Valbazen...an alternative method?

[melloladies]

okay- so I have some tapeworms. enough to show in (some, not all) droppings. I bought Valbazen, but was at a loss on how to administer since I have at least one chicken who screams bloody murder when you so much as look at her sideways...try to touch her and you have a full scale war! And since I'm living "under the radar" I'd like to keep things as peacefull as possible. I mixed the approprate dose and then mixed it all with some ricotta cheese. I made sure each chicken ate a good blop of the mixture. I know you are just supposed to drop it down their throughts, but like I said peace is good

Does anybody know if this will still be effective?
I'm also wondering if Valbazen would be effective on external parasites like lice....since I seem to be having a problem with that as well. I dusted them with sevin about a week ago thinking I would follow up with invermectin in 10 days or so... but then the worms and so the valbazen.
yeah- so.... ideas? Advice? Please help- this is all new to me!

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
melloladies, I'm new to this "worming" business myself so I'm not sure sure what might happen with the way that you administered the Valdazen. Each full size chicken is supposed to get one dose of 1/2 ml of Valbazen, and small chickens like silkies are supposed to get 1/4 ml.
I treated mine for only roundworms first with Wazine 17 three days ago, November 16, so I won't be giving them the Valbazen for all the other types of worms until November 26. Yesterday, I bought 20 oral syringes that hold one ml for ten cents each. I will fill one oral syringe with 1/2 ml for my Orpingtons and one for each of my silkies with 1/4 ml. Having enough syringes filled and ready will speed up the process when catching/holding the chickens (just one quick shot down their throat)... at least I HOPE it goes that well.

I'll be interested to learn how it goes for yours with their getting "a good blop of the mixture"; hope it works for you.

BTW, I'm giving all of mine buttermilk, canned beef cat food, and scrambled eggs for three days as followup. GOOD LUCK!

 

[melloladies]

Thanks JoeBryant- I hate feeling like I don't know what I'm doing...just "winging it" is not really my style!
I was under the impression that wazine didn't treat tapes, and that only a small handful of wormers are effective against them. I'll report back with how the girls seem to be doing. Good luck with yours as well!

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I believe that Wazine ONLY treats roundworms, nothing else. Do you know if roundworms and tapeworms are the same? I'll Google it now.
YOU'RE RIGHT (see below), they are not the same, so Wazine does NOT treat tapeworms.

Roundworms and Tapeworms

ROUNDWORMS (Nematodes) include the families of HOOKWORMS, PINWORMS, WHIPWORMS, THREADWORMS, etc. These can range in size from as small as 1 mm. to as large as several inches/mms. They are most commonly found in the intestines of the host. They are often contracted through the skin. By migrating throughout the body, they can cause a wide variety of symptoms of disease.

TAPEWORMS (Cestodes) are generally the largest of all of the parasites. They are very mobile, and can change location within the host daily. They are segmented worms. They have 3,000 to 4,000 segments in their bodies. Each segment can contain up to 50,000 eggs! They are able to release up to 1,000,000 eggs into the host's body EVERY DAY! Some tapeworms can live up to 25 years within a host. They have been known to grow as large as 33 feet in length (10 meters) within the gastrointestinal tract. However, their larvae can be found in almost any organ.

I just now noticed that in my first reply I said "tapeworm". I just now changed that to "I treated mine for only roundworms first with Wazine 17". Thanks for catching that.

 

[dawg53]

melloladies.... Valbazen will not kill lice/mites. You dusted your chickens with sevin dust one week ago, you need to redust them on the 10th day to kill any lice that have hatched since the first dusting. I hope you dusted their house, roosts and nests a week ago too. You need to redust it again on the 10th day as well. The bottom line is that you have to break their lifecycle by redusting the chickens and where they sleep, roost and lay...it's the only way to do it. As far as the screamer is concerned...get her at nightime when she's sleeping and snatch her off the roost, put a towel over her head; dust/dose her accordingly. Then return her to her roost...she'll be ok the next morning. Redose your chickens in 10-14 days with the valbazen as Joe recommended...1/2cc down the throat for standard size chickens and 1/4cc down the throat for smaller chickens. Good luck

 

[melloladies]

Quote:
Thanks for answering the lice question...I did shake the sevin in their bedding too- which includes the roost area. It was dark and wasn't really careful about making sure it got everywhere because I had read that lice only live on the host... but again- it feels like there is such a mix of info out there. It's hard to plan a course of action! I'm also planning to move the girls into a new coop within the week (so everything will be fresh and clean

) and I'll have better access to them (the chickens) right now the only way to get to them is to take off the whole side of the A frame coop. Stupid design. So by the time I do that, they all wake up and get pissy! I'll figure something out. So you think it's better to re-dust with sevin vs. using the invermectin pour on?
I'm very afraid to overdose/overstress my girls with all this crazy crap so I just want to do it right the first time. I really appreciate the advice!

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Thanks for answering the lice question...I did shake the sevin in their bedding too- which includes the roost area. It was dark and wasn't really careful about making sure it got everywhere because I had read that lice only live on the host... but again- it feels like there is such a mix of info out there. It's hard to plan a course of action! I'm also planning to move the girls into a new coop within the week (so everything will be fresh and clean

) and I'll have better access to them (the chickens) right now the only way to get to them is to take off the whole side of the A frame coop. Stupid design. So by the time I do that, they all wake up and get pissy! I'll figure something out. So you think it's better to re-dust with sevin vs. using the invermectin pour on?
I'm very afraid to overdose/overstress my girls with all this crazy crap so I just want to do it right the first time. I really appreciate the advice!

I'd use the valbazen and use the sevin dust. Ivermectin wont kill tapeworms, valbazen is the best wormer for chickens. I've dealt with lice along time ago and sevin dust will kill them. Here's a reference for you on lice/mites. http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[kbryant]

Melloladies,
I have only been doing the chicken thing for 17 months but this is what I have done.
After 3 months of age I put a pinch of sevin dust behind each chickens neck and rub it in and each time I clean out the shavings I sprinkle it all over the bedding and rub it through the shavings. I have never had a problem with lice. I don't put it on my babies but after they are about a month old I put it in their bedding but not on them till they are 3 months. All has seemed ok so far and haven't had any sick bird from it.
For worming I have been getting help from Dawg53 as well as I now have hookworms but it is my fault as I forgot to reworm mine every 3-4 months. I usually use Panicure (safegaurd) that they sell for horses but I only put a pea-size glob on my finger and then put it in their mouth. I am also taking Dawg 53's advice and changing to valbazen for their next worming after my follow-up so they don't become immune to the safeguard.

Good luck

 

[Minniechickmama]

It wouldn't hurt to get some DE and use it in their bedding and feed ( a little ). I haven't seen any worm problems with my flock, but I do use it as a preventive measure and lots of people on here swear by it for parasite problems.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
DE, because of it's drying out effect might help prevent lice/mites, but once it's wet, it is useless til it dries out again. It'll help keep bedding dry. If you're putting it in chicken feed, it'll keep keep feed dry from humidity and moisture, but that is all it'll do.