- Aug 22, 2009
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I am sharing this information to you from Starfire's doctor (my chicken's doctor) at Gladstone Vet in Gladstone Oregon. The vet put her on a deworming medicine and included some for the rest of my flock. I have never dewormed them before and I am not sure how many times per year I should do this but this is what she had me do..... and the best part is I found the prescription she gave me over-the-counter at Wilco (a local feed store) this evening!!
The prescription was called Fenbendazole Oral Suspension -- I was able to find this exact stuff at Wilco in Canby this evening. It was with the goat dewormer and the brand is called Safe-guard Dewormer for Goats. The 4.2 oz bottle cost $26.00 and does not expire until 11/2012 which will last a long time. When the doctor prescribed this for Starfire she said it was a very safe drug to use. The dosage she had me use was as follows:
.2 ml for my smaller banty chicken (2 to 3 pounds-ish).
.4 ml for my 4 to 5 pounds-ish hens.
.6 ml for my larger girls -- about 6 to 7 pounds-ish.
We put the medicine in a little syringe and squirt it in the chickens mouth. It actually goes in pretty easily -- the trick is trying to get their beak open and insert the medicine when they are exhaling.... ...
We were to do this dosage for each chicken for 4 days in a row for a deworming treatment. And not to eat the eggs (or feed them back to the girls as this could possibly be re-introducing the drug to them through their eggs) for 14 days.
Anyway, like I said, I am not sure how many times per year I should do this but from what I am researching it looks like twice per year. This is what I was instructed to do and this is what I found on my own so use this information as you feel necessary!!! ;-)
Chickens can get worms from just being chickens!!! They scratch the ground and can pick up the parasite eggs directly by ingesting contaminated feed, water, or litter or by eating snails, earthworms, or other insects (intermediate hosts) which can carry the eggs. I clean up their coop and run daily picking up any and all pooh I find...... My girls do perfer to eat their treats directly off the ground even though I have chicken bowls for their treats....... Thinking about it, they like to eat off the ground the pooh oh....... it is really natural that they would get worms eventually.......... How many times have you given your girls veggies, fruits or scratch and their "table" was the ground??
The prescription was called Fenbendazole Oral Suspension -- I was able to find this exact stuff at Wilco in Canby this evening. It was with the goat dewormer and the brand is called Safe-guard Dewormer for Goats. The 4.2 oz bottle cost $26.00 and does not expire until 11/2012 which will last a long time. When the doctor prescribed this for Starfire she said it was a very safe drug to use. The dosage she had me use was as follows:
.2 ml for my smaller banty chicken (2 to 3 pounds-ish).
.4 ml for my 4 to 5 pounds-ish hens.
.6 ml for my larger girls -- about 6 to 7 pounds-ish.
We put the medicine in a little syringe and squirt it in the chickens mouth. It actually goes in pretty easily -- the trick is trying to get their beak open and insert the medicine when they are exhaling.... ...
We were to do this dosage for each chicken for 4 days in a row for a deworming treatment. And not to eat the eggs (or feed them back to the girls as this could possibly be re-introducing the drug to them through their eggs) for 14 days.
Anyway, like I said, I am not sure how many times per year I should do this but from what I am researching it looks like twice per year. This is what I was instructed to do and this is what I found on my own so use this information as you feel necessary!!! ;-)
Chickens can get worms from just being chickens!!! They scratch the ground and can pick up the parasite eggs directly by ingesting contaminated feed, water, or litter or by eating snails, earthworms, or other insects (intermediate hosts) which can carry the eggs. I clean up their coop and run daily picking up any and all pooh I find...... My girls do perfer to eat their treats directly off the ground even though I have chicken bowls for their treats....... Thinking about it, they like to eat off the ground the pooh oh....... it is really natural that they would get worms eventually.......... How many times have you given your girls veggies, fruits or scratch and their "table" was the ground??