Worming Help Please

[JCoogle]

Be careful on how you decide to do it. I had a problem with two of my chicks and some told me they used Quest 2% on their chickens. I gave them alot smaller dose then they recomended and it all went south after just a couple hours. If you find a wormer that does work please let me know. Ath the moment I am just adding apple cider vinegar to thier water.

 

[JayDe]

I don't want to lose my chickens if they have gapeworm and I don't know what else to do. Most of them act fine as far as I know...I've never had silkies or orpingtons before. They just constantly shake their heads and gape once in a while. No other respiratory issues. Even the occasional sneezing they had in the beginning seems to have stopped. My EEs DID start to shake their heads once in a while and that's new--they only have access to eachother because the EEs like to come around when the babies are out in the grass. There is no other sign of respiratory problems in any of the birds, so the only thing that fit was gapeworm.

I really need more opinions on this since now I have two people saying be careful--before the advice was to use Ivomec 1% or the generic-which I went out and bought and searched and searched for directions on dosage that was consistent.

I would greatly appreciate some of the breeders or long time experienced members chiming in so that I can either treat or not treat my babies. *confused*

Here is a post (See #2) which outlines options. I am just unsure about how to dose the 12 week olds vs. older full sized birds:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=185989


Thanks for any future insight on the topic!

 

[greenbeandreams]

So, what's the verdict? Is wazine at least safe for worming 12 week old chickens?

 

[JayDe]

Yeah, I used Wazine mixed in the water with my 10 week olds who are now 12 weeks. They were fine, but didn't have intestinal worms. It's pretty mild and from what I read around the net and on here you can give it to them as young as ours with no problems.

I just wish someone would chime in on Ivermectin for the 12 week olds. Someone out there who uses Ivermectin has to have an opinion on 12 week olds...

Husband thinks maybe mites, but I've checked vents, etc and don't see any...I think gapeworm may NOT be the problem...because now it's been a LONG time and no one has suffocated yet.. Wouldn't someone have died by now? Or show respiratory distress? The silkies have headshaked ever since we got them 8 weeks ago (apprx) Two weeks later the Orpingtons were also shaking...Now my EEs have started to occasionally shake their head. I have no idea what to do.

 

[sagesounds]

Ivomectin works on invertebrates, it inhibis the way sugars (glucose) is metabloized. It is very effective for killing all inverts, (worms, earthworms in the garden will be harmed by using the poop containing it - so compost it for at least 6 months to break most of it down, also kills all the mites, lice, and virtually all the parasites known, works great on hard to get worms in the tissues, lungs, liver, eyes, blood, brain, etc. The greatest problems people have found is that it is soo darn effective that an animal (or person) heavly infested can have a reaction to all the dead parasites and die from that!! They started to give people steriods and antihistamines to prevent this in heavly infested areas. Unfortunately as with all chemical cures, we are starting to see resistant parasites, but that always happens with chemical remedies.

So what to do?
Birds are vertebrates and should be relatively safe to medicate with this type of chemical, in other words, it has a large margin of safety on vertebrates. I have no experience with the dosage, but birds are tiny so the dose will be small. Personally I would try it out on one bird to see the effect, next day if all is well, dose more. Be cautious and careful, keep a record of what you tried and how it worked.

I liked JayDe's idea to dilute it and then give 2-4 drops on the back.

 

[smith2]

I don't usually treat my chickens, but when I have to I use Eprinex oral solution. It takes 1/2 cc per grown bird or 1/4 cc in syringe for a 10-12 wk old bird. I have never had one die from using this product. We also eat the eggs even when they are being treated. I don't know what is available in your area. I also have heard from several that Eprinex does not treat round worm, but others say it does. It keeps lice, mites, etc. under control in my houses, and around here that is the biggest issue with birds. I have never seen any worms in my birds so I haven't really worried about worms as much as lice/mites. I haven't really had lice/mite problem either but I don't want to so they get treated once in the spring and once in the fall. I am not familiar with any other products except Wazine for round worms, but mine have not had them so I haven't ever had to use it. Sorry I can't be of more help.