winter worming

[edamaske]

We have had a very mild winter has not gotten below 20 until this week. I noticed my youngest male with pretty Milky and loose poo this morning ( they are pretty wild free rang so I see poop alot just not sure who's is whos) is it safe to worm in the winter? We inherited these guys when we bought our home. They were not cared for well and had never been wormed before this spring and fall. Everyone on BYC has been so helpful in my learning experience with these beautiful birds. Any suggestions? I would like to not loose anyone this winter unfortunately we lost all but one of our babys last winter and the one that made it is the one with the runny poo......

 

[KsKingBee]

You can deworm anytime of the year. Without doing a fecal exam you are not going to know if it is worms or cocci.

 

[cafarmgirl]

The only caveat to winter deworming is not to use fenbendazole wormers during the molt as it can possibly cause feather deformities. If you are concerned about the possibility of coccidiosis it's easy enough to run a course of Corid.

When you deworm be sure to do a repeat dose in 10 days.

 

[casportpony]

Can you post a picture of the poop?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

You might also want to read this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...mergency-and-supportive-care-updated-1-3-2016

It's a work in progress, but you might find some useful info in it.

-Kathy

 

[KsKingBee]

The only caveat to winter deworming is not to use fenbendazole wormers during the molt as it can possibly cause feather deformities. If you are concerned about the possibility of coccidiosis it's easy enough to run a course of Corid.

When you deworm be sure to do a repeat dose in 10 days.

Yeah..... no. Not so much, we debunked that last year in this epic thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/926738/safeguard-and-feather-damage-while-molting

 

[cafarmgirl]

Yeah..... no. Not so much, we debunked that last year in this epic thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/926738/safeguard-and-feather-damage-while-molting

I did not read the entire thread so cannot comment on whether or not I agree with the debunking or not... but I did have some molting birds grow in screwy feathers one year after I had dewormed with Safeguard during molt and there is also reference to this in the Merck Veterinary Manual. So this is my personal stance on this wormer. If someone else has done it repeatedly and never had a problem then that's great. Personally I'll just use Valbazen in my fall/winter deworming rotation.

 

[casportpony]

The funky feather thing is described in one book as "stress bars". Probably some truth to it, but I haven't seen it yet.

-Kathy

 

[barkerg]

The funky feather thing is described in one book as "stress bars". Probably some truth to it, but I haven't seen it yet.

-Kathy

I agree with Kathy, i have yet to see that also, not that I want it just havent observed it in my flock, yet?

Gerald Barker

 

[Trefoil]

You can worm in the winter,just be careful about stressing them during a really cold spell. Valbezon is a good choice for winter worming. Its likely that the cold was why you lost birds last winter if they were free ranging.

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