When to start deworming?

[TheFugitivePen]

Hello, chicken friends!

How do you handle deworming for your chickens? Do you do it on a schedule or only once you notice a shift in behavior or worms in their feces?

We don't live in a particularly wet climate, and it gets hot in the summertime.
We live on clay soil, which I've read can make us more prone to worm infections.
Our birds mostly keep in a large run. We put down pine shavings to try to decrease the muddiness as our girls have stripped the run absolutely bare of grass. I do let them free range a couple of times a week when my husband or I work outside or are available to monitor them.

Our birds are about 8 months old, and so far, I haven't noticed anything wriggling or out-of-sorts with their feces.

Should I pre-emptively worm them? Or wait until I see worms?

My concern in waiting would be the risk of re-infection. We can't burn our yard to kill off worm eggs. Is there any way to treat the coop, run, and yard if worms do become an issue?

 

[dawg53]

Chickens kept on the same soil requires frequent wormings. Warm moist or wet soil requires frequent wormings. Folks in colder climates may not have to worm as often. It's the soil conditions that dictates how often birds should be wormed.
Keeping everything as dry as possible helps deter worms. I use sand in my pens, coops and most of my nest boxes. Scooping poop frequently helps.

The only time you'll see worms in feces is if there isnt enough room in the guts and they are excreted, or, if a worm dies of old age and is excreted. Parasites dont leave their host, they feed to reproduce.

You can rotate areas in your yard where chickens forage if possible, it will help cut down on worm infections. Worm eggs can survive in the soil for several years or more. One female roundworm lays several thousand eggs a day contaminating the soil.

You can worm birds monthly like I do. I start worming birds at 5 weeks old if they are on soil. I primarily use Valbazen to worm my birds, but have used other wormers.
I dont worry about egg withdrawal periods after using Valbazen or Safeguard because they are poorly absorbed into the blood and mostly excreted.
I've been using both Valbazen and Safeguard for years, and they are very effective wormers in chickens.

 

[BDutch]

I have been reading about a research with several large population chickens . It was conducted at the Wageningen University in my country.

The conclusion was: its better to not treat chickens with dewormers as long as the infestation is not bad / doesn’t weaken them. Only need to deworm if the infection is bad. The farmers, with many chickens, let a vet check regularly.

It’s normal that chickens are lightly infected. This has no negative impact on their health.
Dewormers are not healthy for chickens. And a worm infection will return anyway because of the infected soil/environment.

I’ll try to look for the research report. .

 

[Sussex19]

What I do is along the lines of what is recommended for horses and goats,
I can't see any reason that chickens would be different.
I don't treat for them unless they really need it, e.g. if the worms are causing any symptoms.
If one needs continually treating, then I will cull it. (there has not been any need for this so far)
The thinking behind this is that if you treat on a regular basis what happens is you kill all the none resistant worms, but leave the resistant ones. And then you have supper worms that no wormer will kill.
But if you leave hens which are resistant enough for the worms to not affect them, then you can keep a small population of none resistant ones, so if you do need to treat then it will kill them.
I believe that chickens can cope with a small worm load, as can horses and goats. (and with these animals it can even be beneficial, but I have not seen any studies done on chickens to say if its the same.)

This is just one way of doing it, and so far for me it is working very well, but I can't say if it would work well for anyone else.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Depending on your space, worming might not be needed at all. I would keep the meds on hand, but you may not have to use them for years. Some people can keep everything clean and still get worms. Some people have just the accidental or right combination of free range, number of birds combo where they don’t have worming issues.

 

[BDutch]

Hello, chicken friends!

How do you handle deworming for your chickens? Do you do it on a schedule or only once you notice a shift in behavior or worms in their feces?

We don't live in a particularly wet climate, and it gets hot in the summertime.
We live on clay soil, which I've read can make us more prone to worm infections.
Our birds mostly keep in a large run. We put down pine shavings to try to decrease the muddiness as our girls have stripped the run absolutely bare of grass. I do let them free range a couple of times a week when my husband or I work outside or are available to monitor them.

Our birds are about 8 months old, and so far, I haven't noticed anything wriggling or out-of-sorts with their feces.

Should I pre-emptively worm them? Or wait until I see worms?

My concern in waiting would be the risk of re-infection. We can't burn our yard to kill off worm eggs. Is there any way to treat the coop, run, and yard if worms do become an issue?

In have chickens for 8 years on the same soil. Never dewormed. Never seen a worm infestation.

If your chickens have enough space and you can keep the soil healthy there is no need to deworm as prevention. The medicines make the chickens vulnerable for new problems. Only with a serious worm infection you need to deworm.

Btw, I have a open run (strong netting on top) have plants/bushes in , made a hood drainage it and put lots of autumn leaves in the run every autumn.

 

[Sussex19]

I have been reading about a research with several large population chickens . It was conducted at the Wageningen University in my country.

The conclusion was: its better to not treat chickens with dewormers as long as the infestation is not bad / doesn’t weaken them. Only need to deworm if the infection is bad. The farmers, with many chickens, let a vet check regularly.

It’s normal that chickens are lightly infected. This has no negative impact on their health.
Dewormers are not healthy for chickens. And a worm infection will return anyway because of the infected soil/environment.

I’ll try to look for the research report. .

I totally agree with this.
Also, if you don't keep deworming all the time, you get a lot of heathy soil organisms, which process the poop.
Lately when I go out after dark, any poops on the ground are covered in tiny creatures which are doing the same job as dung beetles do. In the morning, its all gone!
I think the thing is, different soil types, different climates, and most likely different breeds, all make a difference.
So I think it up to the individual to make a decision on how they want to do things, based on their location.

 

[dawg53]

But did they though?
We have got a fairly old book written by a very well respected man, who didn't worm is chickens.
His laid for many years, and would have lived for many more if he didn't put them in the soup pot.

Alot of people say that.

It's your environment and soil conditions that dictate how often birds need to be wormed.

 

[Sussex19]

Perhaps you would like to host a few worms and tell us how you feel after a few months.

I kind of wonder, how did chickens survive for hundreds of years before one could just go to your local farm shop to by a wormer?

 

[TheFugitivePen]

Chickens kept on the same soil requires frequent wormings. Warm moist or wet soil requires frequent wormings. Folks in colder climates may not have to worm as often. It's the soil conditions that dictates how often birds should be wormed.
Keeping everything as dry as possible helps deter worms. I use sand in my pens, coops and most of my nest boxes. Scooping poop frequently helps.

The only time you'll see worms in feces is if there isnt enough room in the guts and they are excreted, or, if a worm dies of old age and is excreted. Parasites dont leave their host, they feed to reproduce.

You can rotate areas in your yard where chickens forage if possible, it will help cut down on worm infections. Worm eggs can survive in the soil for several years or more. One female roundworm lays several thousand eggs a day contaminating the soil.

You can worm birds monthly like I do. I start worming birds at 5 weeks old if they are on soil. I primarily use Valbazen to worm my birds, but have used other wormers.
I dont worry about egg withdrawal periods after using Valbazen or Safeguard because they are poorly absorbed into the blood and mostly excreted.
I've been using both Valbazen and Safeguard for years, and they are very effective wormers in chickens.

Thank you so much!
Do we need to have an egg withdrawal period during and after treatment?
Do we need to give our girls any extra vitamins or nutrients during treatment?