iFarms Customer Care service representative is now present on NAIRALAND to help tackle all issues you have with animals in areas of health & management, production, business plans and sales of produce.

DEWORMING THE FLOCK: WHAT YOU
NEED TO KNOW

What a hot topic this always seems to be
across the poultry world and backyard
chicken keepers. Some folks, will tell you
that they never deworm their flocks.
Others, will tell you that they religiously
deworm their flock every six months.
Some use traditional deworming products while others prefer natural preventatives. I thought today, I’d spend a little time chatting with you about worms.

However, before we blast off into this
chat about worms remember, when
making any sorts of chicken keeping
decisions please:
1. Do your research.
2. There are lots of people with strong
opinions out there. Do what works for
you and your flock. Only you and your vet
can make the right decision.
3. Explore all of your options.
There are a few different types of worms
that can affect chickens in different ways
and live in different places along their
gastrointestional tracts. The more
common worms that chicken keepers deal
with are tape worms, round worms, hair
worms, gape worms, and caecal worms.
Chickens that have worms can show a
decrease in egg laying, weight loss,
diarrhea, pale egg yolks, coughing or
rasping, head shaking, lethargy, and even
death.
Sometimes worm infestations are visible
to the naked eye. Other times, it is
helpful to seek out assistance from a local
veterinarian that can run a relatively
inexpensive test to detect worms invisible
to the naked eye. All vets are capable of
running this test.
Having your flock tested for worms serves
four purposes:
1. Can confirm a positive diagnosis.
2. Can tell you what types of worms you
are treating.
3. Prevents unnecessary use of
medications, which stresses the flock.
4. Retest after you have treated your
flock for worms to be sure the treatment
was effective.
Once the presence of worms in your flock
is confirmed, it is best to treat the entire
flock. It is important to remember that
worms typically have a life cycle from 2 to
8 days. This means that in most cases,
your flock will sometimes require two
courses of medication. There are quite a
few commercial products available on the
market today for deworming. It is
wonderful that chicken keepers have
options. Many of those options are
available “over the counter”. When
selecting a dewormer for your flock,
you will need to know what type of
worm(s) your chickens have. Different
deworming products target different
types of worms. Deworming is stressful
on chickens, so avoid deworming under
six weeks of age, or during the winter.
Lastly, here are some more tips to
prevent the spread of worms and to help
keep their populations at bay.
1. Sunlight helps to kill the worm eggs.
2. Keep a dry environment.
3. Tidy up the coop and run from chicken
poop on a regular basis.
4. Always quarantine new additions to the
flock for 4 weeks and they should be
checked for worms.
5. Keep wild birds out of the chickens’
living area.
6. Avoid overcrowding.

please sir, i will like you to recommend a dewormer for my broilers. i dont know of any dewormer i can make use of.