Worming chickens.

[KristanB]

Has anyone ever heard of or use Quest Plus(which is for horses and is in gel form) in the chickens water for worms and such? I was told by a fellow chickener that this is all he uses......???

 

[dawg53]

I bought Quest Plus long ago to treat my chickens when dealing with tapeworms. I found out that it required exact dosing, otherwise there could be a risk of internal damage or worse. I dont remember where I read that and didnt copy the article. I didnt use it for that reason and opted for safer zimectrin gold. Moxidectin is avermectin, an alternative to ivermectin. It also contains praziquantel which kills tapeworms.

 

[KristanB]

So if I dont have sign of worms, should I be doin any worming at all?

 

[dawg53]

So if I dont have sign of worms, should I be doin any worming at all?

When and how often you worm depends on your soil conditions. Warm moist or wet soil conditions require frequent wormings. Cool or cold rocky soil, dry desertlike soil may only require worming once a year or so.
Our soil here is warm and moist most of the year, we had alot of rain last year. I worm my birds once every 3 months, sometimes sooner like last year. I start worming early if pullets have been on soil at an early age, 8-10 weeks old...later during cool or cold soil temps.

 

[KristanB]

Great info! And what do you use? Is there ONE medicine for all?

 

[dawg53]

I use valbazen cattle/sheep wormer as a first time wormer, then later on I rotate with safeguard liquid goat wormer. Valbazen kills all types of worms that chickens can get including flukes. Tapeworms require special treatment.
Safeguard takes care of all types of worms except tapeworms and is a very good wormer also.

 

[KristanB]

thanks! I would see tapeworms if they had them, correct?

 

[dawg53]

Yes. You'd see segments in feces, see pic below:

 

[candra009]

thank you!

 

[desertmarcy]

Yes. You'd see segments in feces, see pic below:

Hi @dawg53 I have been having problems with tapeworms for at least a year. I've tried the Valbazen and treated all the birds but still have tapes. OK so I ordered the pill form (same active ingredient) 30 mg pills because they are easier to administer and got down to business and treated them all recently using the recommended dose which was 2 pills for a 5-6 lb chicken. I gave 3 if they were bigger, like full grown male Barred Rock. I treated twice, day one and day 10. Discouraging that I still see tapeworms. I wonder if they are either getting reinfected or if the tapeworms are resistant to albendazole. I searched and searched on the web trying to find photos or something that would help me speciate the tapeworms so I could figure out which intermediate host I'm dealing with, but I couldn't find anything. If you know of a reference, please post it! I have a good lab microscope and training in parasitology (human, not animal, but I could figure it out with some good photos).

Certain breed I have seems to have them worst judging by the number of "rice grains" I see. So, I decided I would focus on them. Used your method you previously posted which I saved. Withheld food, treated; same on day 4-5 and again day 9-10. I think I knocked them out mostly, but recently saw "rice grains" in one of the birds and it had only been a matter of weeks since they were done their third dose. I used the pills again, but this time, they all got 4 each time. So that is about the equivalent of 1 ml of Valbazen. Trying to get rid of them altogether is driving me berserk! I suspect I have the one that has flies as intermediate host since the birds have pretty well picked their pens clean (and don't free range) but there are always flies. Any insight is appreciated!