Treatment for worms and coccidosis

[ChickenCanoe]

Following up on the topic of grit; I can't stress enough how important it is to start early and continuously. Granted, birds foraging on the right type of soil, they can find their own. But not all free ranging birds can find what they need. I usually put the grit in a cage cup near the feeders and another cage cup for oyster shell if I was feeding hens in production. However, I have also just sprinkled it on the ground and they utilized it.
Originally, I didn't worry about grit because I didn't feed chicks anything but starter feed. It is already ground so I didn't think it was necessary. But for one thing, grit will take that ground grain and legumes in the feed and pulverize it further, thereby gleaning more nutrients from the ingredients.
Furthermore, experience has taught me how important it is to start providing it early. Since those experiences I started using grit from the first week of chicks' lives. I once bought some chick grit on a whim and when I gave chicks in a brooder a quart feeder full and in just over a day, they had consumed it all. That told me they felt a need to consume it.
However, the experience that really drove it home was when I sold a bunch of baby chicks to a friend. She ended up with a fair number of cockerels so I told her I would trade a pullet for one of the cockerels.
I kept that cockerel quarantined until I decided to butcher some birds. I processed a bunch all from the same hatching as hers. All the same breed, same age, same everything except that her cockerel grew up at her place with what she fed them. By this time I had adopted the practice of providing grit from the start. I think I butchered about 6 or 7 birds that day. The difference was that my birds' gizzards were twice the size of her bird's gizzard. I attributed that to the grit exercising the muscle in the gizzard from the start, leading to its more robust dimensions.

 

[ed33935]

Following up on the topic of grit; I can't stress enough how important it is to start early and continuously. Granted, birds foraging on the right type of soil, they can find their own. But not all free ranging birds can find what they need. I usually put the grit in a cage cup near the feeders and another cage cup for oyster shell if I was feeding hens in production. However, I have also just sprinkled it on the ground and they utilized it.
Originally, I didn't worry about grit because I didn't feed chicks anything but starter feed. It is already ground so I didn't think it was necessary. But for one thing, grit will take that ground grain and legumes in the feed and pulverize it further, thereby gleaning more nutrients from the ingredients.
Furthermore, experience has taught me how important it is to start providing it early. Since those experiences I started using grit from the first week of chicks' lives. I once bought some chick grit on a whim and when I gave chicks in a brooder a quart feeder full and in just over a day, they had consumed it all. That told me they felt a need to consume it.
However, the experience that really drove it home was when I sold a bunch of baby chicks to a friend. She ended up with a fair number of cockerels so I told her I would trade a pullet for one of the cockerels.
I kept that cockerel quarantined until I decided to butcher some birds. I processed a bunch all from the same hatching as hers. All the same breed, same age, same everything except that her cockerel grew up at her place with what she fed them. By this time I had adopted the practice of providing grit from the start. I think I butchered about 6 or 7 birds that day. The difference was that my birds' gizzards were twice the size of her bird's gizzard. I attributed that to the grit exercising the muscle in the gizzard from the start, leading to its more robust dimensions.

Wow very interesting

 

[Love Donkeys]

That is tough to say off the top of my head for a couple reasons. One is that I don't think there is any approved medication for small flocks. Second is that in all my years, I never recall dealing with an outbreak of worms serious enough to treat. There are many on this site with more experience treating with meds than I do. I avoided any medications at all costs, preferring to control health problems with management techniques.
As was said earlier here, Safeguard may be a place to start. The active ingredient is fenbendazole. In other countries, I believe they often use levamisole for these types of worms. Very similar drugs but the mechanics of how they control is likely different enough that rotating them can slow resistance.
I know a significant number of chicken keepers ignore the restrictions on pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription.
What treatment was recommended by your vet or the lab?
Drug resistance in pathogens, in my mind, can be more problematic than the pathogen itself. Once resistance takes hold, treatments no longer work and where does that leave us?
Most people don't own microscopes and even if they did, capillaria eggs are very difficult to identify. The worms themselves aren't visible to the naked eye but can likely be viewed with a magnifying glass. You could try. These worms are usually in the crop, ceca and sometimes in the intestines so should show up in the feces, especially within hours of treatment. Especially check the cecal poop which occurs daily usually 2 or 3 times.

You are 110% correct! The Goat industry has the same problem with the over use of worming medications. Once worm resistance takes hold you will have nothing but suffering dying livestock...

 

[dawg53]

I can tell you that I worm my birds monthly using mostly Valbazen. I've been doing it for years and it is still a very effective wormer. I've used just about all the wormers that are on the market including Safeguard, Levamisole, Pyrantel Pamoate, Zimecterin Gold and Equimax, and they are all still effective wormers in chickens.
Chickens are not mammals like goats, cows or horses where the wormers take longer to process through the guts and absorbed into the bloodstream. They stay longer in the mammal as well.
In chickens, only a small amount of the wormer is absorbed, the rest is excreted. Why? Chickens have a faster metabolism rate than mammals.

Chickens are used to detect deadly mosquito diseases in their blood that can kill humans and even horses. Chicken blood immediately produces high levels of antibodies against the diseases and the diseases are ineffective killing the chickens. We call it "hot" blood. Their eggs are safe to eat as well.
It's a very interesting subject to read about: "Sentinel Chickens." Look it up if you get the chance.