Worming with Horse Wormer

[thejoyofchicks]

I have over 35 girls in my daytime free-ranging flock, and catching/dosing all of them with wormer would take hours that I just don't have.

there must be a method for adding it to their food or water at night when they're all in the coop. does anyone have relevant ideas or experience?

 

[casportpony]

I have over 35 girls in my daytime free-ranging flock, and catching/dosing all of them with wormer would take hours that I just don't have.

there must be a method for adding it to their food or water at night when they're all in the coop. does anyone have relevant ideas or experience?

If they like lay crumble with water you could make them a mash.

Estimate weight of flock in pounds, divide by 2.2, times 50, divide by 100. The answer to that is the amount of Safeguard liquid you'll need. For example - A flock of 35 RIR hens might weigh 210 pounds (six pounds each).
210 ÷ 2.2 x 50 ÷ 100 = 47.7ml

Take that 47ml of Safeguard and mix it in water, then use that water to make an amount of mash that all of them will eat. Make sense?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

For Valbazen:
Estimate weight of flock in pounds, divide by 2.2, times 20, divide by 113.6. The answer to that is the amount of Valbazen liquid you'll need. For example - A flock of 35 RIR hens might weigh 210 pounds (six pounds each).
210 ÷ 2.2 x 20 ÷ 113.6 = 16.8ml

-Kathy

 

[thejoyofchicks]

thanks! I think they would happily eat mash. should I overestimate the wormer just to be on the safe side? I want to make sure everyone gets at least the therapeutic dosage.
as far as a broad-spectrum dewormer, which is what I *think* i need, I've seen so much conflicting information that I'm thoroughly confused. two specific questions (for now

) :1. is safeguard effective for tapeworms? 2. is dosing with valbazen pretty hard on the flock?

 

[casportpony]

Studies show that Safeguard given at half the amount I suggested for three days will treat some tapes, but some people say it doesn't. I've never had tapes, so I don't know either way. Both Safeguard and Valbazen are quite safe. Bang for the buck, Valbazen is the better wormer. One dose of Valbazen and again in ten days will treat roundworms, cecal worms and capillary worms, but Safeguard needs to be given five days for the same efficacy on capillary worms.

-Kathy

 

[thejoyofchicks]

my feed store didn't have the liquid safeguard, so I got the equine paste. guess i'll be divvying up little bread crumbs and letting the girls out one by one tomorrow.

fun times on the farm. that'll be especially fun with the guineas. and geese. any opinions on whether I treat them, too??

in related update, I did my first chicken necropsy this afternoon. gross and fascinating at the same time. This was a 2yo RIR with many of the typical worm symptoms: pale droopy comb, lethargy, weight loss. she definitely had roundworms, but the infestation looked nowhere near as bad as I would've thought, in order to cause death. there aren't that many pictures of roundworm-infected chicken intestines online. (thankfully) how bad would the infestation have to be to cause death in a hen? I am not an expert on chicken internal anatomy, and couldn't identify anything else that looked amiss.

 

[springchicken10]

Very interesting. I did the same math to figure out how much Ivermectin ( a horse wormer) I should give to a 65 lb. dog to prevent heartworms. It's the exact same medicine as the expensive vet stuff.
Now, with the birds and Safeguard, you are saying get a pea sized amount into their mouths? I think I will do it by finger feeding method because it is such a small amount that the right amount really will not get out of the tube. I have few birds so I'm going to open their mouths and put it in. Thank you for the information. Very useful.

 

[casportpony]

Very interesting. I did the same math to figure out how much Ivermectin ( a horse wormer) I should give to a 65 lb. dog to prevent heartworms. It's the exact same medicine as the expensive vet stuff.
Now, with the birds and Safeguard, you are saying get a pea sized amount into their mouths? I think I will do it by finger feeding method because it is such a small amount that the right amount really will not get out of the tube. I have few birds so I'm going to open their mouths and put it in. Thank you for the information. Very useful.

It depends on how big the chicken is and what worms you want to kill... The size of a pea is subjective, so I would not do that, I would squirt the paste into a tube and give an accurate dose.

When I worm for just roundworms and cecal worms I give one dose at 0.23ml per *pound* and repeat in ten days, but when worming for gapes and capillary worms, I do 0.23ml for five consecutive days.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

From left to right:
Small = 10mg ( .1cc) = enough for a 200 gram (7 ounce) bird at 50mg/kg
Medium = 25mg (.25cc) = enough for a 500 gram (17 ounce) bird at 50mg/kg
Large = 50mg ( .5cc) = enough for a 1000 gram (35 ounce) bird at 50mg/kg
50 mg/kg is what my vets recommended.




-Kathy

 

[Toodles]

I'd be extremely careful in trying to give Ivermectin for horses to your dog, if you get it wrong you could kill your dog. I have dogs and horses and the package of horse wormer warns about only using in horses not dogs. A .21 oz. syringe is enough to treat a 1200# horse! I have a Quarter horse and a 300# miniature horse, it can be difficult to get the dose right for the mini since it is such a small amount. I even go so far as to make sure my dogs can't get into and eat the horse manure for several weeks after the horses are wormed just to sure. That goes for the chickens too who love to work and compost the horse manure.

We get Iverhart Max from www.kvpet.com for our 5 large dogs that range in size from a Border Collie to a 100# Great Pyrenees. It's basically the generic version of HeartGard and about 1/2 the cost of getting it from the vet.