worming chicks ??

[lucyharper123]

well i was wondering if i can feed new born chicks worming crumble?

 

[gritsar]

There is a difference between worming and medicated starter feed for chicks. Medicated starter typically is not medicated with a wormer, but rather a coccidistat. Coccidistats are antiprotozoal agents to inhibit (but not totally prevent) the growth of cocci in the chicks GI tract. What this does is prevent an overabundance of coccidia growth which can kill the chick, giving the chicks own immune system time to kick in and develop an immunity.
As for using an actual wormer in chicks, IMO it is not a good idea. Chickens, like most other animals, can handle a small wormload just fine. Unless exposed to unusually filthy conditions, chicks haven't been alive long enough to develop a heavy wormload.
There are three main camps on worming chickens. One camp doesn't worm, at all. The next worms, but using only natural products (which, again IMO, aren't proven to effectively eradicate worms. Inhibit maybe, but not wipe out a full blown infestation.). The third camp believes in regular worming as part of regular maintenance. I fall into the third camp. I start worming around 9 months old in my chickens and once a year thereafter. I don't mess around with wazine, which only kills roundworms. I start with a broad spectrum wormer and that's what I use each year.

 

[donrae]

How could a new born chick have worms?

 

[gritsar]

In additon, whether or not you have a need for using medicated starter has alot to do with the enviroment where your chickens live. I live in the hot, humid South, where cocci flourishes in the soil. I find it prudent to feed brooder raised chicks medicated starter to help jump start that immune system. I don't feed medicated starter to chicks hatched and raised in the flock for one good reason. It's been observed by poultry experts that chicks raised within the flock are exposed to the cocci in the droppings of the adult flock members. This gradual exposure works much the same way that the medicated starter does; it gives the chicks enough exposure to let their own immune systems begin to develop the immunity they'll need.

 

[lucyharper123]

its not cocci i deffo now what that is im talking about worming crumble can i feed it to them to prevent or will it harm them its for chickens ?

 

[sumi]

I've been advised by a vet not to deworm chicks younger than a month old. If they are in a brooder the chances of them getting worms is very, very low, unless you introduce the eggs from outside via soil or earthworms. So don't worry about it until they go outside.

 

[lucyharper123]

aww okay thanks !!

 

[debid]

Worming crumble and other worming treatments are for killing worms in chickens. It's not to be used as their regular feed. I think that's what you were asking -- whether you should use that to keep them from getting worms? The answer is no. Offering a medication routinely risks building immunity in the target parasite. Many folks who worm on a schedule alternate the medications they give to prevent this.