should I mixed the probiotic in the water now or wait a few days for the wormer to start to take effect? I don't want to use the wormer all the time just as a backup in case there are issues and do I need to toss the eggs well they are on the strike 3 mix

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm not going to be able to answer most of your questions because I don't like DE, I never worm or use probiotics. I do know worms are host specific so your poultry can't give your dog worms.

There's many ways to keep chickens and they are quite hardy, and forgiving, and welcome to the hobby. Hopefully someone more experienced with the wormer and probiotics will give you some answers about those.

 

[sawilliams]

Thank you

 

[aart]

I don't worm either, but you'd have to check the manufacturers directions and/or call them about egg withdrawal.
BTW you won't 'see' worms in the feces, except round worms, you need to get a fecal exam done by a vet to know if and what they have before treatment.

The loose poops can be caused by several things...
...your feed situation is a bit confusing, but changing feeds and adding supplements willy-nilly can upset the digestive tract......
....the wormer itself may be causing them.

 

[sawilliams]

No you miss understand. I had both layer and grower available becuase I had girls of different ages. I had bought the layer first for the 1 hen we had. I just continued the layer side by side with the grow till the youngest 2 were close enough in hieght to start trying to reach the layer. (The layer was raised the grower was not) so I didn't change the feed i just took the little bit of layer that was left out. And filled the main feeder with the grower also.

As for the wormer I just stated that yesterday when I took the layer out. I decided to do wormer just in case becuase 1 has loose poop and 2 that are of laying age still seem possibly a bit stressed, or maybe they are just taking thier time.

The poops that I'm finding look mostly normal but are slowly increasing in water content