worming as standard practice?

[honeybeeholden]

I thought you were only supposed to worm if they have worms? I have a chicken friend who worms yearly, what are everyone's thoughts? Is this really necessary or is it just maintenance?

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

It's best to only worm when you KNOW they have worms

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
The best thing to do is take a fecal sample to your vet and have them check it out. They'll also let you know if there are alot of cocci oocysts on the slide. I worm quarterly. I know that the soil here is loaded with worm oocysts.

 

[dichotomymom]

We've been fortunate to have never had worms in the 5 years I've been at this. I would ONLY worm if we had them. I do give them ACV in their water daily.

 

[al6517]

I worm yearly need it or not, I have never had worms in my breeders but don't want them either, Being proactive seems like a good maint practice, works for me.

 

[Judy]

There are experienced chicken keepers on here, people who have kept them for many years, who worm up to six times a year -- and other experienced keepers who never worm. A fecal test is a good idea, but it is certainly possible for a chicken to have worms and nothing show up in the test. I know there are worms in this soil because other animals here have had them, so I worm at least once a year. You could ask your vet about prevalence in the area; many if not all the worms also infest other species.

http://healthybirds.umd.edu/Disease/Deworming Birds.pdf

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I sell eggs so worming my working birds is not an option. I may this year worm my turkey breeders however.

 

[kuntrygirl]

A.T. Hagan :

I sell eggs so worming my working birds is not an option. I may this year worm my turkey breeders however.

Same here.​

 

[Noymira]

A.T. Hagan :

I sell eggs so worming my working birds is not an option. I may this year worm my turkey breeders however.

Would that apply to birds you eat the eggs from yourself as well? Or is that specific only to selling?

I'd prefer to not give my birds any meds they don't need, personally, but I take that approach with myself as well.​

 

[A.T. Hagan]

For the wormers that I have some familiarity with I would not hesitate to eat the eggs from the birds that I gave it too.

But in my situation we eat the eggs that we cannot sell - uglies, too badly stained, pullet eggs, and so on - so for us it means none of the layer birds can be wormed since those eggs would then have to be kept segregated.