Worming routine

cuwiar

cuwiar

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Hi, posted this on the end of an existing worming topic rather than start a new one but it seems to have been overlooked (or maybe no-one knows the answer?) :-)19

Hello, would just like to resurrect this topic - rather than start a new one - but was wondering if it's a silly question to ask if I should limit the hens free-ranging time when worming? I started wormer in their feed on Saturday and they were free-ranging most of the weekend and Monday as hubby was off work. They haven't eaten as much pellets as they would if they had been kept in (obviously as they got full of seeds, grubs, grass etc). In order to make sure they have the right dosage of wormer should I continue to give the feed after the seven days or have I messed up this worming session?

If I've messed up and they won't have got the full benefit from their wormer how long should I wait before I can give them wormer again?

Yesterday, between three of them over the course of four days they hadn't even eaten 1kg of feed.

Their poos have seemed quite normal, apart from the odd mustardy ones, and no signs of worms in them as far as I can tell.
Click to expand...

Today is the last day they should be having their medicated feed and I don't know whether to keep giving them more??
 
It is actually very difficult to know when a bird has worms unless looking under a microscope at a sample.

With regard to your question, I am sure it will be fine it is very difficult to exclude everything else from their diet! I know that some people pop a pinch of medication on a grape etc.. to ensure that enough is taken on board.

A birds wormload will be largely dictated by their enviroment and simple measures of changing their ranging areas and leaving land fallow for a period of time, moving feeders and drinkers around or changing the floor in their run area in a static set up will have a impact on reducing worm load potential. You could encorporate other tonics such as ACV, it has been suggested that this will alter the acidity in the gut making it less hospitable to parasites, as well as other herbal products such as Oregano (Oregostim and Ropaidor)

If you are unsure maybe send off a sample to be analysed?

A good time to worm is twice a year, autumn and Spring or just before birds are moved onto fresh ground.
 
Good advice from Foxy. Just to add, if you want to reduce ranging while you're worming it may help them to eat more of the medicated feed, and reduce the passing of worms being expelled from the gut so it's not a bad idea, this makes cleaning the ground easier.
As for the odd mustard coloured poop, this is quite normal, it's called a ceacal poop, and is what a bird naturally expells from it's liver as a waste product, obviously you don't want to be seeing hundreds but on average a bird will pass one every other day. Some feamles in the summer months can pass a few more than the males.
Using ACV with reduce the worm burden significantly inbetween the medication two to three times a year, alternatively, you can use it all year round, and let your birds build up a natural immunity to worms and internal parasites without medication, if you have sufficiant ground for them to range on, where you can rotate the use of it. Leaving resting periods, and treating it with lime.

JubesXX
 
I've always understood that, in order to be sure the birds are getting an effective dose of Flubenvet, you have to remove the options for filling up on anything else than treated pellets, ie keep them confined to their run with only pellets to eat for the week's treatment. However, since this does imply a break in their routine, and restricting their ranging seems a bit punitive, I confess to using the unorthodox method, ie measuring out 7 eggcupfuls of chicken corn per hen, stirring cod liver oil in to coat the corn, treating the mix with the right amount of flubenvet for 1 week for all the birds, and feeding it in measured eggcupful portions, one per bird, as treats, each day for the week. It goes down the hatch very fast, you can watch them to make sure everyone is eating their share. However, I'm still using up a large pot of the 2.5% flubenvet you used to be able to buy, which tells you to dose the feed with a certain amount per bird, rather than per kilo of feed, so I'm not sure how I shall be able to do it next time, when the pot has become out of date and I have to get some of the 1% stuff. i suppose you could make the treated pellets into a nice warm mash with extra treats in? Mine would eat this all the time if I gave it to them, in preference to the dry stuff.
 
Hi, thanks for the advice and suggestions. I'll make the assumption that the treatment has been sufficient this time and medicate again in 4 months time - unless I see any obvious signs of worm problems.

I did wonder about the idea of giving the girls their daily dose in one go to make sure they all got the correct amount but I am using the 1% flubenvet and worried that a) the dosage they give is based on an amount of feed and the amount each bird then eats would depend on body weight so therefore I might give them too much and b) the daily dose in one sitting, when it is meant to be over the course of a day, might not be very good for them.

I have read a topic that Tim posted from another forum member with some good advice on suggested amounts per bird but it is still difficult to figure out what to do for the best with the dosage.
 
