poultry worms

[dye29]

hi all just curiuos has anyones poultry had worms but not visible ive just got mine on heygates feed with flubenvet just wondering if they can get them but no real signs

 

[valeriebutterley]

I worm mine with Flubenvet pellets every six months just to be sure they don't have worms.

 

[dye29]

ye think i might just done mine been 2 days and they look alot better and eggs are up so wonder if mine had worms

 

[bigyetiman]

Do ours twice a year as well.
At first they may not show signs, but they will pretty soon show evidence as the infestation got worse. Glad yours are perking up

 

[rick]

The commonest (very common to the point of almost unavoidable) chicken worms (roundworm) are almost never visible in droppings until things are really bad to the point of almost fatal. That is, of course, way too late. A search for chicken roundworm online will illustrate how bad it is inside the chicken at that point. Mine are half way through their week of flubenvet and then we will need a new tub as it will be out of date before next time.

 

[Marigold]

All chickens have some worms, and as Rick says, these are not visible to humans in the early stages. Regular twice-yearly dosing with flubenvet for a whole week, with no other food, will ensure that the worms are kept to a low level which the chickens can live with. If the worm burden gets too great, the bird will lose weight and condition because the worms are getting all the nourishment from the food they are eating. Egg laying will slow down or stop, and eventually they will die.
If the hens can be kept on clean pasture, or if you pick up the poo in their run, you will lessen the risk that they will quickly become reinfested. Worm eggs live in the chicken's droppings, and can get eaten again by the chickens when they scratch around, or when they eat earthworms which contain earth contaminated by chicken worms. When this happens, the worms life cycle is complete, so yoiu want to try to keep their run as clean of poo as possible.
All the posts about worming are now in the new Pests and Predators section, where I will move this thread.

 

[rick]

Well, almost never visible. I have seen a couple in ceceal poop once when I know there shouldn't have been a major problem yet.
Unfortunately, common worms are a bit of a problem here as I have a small yard and after worming the chickens probably pick up the next generation of worms pretty much straight away. If they free ranged over a wider area, with a moving coop and the like, then the population should rise much slower. You can get a poultry run disinfectant powder like Nettex or Stalosan which should help but, I must admit, i'm just relying on routine flubenvet.
Hoping Ive got enough this time round as the pot is nearly empty! just a couple more days - should be OK.

 

[LadyA]

Unfortunately, I can't get flubenvet here. I used to be able to get it online, but for the last couple of years, no-one will ship it to Ireland. Used to have Herban shipped too, but now, no-one will ship that either!

 

[chrismahon]

You can't see hair worms at all as they are only 10mm long and the thickness of a hair. The only time we have seen them is with a sickie who did a huge watery poo shortly before she died- the water appeared to be moving and the worms could be seen under a magnifying glass. Needless to say the rest of that flock were wormed immediately.

We have found that after worming egg sizes increase by about 10%.

The only way we can get Flubenvet here is in hand luggage back from England. I don't think it is licensed outside the UK so that's why no-one will ship it. We have half a pot of 2.5% which is now 3 years past its use-by-date but still appears perfectly effective and as it is so expensive now we won't be rushing to buy more..