to worm or not to worm!!!ugh

[rhondaa]

Ok i have heard that i need to worm my girls(they are 1y old).ok fine.... can you eat thier eggs while you are worming them or not. the bottle says not to eat eggs, the co-op guy said it will be ok and also a few other people have said it will be ok. I sell my eggs , i would hate to hurt people. is it just the company is being safe?? please i know i can get the right answer here!!!

 

[Kittymomma]

There is a 2-week withdrawl period after worming, some people eat them anyhow, but selling them would be a BIG no-no. Are you worming because your chooks are having a worm load problem or is it a I've heard I should kind of thing? Some people have more problems with worms then others and worm on a set schedule others don't worm at all. I like to take a sample (put a few fresh ones in a contanier

) into the vet and have a fecal float done. They'll be able to tell you if you need to worm and you won't be tossing eggs for nothing if your girls are fine. A fecal float should be around $20 but could be more or less depending on where you live so call your vet first. You shouldn't need to bring a hen in and pay for an office visit to have the float done, if they say you have to I'd call another vet.

 

[rhodiegal]

I would not worm them unless you know they need it - supposedly all chickens carry worms that do not cause problems. They can however, get out of hand (like if you see them in the poo). We wait one month before eating the eggs if using Ivermectin just to be safe (there is no withdrawel time for chickens/eggs with Ivermectin that I could ever find).

 

[mdbokc]

In other discussions on this subject, it has been brought out that depending on the product you use to worm them, people that are sensitive to penicillin could be affected in an allergic manner.

I wormed once with Wazine (Wazine is recommended first step of the two step process) when they were about 16 weeks, but did not follow through with the second aspect. Then again at almost a year with Wazine as there was a loose stool problem that nothing seemed to really help. Then I went to Verm-X for the second aspect of worming 4 weeks later. It also cleared up the loose stools within 2 days and they have been fine since. Now I use Verm-X every 8 weeks although they recommend every 4 weeks. No problems with eggs on Verm-X. I really like the extra boost the birds seem to get after a round of Verm-X...just an observation.

I am off the chemical wormers unless it seems nothing else will work.

Other threads...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=219465&p=1
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=258331&p=3
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=172967&p=1

BTW, you can feed back the eggs to the chickens so they aren't wasted when using chemical dewormers. Just scramble and feed!