How do you worm your birds?

[Kelly Walentiny]

I was wondering if you all could tell me what you use to worm your chickens.  When and how much do you worm?  Thanks for your help :)

[Suzie O'Connor]

I worm with Verm-X one scoop per bird for six days in their feed. Works great.

[Michael and Lylah Ledner]

do you have a worming schedule?

[Lisa Corprew]

This has been fascinating and I'm keeping notes :-) Of course I'm hoping that I NEVER have to actually deal with any of this...I'm feeling a bit "chicken" about having to! Haha.

[Rachel]

In general, I'm against "maintenance" medicated worming (worming before you see any signs that they have worms) for backyard flock folks but Kelly, it does sound like you're a good candidate for worming. :) I would first worm with a milder wormer like Wazine 17, in case you have a high parasite load (so they don't all drop off at once and cause excess internal bleeding) , and follow up with either the fenbendazole or the ivermectin drops (for cattle, these are also expensive but easy to worm with a few drops on the skin). Since I'm guessing you will go with the fenbendazole the easiest way to do it is to put a bb sized piece inside a small cherry tomato, blueberry or grape (something you can squeeze out the contents of and they can eat in one gulp so you're sure they get all of the medication), the chicken will happily take her medicine this way. Obviously, since you have so many birds and you want to be sure each one gets one dose, I would give them to the birds one at a time and then put them in a separate area once they get their "treat". Since it is not rated for poultry, I would err on the safe side and not eat any eggs for 14 days after worming.

@Lisa- The chopped pumpkin seed thing is a natural wormer, but like many natural methods is best used as a prevention method. Often if an illness or parasite takes hold, the natural methods may be not strong enough. I'm not actually sure of the antithelmintic strength of pumpkin seeds but I would guess it may not be enough in a situation like this where there is a pretty high parasite load in the chickens' environment.

[Kelly Walentiny]

Thanks everyone :)
I will do a little more reading and research and let you all know how it goes!!!!
I also am NOT a big fan of medicating and Vaccines :(

But with the amount (and variety) of animals our family cares for I am finding it wise to take a strong grasp on any problems we are dealing with, and quickly!!!! I fully agree with the preventive measures and a clean healthy environment ( good diet, clean water, raked and poo free living area, strong safe sleeping roosting area) idea to prevent sickness. But obviously it has come time for me to do more than that. I will let you know how and with what I end up treating the birds. Thanks for ALL your thoughts and input. Just trying to see how others out there take care of their hens, because goodness knows we ALL do it differently. And not a one of us is doing it the CORRECT way lol just the way that works best for us and our own flock. To each their own, that is why the good Lord made us individuals. Thanks again :)

[Kelly Walentiny]

The chickens are in between the horses and the goats and rabbits. They often get their beaks into the horse and goat poop. As do the dogs (they love fresh horse poo, YUCK!!!). All of the animals except for the chickens and pig are wormed regularly. In May we had a litter of puppies and at 4 weeks old one of the pups pooped out a bunch of round worms in front of me (it is estimated that between 90%-98% of puppies are born with worms). It was terrible :( We wormed the dam and wormed the pups at 4 weeks 6 weeks 8 weeks and 12 weeks. They are 12 weeks old now. In June our female goat kidded twins. While delivering the placenta there were round worms in the after birth (yes, I am sure that they were worms. Round worms again). We have wormed the doe twice since her births and the kids once. The dogs and goat were up to date on their worming before they became pregnant and also after they delivered. They were not missing any doses or behind on their de-worming schedule. The horses are also on a regular de-worming schedule and are currant and up to date (we rotate the types of wormers that they get). The rabbits are not wormed, nor is the pot bellied pig. All of these animals have contact with each other at some time or another (they do not all live together all the time, but they do wander into each others areas). We have had (obviously not the same ones lol) all of these animals for 14 years. No my chickens are not 14 years old haha. But we have had chickens for 14 years. I feed Lay pellets mixed with Diatomaceous earth, and I sprinkle Diatomaceous earth on the dirt around their coop. We are in the desert and have no irrigation or grass or anything green for that matter :) The chickens get hay- Bermuda/Alfalfa blend and all of our kitchen scraps and as much fresh veggies as I can get for them. All of the animals get Diatomaceous earth on their food even the dogs. The hens slowed down then just stopped laying eggs all together about 5 days ago. I have 32 hens, so for ALL of them to quit laying for 5 days is not good. 4 of them look like they are molting (they look awful). I do have roosters in there with the hens so the boys do mess up their feathers a little bit on the neck and back. But these 4 girls are yucky all over. They are all eating and drinking JUST fine, and are alert and happy to see me each morning and come running for whatever "snacks" I have to give them. Their eyes are clear and bright. I have looked into all of my chicken worming options, I can go about it in several ways-
Medication that is given in the drinking water or eating it
Medication that is given by drops on the back on the neck (skin)
Medication that is given by tablets
Medication that is given by injection