We are harsh with ours now having wasted time and money with ineffective treatment. They stay in the run for 7 days and have nothing but medicated feed and plain water. We use Marriages/ Flubenvet 1% premix because it works out cheaper, saves a lot of time and all the birds eat it as some used to starve rather than eat feed with powder on. The results were amazing, 5 -10% egg weight increase.
 
If you look in Chicken's Health FAQs at the top this will open up some useful information posts, there is lots of information also there on worming you might find helpful :-)17

http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewforum.php?f=35
 
If you are going to give any form of medication, surely you need to think through how you are going to give it and also think of anything that might get in the way of them not getting the required dose.
Underdosing with antibiotics and wormers can lead to resistant strains developing.
If I have to give anything in their water, I take the water away for three or four hours, then put the medicated water in and they will all go for a good drink and the medication is taken.
Likewise with feed, if you want them to take medicated feed, feed it in the morning when the crops are empty and in the evening when they are filling up to go to roost.
 
We ran out of Marriages Flubenvet premix and I've had to go back to the old method of mixing it into the feed. Went onto the Flubenvet site where it suggests mixing the Flubenvet dose with olive oil first to make a thin paste then adding that to the feed. So I tried it that way -so easy and no toxic dust. The Leghorns didn't like it much though, not like the Marriages, but we can't stop the treatment halfway through.
 
Hello the hen that is laying is feeling a bit on the thin side to me. Her breast bone is quite prominent (more so than the other two) and she seems somehow a bit smaller than she was about a week ago. She is eating very well (in fact she seems constantly hungry) and drinking and alert and happy. No signs of any illness so my thoughts are that I should worm her. As you can see from the thread above it has only been a month since I last gave them flubenvet but I was worried then that they hadn't had a full dose. Does anyone know if it would be detrimental to give them the medication again so soon after the first time?
 
Don't know if the Flubenvet web site says anything but I would just give Vermex in the water as an intermediate treatment. Has her poo got any undigested feed in it? Sometimes ours go a bit light with poos full of only partially digested food and the first thing we give is probiotic natural yoghurt. Seems to sort them out and they like it. About 10mL on little squares of bread or in a syringe. One dose is enough.
 
Her overnight poos have seemed quite normal and the first one she does after coming out of the coop is always gigantic and was quite normal this morning. I haven't seen much of their poos for the past week or so, short days, heavy rain and away at the weekend but nothing has seemed much out of the ordinary. All last week and today I made them a 'breakfast' of layers pellets, a little corn, mealworms, CLO and warm water which they love and all eat with gusto! I have been adding a little probiotic yoghurt, maybe about a dessert spoon full in the mash-up which lasts three of them two days. Not sure how much that means she's been eating (she gets the lions share) but will not give any more as I'm sure she has had more than 10ml over the course of a few days.

They have all had a three day course of verm-x in their food since the flubenvet and ACV for one week since then too.

This sack of feed (smallholders layers pellets) is nearly gone and I'm thinking of trying something else as from day one I have wondered if they are actually eating enough ie. do they like it? they don't seem to get through the average 100-150g feed each a day, although two aren't laying so I guess wouldn't need to eat as much?

Ebrill has always got a huge, very full crop at night though which is emptying fine so I'm not sure what is going on - worm sprang to mind because I thought they might be eating her away!!?
 
Can you get Garvo where you live? Try list of stockists at http://www.garvo.co.uk/ though penetration does seem low in Wales. Or try e-mailing Jonathan Sage, the main agent, at [email protected]

They do seem to like a change now and then, but so long as Ebrill is eating well from the varied and excellent diet you're giving her, and seems happy and healthy, i wouldn't worry too much.
 
Thanks Marigold - I'll look into new feeds for them. We have a Farm and Pet Place near us which does have quite a good choice of feeds - not that I've seen Garvo there but I'll have a look. They don't seem to have marriges flubenvet pre-mix either but will ask if they could stock it!
 
Hi Cuwiar. Spoke to Marriages reps at the last show. Need a full prescribing licence to sell it at the moment and the only poultry stockist that has one is 'SPC' I think. We get ours mail order from there in 10Kg bags. DEFRA are changing the requirements soon to make it easier to sell. Seems daft as loads of people sell Flubenvet.
 
Thanks Chris - will look into it online!! I still have quite a bit of flubenvet left over. I'll email them and ask what there recommendation is for shortest time period between dosing - you never know - I might get an answer!
 
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