Treating Tapeworms - Under Construction

[Birdielee]

Equimax horse paste has 140.3 mg/ml Praziquantel, 18.7 mg/ml ivermectin. Dose is ~0.033 ml per pound, or 0.16 ml per five pounds.

Thank you for my personal invitation. I just FINALLY found your photo of the different dose sizes and decided what to do. I really appreciate your help. Were you able to see about giving equimax to rabbits by any chance?

 

[casportpony]

Thank you for my personal invitation. I just FINALLY found your photo of the different dose sizes and decided what to do. I really appreciate your help. Were you able to see about giving equimax to rabbits by any chance?

Sorry, haven't looked for that info yet.

 

[Birdielee]

Sorry, haven't looked for that info yet.

It's fine. You're not obligated.

 

[Birdielee]

Well, that was hard.
First i tried paste on broken cheerios and bran flakes. No good. Paste on breast feathers and scraped off on rocks. The other hen was smarter and dropped the cheerio piece right away in the dust.
Take 2 was more effective, but pretty ridiculous. I found out that chicken mouths can be opened only from the bottom! Duh. But i was trying to open the top. Anyway, opening the bottom of their beaks was hard enough. Their necks are so flexible!
I got the 2 dosed that I decided to dose. .16 on a 1 cc syringe. .18 for the big hen. A big medium.

Thanks for your help.

 

[dawg53]

Well, that was hard.
First i tried paste on broken cheerios and bran flakes. No good. Paste on breast feathers and scraped off on rocks. The other hen was smarter and dropped the cheerio piece right away in the dust.
Take 2 was more effective, but pretty ridiculous. I found out that chicken mouths can be opened only from the bottom! Duh. But i was trying to open the top. Anyway, opening the bottom of their beaks was hard enough. Their necks are so flexible!
I got the 2 dosed that I decided to dose. .16 on a 1 cc syringe. .18 for the big hen. A big medium.

Thanks for your help.

Cradle the bird in your forearm and use your finger and thumb to pull down on the hens wattles and her mouth will open. Use your free hand to administer the preloaded syringe to your hen. Then IMMEDIATELY release the wattles so she can swallow the liquid or paste on her own and let her go. Grab your next chicken and repeat the procedure if necessary.

 

[Birdielee]

Cradle the bird in your forearm and use your finger and thumb to pull down on the hens wattles and her mouth will open. Use your free hand to administer the preloaded syringe to your hen. Then IMMEDIATELY release the wattles so she can swallow the liquid or paste on her own and let her go. Grab your next chicken and repeat the procedure if necessary.

Oh! I never even thought about holding their wattles! Thank you. Next dose.

 

[Birdielee]

I haven't seen any worms in their feces. But my original hen had a poop incident that exploded all over the coop this morning. Very weird. Never had that happen before.

 

[Toloache]

Thanks for this thread -- it's been so helpful! I'm a fairly new chicken owner, I got my first 5 hens and a rooster about 2 years ago -- then bought some silkies who just want to hatch chicks! Now our flock has 15 hens/pullets, 2 silkie roosters, 4 teenage chicks and 14 little silkie chicks running around on an acre. A couple of months ago I noticed my older hens were looking ragged and then started finding worms in their poop. Treated them with Safeguard for 5 days but then read it was not effective for all tapeworms. Treated them with Equimax yesterday and have yet to find any more tapeworm wigglies, so I think it's working. Will dose them all again in 10 days.
Here's my question: I read that Safeguard was not good for "nesting mothers" so I didn't treat my 2 silkie hens with that. Can I safely treat them (not their chicks) with Equimax? I haven't seen any tapeworm segments in their poop, but I imagine they have roundworms and cecal worms like my other birds did since they forage on the same land everyone else does. It seems like a bad idea to leave 2 hens untreated, but I also don't want to do anything that can harm their little ones. (Not really sure *how* that would work, since it's not like I am dosing the chicks directly -- but I just want to be careful!) The chicks will be 2 weeks old tomorrow (and are silkies, so they are small!) and just started zooming around outside with the rest of the flock a couple of days after everyone else had been treated with Safeguard/Equimax. I've been keeping the main area where they hang out free of poop and hoping to keep the little guys as parasite-free as possible for as long as possible. Thanks for your help!!!

 

[dawg53]

Who stated that you couldnt use Safeguard for "nesting mothers?" That is misinformation. Go ahead and treat your two Silkie hens.
Unless you see tapeworm segments in the feces, there's no need to give them Equimax.
Your chicks are too young to worm. I start worming my chicks at 6 weeks old.

 

[Toloache]

Lol, I can't remember where exactly I read that -- I did a LOT of digging around here and many other websites (a lot of blogs that seemed to be selling garbage of various sorts). That's why I thought I'd ask here.
Good to hear confirmation that the chicks will be fine for awhile & I'll be thrilled to get all of my grown-ups under control so they aren't pooping out any kind of egg/worm for others to eat... (those little moving tapeworm segments are just SO tempting for chickens to peck at! I'd been zooming around pooper-scooping them all day trying to figure out who they were coming out of... so nice to not see them anymore!)

I used up all of my safeguard during the first course of treatment -- if Equimax will work equally as well for broad-spectrum treatment (seems like it is not exactly intended for roundworms but is still effective?) I'd like to use what I have on hand this time around. Otherwise, I think I'd be better off investing in some Valbazen. The mamas did have poultry lice a couple of months ago & I haven't seen any reoccurances, but if the ivermectin will keep them from getting licey for awhile or having to be sprayed while they have little ones, that would also be a big plus.

Thanks for your help!!!