Water meds are:
Piperazine
Levamisole (tetramisole active ingredient)
Moxidectin
Ivermectin for beef and sheep (not FDA approved)
Wazine (same as piperazine)
Tramizo


Drops at back on neck (skin) not FDA approved
Ivermectin for beef and sheep
Cydectin for beef and sheep
Frontline plus for dogs

Tablets
Droncit for tapeworm
Prazivet for tapeworm

Injections
Ivermect (approved by FDA) can also be given orally ¼ cc or 7 drops for a bantam

Powder
Coumaphos (Meldane) goes into the feed
Flubenvet powder goes into the feed
Hygromycin B is a feed additive
Mebendazole (based on thiabendazole) feed additive
Meldane feed additive
Phenothiazineis is a powder
Thiabendazole feed additive



I am guessing that Flubenvet can only be found in the UK??? I can not seem to order it online. I worry with the hot weather about putting anything in their water that might make them drink less. I would rather do a feed through and add it to their feed.



Chris suggested using Fenbendazole. That would be convenient as I have some in the fridge right now and can use that :) But I tell you that I do NOT want to catch and open the mouths of 32 hens and 3 roosters lol That might be a great job for the kids haha. I guess I was really looking for the easiest way to worm chickens haha. But I would love to hear what everyone does and how and when they do it. Twice a year should be sufficient for Az because we are not green and humid. The wetter states need 3-4 times a year. Almost everyone does not worm in the winter at all, but our winters are so mild that it would be wise to keep a schedule year round here. I have NEVER wormed my chickens in 14 years. But I think that in my situation (with the puppies and the baby goats being wormy) that I should get the worms under control. I could send in a fecal test, but that would not do much. It would tell me if the chickens had worms and what kind, but all of the meds (for the most part) treat the same types of worms. My hens quit laying last summer also (I blamed it on the heat). But my girlfriends girls are still cranking out eggs now even in this heat. So I am not to sure what is going on. I have heard of the pumpkin seeds. I think that is a great preventative. I think it is the same concept as the Diatomaceous earth. But I could be wrong :\ But from what I read DE and Pumpkin seeds will help to prevent but not treat an infestation. The girls have runny brownish poo and I have been told that it is 1. a sure sign of worms and 2. NORMAL droppings produced from the caecum of the chicken and are mustard to dark brown froth. They are expelled every 8 to 10 droppings.

So not sure if the poo is normal or bad.

Thanks Chris for your thoughts :) Most wormers are for livestock and the dosing is set up for such. Horse wormers come in a paste or gel and that is not easy to give to a chicken (or 32 chickens:). Dog wormer is liquid and is probably easy if I knew how much to mix with their water. Why is there just not a universal "chicken wormer"? lol

[Michael and Lylah Ledner]

chris...fenbendazole is safe guard right? the whole worming thing interests me as does this thread. my girls have struggled laying as well - i took them off everything except the layena and there is a tad bit of egg production increase...got a dozen yesterday out of 47 hens. perhaps i need to evaluate more closely the poo and consider using this.

rachel...i like the idea of a drop on a tomato...smart!

[Rachel]

If I remember this correctly, these were birds you got from someone else which is 99.9% likely to be where they picked up the worms. I bet after this first worming you may not have any issues for a long time and may not need to worm again (at least for a couple of years). If you do choose to keep up a regular worming schedule, remember that you have to switch up your wormers, if you use the same ones, the parasites build immunity and no one wants to breed immune parasites. :)

[Lisa Corprew]

I would be very interested in hearing why you think you have worms....I'd like to know what I have to watch for.

I think I remember Rachel Bess telling us at "chicken class" that adding chopped pumpkin seed to their scratch acts as a natural wormer...am I remembering that right?