worm overload! yecchhh! worming with garlic?

[halo]

Piperazine is the active ingredient in Wazine. Its a very common wormer for all kinds of critters; I would see if you could find some. I would have my doubts on using "natural" wormers, especially if you are seeing worms now. Id get on it pretty quick.

 

[gritsar]

I consider things like garlic, pumpkin seeds, DE to more of preventives than cures. If you have a confirmed case of worms, go for the big stuff.
Roundworms can be treated with wazine (piperazine). If it's not roundworms, I would use valbazen (albendazole) or ivermectin, both broad-spectrum wormers.
Dosage is going to be tricky, since your guy is so little. See if you can get ahold of threehorses via PM.

 

[Imp]

Quote:
What gritsar said.

Also about pumpkin seeds. I bought dried pumpkin seeds, the kind to feed to squirrels. the chickens won't touch them. I chopped them up, the chickens won't touch them. I ground them up and sprinkled on their food, the chickens won't touch them or the food.

imp- I think dried pumpkin is like green kryptonite.

btw- the squirrels won't touch them either. trying them on the cats next. wish me luck.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
What gritsar said.

Also about pumpkin seeds. I bought dried pumpkin seeds, the kind to feed to squirrels. the chickens won't touch them. I chopped them up, the chickens won't touch them. I ground them up and sprinkled on their food, the chickens won't touch them or the food.

imp- I think dried pumpkin is like green kryptonite.

btw- the squirrels won't touch them either. trying them on the cats next. wish me luck.

Luck! If all else fails, you can send them to me and I'll feed them to KiKi, the cat that eats anything.

 

[technodoll]

OK spoke to an excellent breeder (he's the one who sold me the Sultan, he's been breeding and showing birds his entire life and has an excellent reputation).

He never uses antibiotics and meds, always goes natural - well except for Tempra to treat sick chickens, stuff like that.

He said that little Phoenix needed a shock treatment to flush the infestation out of his system: 1/2 a clove of fresh raw garlic a day, for at least 5 days. I should then see a big improvement in his appetite, energy and general well-being. He promises that it has worked for his birds for over 4 decades.

If all fails, at that point I should be able to get some bird wormer (don't have access until Wednesday to an avian vet).

So I force-fed the garlic and ended up covered in dandruff flakes (the little guy objected at first), he's in really bad condition - no wonder he's stayed so small and unfeathered, he's getting no nutrition absorbed whatsoever!

He's been getting poly-vi-sol the since Friday and it seems to have helped a bit. Also scrambled egg with olive oil and cottage cheese, along with the chick crumbles.

hope this works

ps: also treated all the babies in the coop that had access to the same water as little Phoenix, since they are no doubt infected also. Smaller dose of garlic, but will do so for 5 days. The main flock starts treatment tomorrow, mashed garlic in their layer food (no other treats since they hate garlic and will have to be very hungry to eat the stuff!)

Will keep you posted!

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

If the garlic doesn't work, you can try pumpkin seeds. You would need to grind them up in the blender and after giving the ground up seeds to the chicks, follow with a small bit of molasses, grated carrots, and yogurt. The pumpkin seeds (must be ground) are supposed to paralyze the worms and then then the molasses/carrots will help the chickens to "go" and expel the worms. You can look this up to find out the correct amounts of molasses and how many doses to give.

But.... if you do end up having to use the regular wormers - your chicks are only 7 weeks old and treating them with the standard wormers won't give you an "interruption in egg consumption". By the time they are old enough to be laying, the medicine will be out of their body. If you have full-grown hens also, you could always treat them separately.

 

[technodoll]

Don't the pumpkin seeds have to be fresh for them to be an effective wormer?

Like, slimy from the pumpkin?

The only kind of pumpkin seeds available this time of year are the green dried hulled ones you snack on... would these work?

Crossing fingers the fresh garlic treatment works, and yes I have 9 laying hens right now who need to be treated, too.

Merry Christmas! LOL

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Tobacco boiled in water is supposed to be a good wormer too. Anyone know?

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
I'm not positive, but I would think cooked pumpkin seeds would not be as effective. I gave some fresh ground up seeds to my chickens 2 days in a row when we had fresh pumpkins (as a just-in-case, haven't seen any signs) and they loved it (I did mix the seeds with yogurt though).

Since the fresh seeds may not be available anymore (I hadn't thought about that), maybe you should go with the standard wormer if the garlic remedy doesn't take care of them. You can find it at feed stores or online. You can use the pumpkins as your natural remedy next summer and fall (by then your 7 week old chicks will be laying).