worming for dummies

[scChickn]

If someone could be so kind as to describe (rather exactly) how to go about worming my chickens. I have 9 of them in a small coop. A few months ago, I treated them with Wazine-17, which I know is not a broad based wormer but it was all I could find locally, and I don't think it had any effect.

"ivomec Eprinex" has been mentioned on this board as a better solution. But everything I find about it indicates bovine... is this what people are using? And if so, dosage, where to purchase, how do I go about trying this.

The situation is general is that 2-3 of my chickens seem unthrifty--messy in the hind area...

Thanks!

 

[CUDA]

I have worming directions on my site HERE . Hope this helps!

 

[silkiechicken]

Before treating for worms again, if you suspect them, I would take in a sample to your vet and get a fecal test done. That would provide a better indication if they need it or not. Worming is pretty harsh on their systems. I haven't wormed my birds in the 10 years I've had them.

What are most their poo's like? Some birds do get a bit messy in the hind area and that can be due to things other than worms. If they had a bit too much treats for a day or are not eating enough of their layer feed, they can get runny poo that sticks and just builds up. What is their main food?

Some birds are just too fluffy back there so little poo dangles start to form. If it is only a few of your birds, I'd clean them up and trim the fluff down a bit so that it won't get caught. I found some of my birds get little poo fluffs all the time, while others you'd be hard pressed to find a soiled feather on their bums.

Good luck! And if you do worm, you'll have to toss all the eggs for a month after the worming, else you'll get wormer residue in your system too!

 

[CUDA]

Well that is great silkie that you haven't had to worm, but any fowl that is on the ground will get worms in my experience. I also don't agree that you have to throw out eggs for a month. After treatment, it takes 5 eggs to clean out the medication enough to eat. I do agree with you that the trimming may be the ticket for this situation, and about worming being hard on the system, but some wormers don't kill all worms. That is why I like the ivomec, it works on everything. Usually if you have worms, the birds will be excessively thin, and the poo will have blood in it from the damage the worms do to the digestive tract. JMO

 

[silkiechicken]

I still think it is good to make sure that they at least have an unhealthy worm load before worming. I'm sure my birds have some worms but not to a degree that is unhealthy for them. They are all pretty hefty except my darn 7 month old broodies who have been siting happily on a wooden egg after breaking all the fertile ones!

If the birds are getting thin and the poos have blood or are not "normal", then yes, worming is a good thing to do for them. But as you said too, this case seems like trimming might be the key. I'm just not a fan of over worming and over medicating as I feel that it is done too often in some cases.

 

[CUDA]

Yep, I hear ya, seems like a lot of people jump directly to medicating now days when they are not sure what to do. The best thing is to properly diagnose the problem first before starting any medication. There are a lot of problems that the chickens can deal with on their own, without medication.

 

[scChickn]

I am hoping to have a fecal analysis done soon. I haven't done anything yet. I've been hoping as you say, perhaps my fluffy chickens are just a little messy. However, I did put one chicken down recently. She was very messy in the hind area, a bad smell, and I noticed her feathers below her mouth (on her breast) we matted, implying... discharge from her mouth/nose I guess. I seperated this chicken from the others as soon as I noticed. The other chickens do not seem this bad. And all of my chickens are plump and eating layer 18 feed... not sure what to think. So I'm going to have the vet out if I can manage it.

In the mean time I'll look at the worming instructions, I still need to potentially learn about it...

 

[Pine Grove]

Ivomec is useless against cecal or capillary worms

 

[priszilla]

what does work for cecal and or capillary worms-just for informaton? and note to self- have fecals done ASAP after finding out where to have them done