arazla
Songster
We discovered a few roundworms on the poop board while cleaning over the past couple weeks. We have 30 chickens and 1 turkey including a very tiny Old English Game Bantam rooster, plus 5 chicks (3 are around a month old, 1 is a week old, and 1 is a few days). Unfortunately all of these birds are divided up into different situations due to various needs, but also free range all together at times. For example, currently we have a meat bird (sort of a rescue that moved in from the neighbors) with our aggressive alpha hen that gets seriously over mated (she somehow keeps the meat bird from overeating as much), a hen with an injured leg in a cage in the garage, a one-eyed rooster with two large lavender Orpingtons that sleep in a chicken cart, and two main flocks of about 10-14 birds depending in two different coops & runs, depending on who is being rotated for whatever reason. The chicks are completely hen raised and the one-month olds are already fully integrated into their flock. The two younger ones are in the other flock, but in a separate coral for now because mama has less status and sometimes gets picked on. Obviously all of this makes medical treatments extremely complicated.
During the winter, a vet at our nearest livestock clinic (an hour away) prescribed something that went into the water to treat 5 chickens that were together at that time. We had done the paste as directed on our own before that, but it was only AFTER the week-long water treatment that 2 birds started laying even though I had had them already for 5 months. So I consider that to have been the most effective. A different vet from the same clinic prescribed Aquasol again, but this time only for 5 days. At first he said to mix .5 mls into .5 liters of water and serve as the ONLY water source until empty, then replace with fresh water each day. I emailed follow up questions to clarify how much for a gallon jug and whether it would treat tapeworm which I know we have in at least one flock based on a lab sample from a few weeks ago. He wrote back with instructions to mix 3.8 mls per gallon over the course of 5 days. This is a LOT more than .5 mls to .5 liters of water, so I can only assume he means 3.8 mls over the COURSE of 5 days. However, I know you are supposed to mix the solution DAILY so it doesn't quite make sense to me. Unfortunately I only ordered a 5 mls vial and already mixed the 3.8 mls into a gallon jug. I've served that to my chickens today and yesterday, basically just trying to approximate proportionate to each station which is seriously challenging. There are multiple waterers everywhere, although we've tried to narrow it down to just essentials in each area. But it's HOT outside and they need to be drinking. Many are turning their beaks up at this mixture entirely.
Because of the holidays I am not able to reach the vet clinic and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to until next week.
1. I'd really like some feedback on whether serving from this pre-mixed gallon jug over the course of 5 days makes sense or whether others would hold off and order some more solution and start over.
2. Does this seem like an extremely high dose? When I did express some concern, he said it's very safe and the lethal dosage would be several times higher.
3. Are these roundworms in the photo or something else? I've seen these tiny white worms moving in cecal droppings in addition to bigger roundworms on the board.
4. If they won't drink it, can you mix it into their morning mash?
5. What are you favorite worm prevention methods? We've done magic water with garlic, ACV, cayenne, plus sometimes oregano and honey off and on. Maybe it helps but we've also lapsed at times. If this does help, what is your recipe and how often do you serve it? We clean the poop boards daily and the grounds several times a day (I'm a bit fanatical), but I admit I only clean out the coops every several months although we do remove soiled debris and add fresh straw or pine shavings regularly, plus occasional weeds, mugwort and leaves from the yard.
ADDENDUM: well right as I finished this post, the vet actually wrote back and confirmed that I do not need to mix the solution DAILY and yes, it's over the course of 5 days. But since I've written this much, 2nd opinions are still helpful and I'd love some feedback on the other questions. Thanks so much.
During the winter, a vet at our nearest livestock clinic (an hour away) prescribed something that went into the water to treat 5 chickens that were together at that time. We had done the paste as directed on our own before that, but it was only AFTER the week-long water treatment that 2 birds started laying even though I had had them already for 5 months. So I consider that to have been the most effective. A different vet from the same clinic prescribed Aquasol again, but this time only for 5 days. At first he said to mix .5 mls into .5 liters of water and serve as the ONLY water source until empty, then replace with fresh water each day. I emailed follow up questions to clarify how much for a gallon jug and whether it would treat tapeworm which I know we have in at least one flock based on a lab sample from a few weeks ago. He wrote back with instructions to mix 3.8 mls per gallon over the course of 5 days. This is a LOT more than .5 mls to .5 liters of water, so I can only assume he means 3.8 mls over the COURSE of 5 days. However, I know you are supposed to mix the solution DAILY so it doesn't quite make sense to me. Unfortunately I only ordered a 5 mls vial and already mixed the 3.8 mls into a gallon jug. I've served that to my chickens today and yesterday, basically just trying to approximate proportionate to each station which is seriously challenging. There are multiple waterers everywhere, although we've tried to narrow it down to just essentials in each area. But it's HOT outside and they need to be drinking. Many are turning their beaks up at this mixture entirely.
Because of the holidays I am not able to reach the vet clinic and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to until next week.
1. I'd really like some feedback on whether serving from this pre-mixed gallon jug over the course of 5 days makes sense or whether others would hold off and order some more solution and start over.
2. Does this seem like an extremely high dose? When I did express some concern, he said it's very safe and the lethal dosage would be several times higher.
3. Are these roundworms in the photo or something else? I've seen these tiny white worms moving in cecal droppings in addition to bigger roundworms on the board.
4. If they won't drink it, can you mix it into their morning mash?
5. What are you favorite worm prevention methods? We've done magic water with garlic, ACV, cayenne, plus sometimes oregano and honey off and on. Maybe it helps but we've also lapsed at times. If this does help, what is your recipe and how often do you serve it? We clean the poop boards daily and the grounds several times a day (I'm a bit fanatical), but I admit I only clean out the coops every several months although we do remove soiled debris and add fresh straw or pine shavings regularly, plus occasional weeds, mugwort and leaves from the yard.
ADDENDUM: well right as I finished this post, the vet actually wrote back and confirmed that I do not need to mix the solution DAILY and yes, it's over the course of 5 days. But since I've written this much, 2nd opinions are still helpful and I'd love some feedback on the other questions. Thanks so much.
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