Tim said:
On the subject of Flubenvet being added to the feed, I have been reading some of my old literature. It has been used on free range farms for more than 15 years in 56 countries according to this literature (which I've had for a good few years). Looking at the worm count graphs, most of the worms are killed after a couple of days of worming so after 7 days, assuming all other treats such as mixed corn are removed, I would think free range hens that appear not to be eating a huge amount should be considered wormed. If not, I'm sure there would be huge problems on commercial farms where there are thousands of layers stocked at a far greater density than our back yard hens with a higher chance of getting infected.
I'm not sure but I would think that there are different degrees of free range which might also affect the efficacy of including the flubenvet only in feed???...Free range does not always mean out on grass, rootling under hedges and digging holes in lawns :roll: where any number of goodies can be found and eaten.... The term 'free range' can encompass all kinds of situations: those on a very large fenced area that does not have grass, multiple small flocks in moveable coops on rotated areas of grass, set ups where the hens are in large barns and 'have access to the outdoors' (which many do not access at all) and so on.
Those of us that free range our chickens in the garden
could just withdraw special treats like corn, sunflower seeds etc and let the hens continue to rootle and forage and eat the pellets over the 7 days but I still (sorry!) can't see how I could be sure they would all get the right amount of flubenvet in
that day's feed. It varies so much with mine, for instance, even when whatever extras I give them stays exactly the same. Yesterday for instance they left quite a bit of the mix of pellets and mixed corn I put in their feeder and we'd had a bit of a frost overnight so the temp was lower and you'd think they'd eat more. Today, no frost and yet they ate almost all that I had given them - yet it was th same amount of food I had allowed for them the day before......It just seems a bit random I think is what I am saying and I can't begin to imagine trying to get either a day's allowance for 8 chickens exactly mixed in to the 'right' amount of food they may or may not eat that day (
19
19 ), or even the whole 7 days for 8 chickens mixed and then actually inside them over the designated timespan! My head is spinning at the prospect.
I think the fact that they reckon the hens should be wormed after 2 days is quite interesting but I'm still not sure how that works given my thoughts outlined above....
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I just feel grateful that I found out they love mince so much I can get all of them to eat it quickly and easily with the flubenvet mixed into it and it is easy to throw in different directions so I can target different hens while other hens are eating theirs and not worry that one isn't eating it cos they're not in the mood :shock: :shock: I'd tried lovingly chopped grapes ('yeah we like them but....') equally lovingly chopped tomatoes ('we all like them but not all of the time..') and probiotic yoghurt mixed with it ('some of us really like it and eat loads and some of us like it but can't get anywhere near it cos the greedy ones won't let us near it') Huge relief to discover they think mince is worms
My vet sent me the info, so it might be worthwhile asking them about it.
