Worming and eating chickens

[quarkthestrange]

Hello again,

I've posted a few times the last couple of weeks about my chicken that I got a necropsy on. The official cause of death was...long grass. (REALLY?!)

OK, so, another thing listed on the necropsy report was that they found cecal worms. I've decided to treat with Valbazen. I've read this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/597615/so-how-many-of-you-eat-the-eggs-after-worming, which told me that most people seem to eat the eggs after treating them with no waiting period. What about eating chicken meat?

We've got loads of people coming over for thanksgiving, and I've got 3 roo's I've got to put away. If I wormed them today, would it be okay to slaughter and eat them on thanksgiving day? Also, I've read that cecal worms aren't that bad. If I orally dosed all my hens and left my roosters be, will it be okay to eat them? I have not seen any worms, everyone's poop looks great, this was just on my necropsy report of a chicken that died because the grass was too long.

Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

I would not worm the roosters, since it wouldn't be necessary this close to butchering. Most people that butcher chickens say that butchering them, and letting the bodies rest for 3 days in the refrigerator, makes them much more tender than butchering the same day. Valbazen usually requires an egg withdrawal time of 14 days after the second dose (given after 10 days,) so total of 24 days. I would probably do the same for meat withdrawal.

 

[quarkthestrange]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know that about refrigerating before eating. I will try that, my roosters are a bit tough, so I usually make soup. I would like to roast a couple for thanksgiving though, and don't want to turn anyone off to my homegrown chickens!