this is very helpful for when i get my first peafowlThe Safeguard or Panacur (both are 10% fenbendazole) dose I use to treat my peafowl for cecal and roundworms *only* is 50mg/kg (0.5ml per 2.2 pounds). Based on that, my peafowl get:
Large adult male - 3ml
Large adult female - 2ml
Small adult male - 2ml
Small adult female - 1.5ml
Large 3 month old chick - 1ml
Medium 3 month old chick - 0.8ml
Small 3 month old chick - 0.7
Above doses are for liquid *or* paste.
For capillary and gapeworms, worm for 5 days in a row.
According to a study I read and the recommendation of a vet, the most effective Valbazen dose is 20mg/kg (0.176ml per 2.2 pounds). Based on that, the Valbazen dose for peafowl would be:
Large adult male - 1.05ml
Large adult female - 0.7ml
Small adult male - 0.7ml
Small adult female - 0.53ml
Large 3 month old chick - 0.35ml
Medium 3 month old chick - 0.28ml
Small 3 month old chick - 0.25ml
Valbazen is 11.36% albendazole (113.6mg/ml)
Note that I did not include amounts for chicks under 3 months, but that's not because they cannot or should not be wormed, it's because I need to look up their weights on my computer.
I prefer to work all of mine orally, but I can understand why some people don't want to, and I guess if I had to choose between food or water or food, I'd choose food. To do that I would guess the weight of my flock in pounds or kg and do a little math. I would then most likely put the amount of Safeguard or Valbazen needed in some water, mix well and then I'd use that water to make a mash. I think Zazouse puts her wormer in eggs?
Hope this helps,
Kathy
Edited to add:
Safeguard or Valbazen, dose once, then ten days later.
Edited again to say that one must worm for 5 days in a row to treat capillary worms and gapeworms.
In doing further reading, apparently the fenbendazole leaves the system really fast -- within a day or so -- but I am also very curious now about this with regard to various wormers, and I'm still curious about the whole paste vs. liquid thing. If I can find answers, I will post them later.
In the meantime, we had a worming adventure here... I tried to figure out how to do it without stressing everybody out, and still make sure everyone got the right dose.I was not confident that we could catch and administer oral meds without injuries, and I kept thinking if I tried the mash thing, I couldn't make sure that each bird got the correct amount of meds. I kept thinking that the more dominant birds would get a bigger share of the food, and the more picked-on birds might not get enough...
But the one thing that every bird in my pen loves above everything else is breadSo I experimented with how much liquid wormer could be soaked into a peafowl-sized piece of bread, and the same for the chickens.
I figured out that a piece of bread that the peas would chunk down in one gulp could hold about 0.5 ml of liquid goat wormer (10% fenbendazole). It soaks in easier if the bread is moist -- not dried out -- and if the bread chunk is thicker. It takes a few seconds or even a minute to really soak in. You can spread some on top and then kinda poke it into the inside of the chunk with the medicine syringe (no needle) once the bread starts getting soft and saturated.
I drew up 250 ml of wormer and divided it evenly between 5 pieces of bread, so each chunk had 0.5 ml, or about 50 mg of meds per bread cube, and a total of 250 mg for each of my medium-sized peas. (I figured I could also tailor the dose for each bird, by adding or subtracting a bread chunk, since there is actually a bit of difference in my bird sizes). That way I didn't have to predesignate which bread went to which individual bird, I could just throw the correct number of 50 mg pieces...
For chicken-sized pieces, I was able to put about 20 ml per bread bit, so again, I did 5 chunks per bird, anticipating an individual total dose of 100 mg. That's 1 ml divided onto 5 small bread triangles...
Here's the whole thing, all prepped and ready to go to the yard. The extra tub of plain bread is "diversion bread" -- to throw to other birds to draw them away from the target bird.
Lol I don't have any photos of feeding it -- my hands were full and my brain was overloaded, trying to keep count as to who had eaten what
The birds were VERY happy to grab it, except for initial concern from the peahen -- but she got over it and joined in happily after the first piece or two, which she lost to a quick chicken
I figured it was best to do it a breakfast time, when everyone would be looking for food. I started by tossing some scratch, just to break up the crowd and keep everybody spread out. Then, targeting one or two birds at a time (this was a challenge), I tossed the correct number of bread chunks, one at a time, until everyone had received a correct dose. It worked fairly smoothly with the chickens. It was a little harder with the peas, because the chickens darted in and carted off some of the pea's bread chunks. So I had to go back in the house to make a few extras (next time, I'll do that in advance!), and a couple of the chickens ended very heavily dosedThe diversion bread helped a lot, but the birds are quick! I monitored them closely for the rest of the day, and the good news is that everybody (including the heavily dosed chickens) is fine today. Water consumption was definitely a bit higher than usual yesterday, and there was maybe a little more scratching/grooming than usual yesterday evening, but nothing to a worrisome level. I did read that there can be a reaction with itchiness from the toxicity of the dying worms, but I haven't seen anything that appeared to be concerning. Everybody is totally fine this morning and eating well.
Anyway, this worked out okay with my tiny flock, so maybe it will work for someone else? My birds think the worming was a special treat sessionAnd thanks again for posting that necropsy photo -- that's changed what we do here at my house, for sure. That picture was worth about ten thousand words -- WOW
