Worming?

[Bcook0315]

I am new to this -- just got my chicks today. I am wondering about worming. Is this something that needs to be done and something I should be considering? Should this be done yearly? I want to be proactive when it comes to my chickens' health. If I should worm my chicks at what age should I do this? Thanks for all the help!

 

[ChicKat]

Congratulations on getting your chickens. You have many happy times ahead of you.

Everyone manages their flock in a different way. When I first got my chickens a book said that a backyard flock would most likely NOT need worming. That couldn't have been more wrong. Unfortunately my chickens came with several type of worms.

If your chickens are babies, you may want to consider a worming program. Round worms are the most common type of worms that affect chickens. Unfortunately some things that my chickens love to eat are in the lifecycle of the round worm, such as grasshoppers and even earthworms. Round worm eggs are in the soil and in the bugs that chickens eat. These worm infest the chickens intestines.

Because I live in a climate with no hard freezes, insects never are killed off. It is a climate that insects thrive in.

As a result, I regularly worm my chickens. I worm pullets at about 16 weeks so that anything would be out of their system by the time they lay their first egg. I worm the rest of my flock twice per year.... if I should see any indications of worms I will worm them again at that time. People will state that it is 'hard on a chicken to be wormed' - and I will state that it is probably harder on a chicken to have worms.

Any of these parasites that once infest a flock will have their eggs in the soil or in insects that are around. If you use the bar at the top of the page and type in worming or worm medicine you will probably get hundreds of ideas on worming programs.

My thoughts if you are in a warm climiate, if your chickens eat a lot of grasshoppers, then worm at least once or twice per year.

Last thing. Good for you for being proactive. Your chickens are lucky to have a caring owner.

 

[Bcook0315]

Thanks for the great information ChicKat! It is very helpful! I am in a desert climate -- Las Vegas. Haven't see grasshoppers in the yard but certainly other bugs. How does one administer the de-worming medication? Is it put in the water?

 

[ChicKat]

That is such a tough one......

I'm on a cattle ranch and I have access to a 'pour on' product that we use for cattle. It is administered by the weight of the animal and it is an 'off label' use. This means that the FDA hasn't approved it for chickens but rather for cattle. So what I do works for me but wouldn't be readily available to non-cattle ranchers. (sorry). Our vet said that all the products like ivermectin and ivermec -- etc are all related-- and I discussed my usage with vet and have been doing it a long time and no ill effects to either my chickens or we humans (and sometimes dogs if I drop and break one) that eat the eggs.

Here is where application gets tricky.... what I can pass along is that some wormers (the water based one that has 14-day egg discard period) will only kill round worms. The others will kill a spectrum of worms that plague chickens. I'm not sure which is best...cause I use a product called cydectin that comes in huge bottles (like gallon size but they are litres) and cost 300.00. (for chickens I just use a few drops.....

I'd use this search and look for one of the threads with a lot of posts to it...and see what they are saying is the latest and greatest...maybe contact someone and double check their process..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/search.php?search=worming

will you look at that? our conversation comes in at the top because it is newest ....LOL. Other search options you may want to try are things like 'how to worm your flock'. Good luck with it. When we get droughted out of the cattle business, I will be coming to you to ask for the best wormer....;O)