Worming question

[Old 76 Farm]

Hi all,
I'll be worming my chickens with Zimecterin Gold (Ivermectin 1.55%/Praziquantel 7.75%) paste. I know to give them just a bb size dose each, but I'm not sure if I should withhold food before doing so or after doing so.... or not to withhold food at all?

Does anyone here know?

 

[Old 76 Farm]

Thank you for your reply. I ended up closing the coop at 5pm last night & waited till 9am to open it & give them the wormer. So they went 16 hrs without food & I'm waiting 3 hrs to feed them just in case. I've never done this before and oh my goodness it was crazy!

I put the wormer inside small pieces of bread. 4 of the 20 would not eat it... two of them roosters, so I ended up putting a glob inside their beaks. Needless to say, I had this stuff all over me. If it obsorbs through skin I will consider myself wormed

I haven't seen any worms. I was told to worm them every 6 months for their health.

Am I supposed to do this again in 10 days even if I haven't seen any worms?

 

[cafarmgirl]

I have never withheld food for normal worming. If treating for tape worms it was recommended to me in the past to withhold food for 24 hours prior to worming. We did deal with tapes last summer and I just gave the dewormer first thing in the morning when their crops were empty, then did the repeat dose 10 days later. Sometimes a third dose is required since tapes can be hard to get rid of. But the Praziquantel apparently did it's job, haven't had any more problems so far. But other then that I don't withhold feed.

 

[Old 76 Farm]

How long before you can eat the eggs with this type of medication, it seems pretty toxic? It's such a bummer to throw out all those eggs. I have read some awful stuff about this medication but I was at a loss as to what to do. All my chickens had tapeworm and I wormed with Wazine the first time not knowing what komd of worm and it did nothing. So over a month without eggs and then when I realized they had tapeworms.. I couldn't find anything but this product.It will be another month without eggs but now I'm worried about how harmful the product is and human consumption even after the month of tossing them out. I can't find any other info on it besides this post!

After the second worming you only have to wait 2 weeks to eat eggs. So it's really 24 days total from start to finish that you throw out the eggs. I was nervous too about using the medicine, but had no problems at all! I noticed no difference in behavior, no difference in eating or drinking... they were just fine acting as usual. With the weeks after though, I noticed they were fluffier looking & more shiny. Some of my smaller hens felt less thin & combs looked redder and healthier. I was very pleased with this wormer.

With this and other wormers the reason to throw out eggs is that there is a small possibility that small traces of the meds could get into the eggs. It's totally not a huge risk in my opinion. I waited the 2 weeks and cringed at throwing out all those precious eggs too. But at the end of the two weeks the eggs were just beautiful!! Larger, cleaner, more abundant, and yokes are bright orange. I never saw any worms before I wormed the chickens, but was just following the rule to worm them every 6 months... so I really think it's important to do so. They must have had some kind of worm overload or I wouldn't have seen such improvement in health & eggs.

Try not to worry, they should do fine & eggs will be fine too. I did read that with tapeworms sometimes a third worming is needed (at another 10 day period) in some cases, so you may want to consider that also. I think if it was me, I would do the third worming just because you don't want to go through the whole thing again.

 

[aohare]

Hi all,
I'll be worming my chickens with Zimecterin Gold (Ivermectin 1.55%/Praziquantel 7.75%) paste. I know to give them just a bb size dose each, but I'm not sure if I should withhold food before doing so or after doing so.... or not to withhold food at all?

Does anyone here know?

I don't withhold food with Ivermec, not to say if you should or shouldn't but I never have and no worm issues.

AJ

 

[cafarmgirl]

Yes, repeat the dose in 10 days. Wormers don't get worm eggs or encysted worms, hence the repeat dose. It would also be a good idea to rotate between different wormers. Zimectrin Gold is good to use if you have a problem with tape worms, otherwise a good, broad spectrum wormer like Valbazen or Safeguard are good choices.

 

[Old 76 Farm]

Thank you for your reply. I will use different one next time as you suggested, thanks so much for the advice. Should I use Zimecterin Gold again for the 10 days later dose this time, or switch to another for that also?

 

[cafarmgirl]

If you already have it on hand you can go ahead and use the Zimectrin Gold. Otherwise a follow up dose with one of the others would be good as well. Both are very effective, Valbazen is liquid and Safeguard is available in liquid for goats, so they are easy to measure and administer. I go out very early, just before it's light, pluck them off the roost and squirt it in their beak with a needless syringe. Helps to have a helper to hold the birds for you.

 

[Old 76 Farm]

Thanks so much for your help! I think I'll go with the Zimecterin Gold again as I bought 2 tubes of it not knowing how much was really inside them.

A helper is in order for next time for sure

You have been of great help.

 

[Old 76 Farm]

I have one more question.. should I be withholding food?