Worm count kits

[rick]

Has anyone tried these? Good idea if it works?
Seems unlikely, considering the lack of report otherwise, that Flubenvet would become un-effective like antibiotics.
Why haven't we heard about this for dogs?
Sorry - 101 questions!

 

[dinosaw]

I've not tried them but apparently they do work, worth it if you are at the commercial end of things where optimising your worming schedule can save you a lot of money but for hobby keepers not worth bothering with IMO. Provided you aren't overstocking your birds and are changing your run material/sanitising on a semi regular basis then there is no reason why worming every 4-6 months won't keep the worm burden within acceptable levels. Even if you decided to err on the cautious side and worm every 3 months then the extra cost would still be less than buying an egg count kit.They do worm count kits for dogs too, I just assume most people don't bother.
http://www.myitchydog.co.uk/worm-count-worm-egg-count-kit.html

 

[rick]

Thanks dinosaw. Search about a bit and also discovered for horses. Seems to be sample taking kits for lab rather than count yourself. I guess, for a big enterprise, half a ton of wormer would cost a fortune (and an enormous mixing bowl and spoon!)

 

[BabyBantam]

Worm count kits all very well, but if you got worms and can't get flubenvet its a problem. My girls won't eat marriages pellets, so on a time bomb until someone somewhere sorts out the issues with flubenvet and gets some on the market... And no, vermex does not work!

 

[rick]

Having only a very small flock I wasn't aware of the problems obtaining Flubenvet powder (still have enough in the pot for one more round at least.) What happened I wonder.
Anyway, in the meanwhile, this is what I've noticed with mine:
They will stubbornly eat nothing for 2 days when given medicated pellets then give in and start eating it. My lot don't even like pellets in general, given any alternative, and I have taken to grinding them down to the size of the 5% millet I'm adding. They eat that and can't see the millet amongst the mash so don't scratch everything out looking for it.
If I could only get premix pellets (as looks likely at the moment) then it would be a choice between 2 days of no dose, while they are being stubborn, or a small dilution of millet in ground med pellets.
Warm mash also tends to go down well, of course, but doesn't last well in the coop if not eaten straight away.
I got my 60g of wormer from BHWT last time. I wonder if the BHWT vets might still have access to supplies?

P.s. 'East End' millet has a reasonable germination rate for sprouting as well and is fairly cheap in 2kg bags. Indian shopkeepers know it as 'Bajra'.

 

[dinosaw]

Funny isn't it, sometimes you can switch feeds and the chickens go mad for it, other times you just leave it in the run till they get hungry enough to eat it, purely because of mess I switch to pellets at the first opportunity and I've never yet had of a chicken who would rather starve than eat pellets.

 

[rick]

They know if they make skwarking noises - 'help, help, we're going to die if we don't have a cucumber rieta right now!' - it usually does the trick.
'whats that? -Oh yea, with mealworm sprinkles!'('just can't get the staff these days!')