Hello all, I'm new to the forum and new to chicken keeping. I live in the north Dordogne, France. I researched well -or thought I had- before getting chickens but maybe I have read too much information some of which is very conflicting. I have a query about worming- can you eat the eggs after giving a worming treatment? I'm using Capizol and finding it difficult to translate all the information. How old should the chickens be before you start worming regularly. 3 of ours are 11 to 12 weeks old 2 other are around 18 to 20 weeks old and have started laying. Advice would be very much appreciated. By the way love this forum very informative. The essentials list is brilliant. Many thanks Maxine.
Worming
- Thread starter Maxine
- Start date
Hi Maxine, and welcome to the Forum, its good to have you here as well.
The usual medication used in the UK for worming poultry is Flubenvet. This is licensed for chickens and has no egg withdrawal problems. It's highly effective, and is given every 4-6 months from about 18 weeks old, so your POL girls could have it now, but the growers won't need it yet and are too young to be dosed with it. You can buy it on Amazon but am not sure if you can do this in France. It comes in a small light plastic pot, so if you have difficulty and have contacts back in the UK maybe they could post it to you. You just add it to weighed pellets using the scoop provided, mix carefully, and feed only those treated pellets for one week. Each bird then eats the right amount for her own weight and needs. Give no extras during the week or they will eat less of the feed. A potful will treat 20 full sized hens at the rate of about 1 kilo of feed each per week, so will last more than once with a small flock.
See the Poultrykeeper link on worming chickens http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/worming-chickens
I don't know anything about Caprizole so can't advise. Don't rely on herbal tonics, they won't kill the worms effectively.
We do have another member in the Dordogne, Chrismahon, who usually posts regularly but ATM he's in England and offline for a while. When he returns I expect he can advise you about local drug provision.
The usual medication used in the UK for worming poultry is Flubenvet. This is licensed for chickens and has no egg withdrawal problems. It's highly effective, and is given every 4-6 months from about 18 weeks old, so your POL girls could have it now, but the growers won't need it yet and are too young to be dosed with it. You can buy it on Amazon but am not sure if you can do this in France. It comes in a small light plastic pot, so if you have difficulty and have contacts back in the UK maybe they could post it to you. You just add it to weighed pellets using the scoop provided, mix carefully, and feed only those treated pellets for one week. Each bird then eats the right amount for her own weight and needs. Give no extras during the week or they will eat less of the feed. A potful will treat 20 full sized hens at the rate of about 1 kilo of feed each per week, so will last more than once with a small flock.
See the Poultrykeeper link on worming chickens http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/worming-chickens
I don't know anything about Caprizole so can't advise. Don't rely on herbal tonics, they won't kill the worms effectively.
We do have another member in the Dordogne, Chrismahon, who usually posts regularly but ATM he's in England and offline for a while. When he returns I expect he can advise you about local drug provision.
Hi Marigold, Many thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I will put my order in for Flubenvet for my my next visitors. I'll keep a watch for Chrismahon too! hopefully I won't become a headache! Many thanks again for your quick reply.
I don't t suppose your POL pullets are too badly affected yet by worms, so maybe you could wait for another 6-7 weeks, whilst organising supplies, and then do all of them. This will have the advantage that after that they'll all be in synch and can all be dosed together again in the Spring. Its inconvenient having some of the flock eating treated pellets and some having ordinary ones. At about 16-18 weeks the growers will be ready to go on to layers pellets, though they can continue on growers feed until they actually lay, or until the feed is used up.
When mixing Flubenvet, weigh out 1kilo per bird. Put a small amount in a large container, add enough vegetable oil to lightly coat the pellets, then add the Flubenvet powder and mix throughly, then gradually add the other pellets, mixing well after each batch. The oil helps the fine powder to stick to the pellets instead of falling to the bottom. Avoid breathing the powder, best to mix out of doors.
When mixing Flubenvet, weigh out 1kilo per bird. Put a small amount in a large container, add enough vegetable oil to lightly coat the pellets, then add the Flubenvet powder and mix throughly, then gradually add the other pellets, mixing well after each batch. The oil helps the fine powder to stick to the pellets instead of falling to the bottom. Avoid breathing the powder, best to mix out of doors.
