Deworming chickens

I bought some Piperazine to deworm my flock and I've never done it before. I'd be curious to know how many of you deworm your birds and how often and do you start at 6 weeks as the package suggests?

Also, it's a one day treatment you can put in feed or water. What is the best? And how are you sure they get enough of it for one day whether it be in their water or feed?

Thanks for your input.

A friend of mine found this information on a site she visits, I found it quite interesting. Almost makes sense why piperazine doesnt alway seem to work.



Ok, I thought the class was wonderful! Our doctor has his 40 year 4 H pin!

Our Vet brought containers with worms, infected intestines and other interesting things.

Our Ga. State Poultry Veterinarian explained worming and several of the different wormers among other things. I will try to explain and not be too muddy about it.

Yes, he said to try the piperzine first. It may be that you have some round worms that are resistant , however as he explained you need to understand the worms and how they work against your chickens and the wormer before moving on to a different wormer.

The round worm has three growth cycles or stages of development. This is the most common of the worms that chickens have. The worms eggs may lay in the soil for a few hours or up to ten (10) years before development. So, even if your land has not had chickens for years you can see that you may potentially have a problem laying in wait. It is the third stage that the round worm becomes infectious and attaches itself to the chickens intestine. Then it goes through three growth stages that take 21 days to complete.

This is why he said that Piperzine is the worst and the best of the wormers.

Piperzine works like a sleeping pill to the worm. The piperzine needs about 5 to 6 hours to work in the chicken. If the water with the wormer goes dry and you fill the waterers with water before the six hours are up then the worms start waking up and are not passed out of the chickens intestinal tract. He emphasized the need to allow the chickens the full six hours of drinking the wormer for it to work effectively. If the worm is still in the growth stage where it is embedded in the intestine even if the wormer has made the worm “sleepy” it will not be sloughed out of the intestinal tract. Then in the next day or so as it reaches the final stage of development and is moving around the intestine and few being passed you think the wormer has not worked. It did, though only on the worms developed enough to move around were passed.

That means because of the worms 21day growth cycle you need to worm on day One (1), then again on day Seven (7), and again on day twenty eight (28). Then to complete the worming you repeat with a dose of Piperzine at the end of the next round of the worms growth cycle of Twenty one (21) days. So, that’s four (4) times you need to dose your chickens to be rid of the round worms.

Thank goodness Piperzine is not an expensive wormer as wormers go.

Then to complicate the process you need to know how many POUNDS of chickens you are mixing up the wormer for and dose according to the overall weight of the chickens. You also need to have a pretty accurate idea of how much your chickens are drinking a day to mix the wormers.

Note: The six hours for drinking is only with the Piperzine. The mil dosage is adequate if mixed and consumed on the other wormers.

Safe-guard* (fenbendazole), goat de-wormer, is a broad spectrum wormer, good for many types of worms, including tape worms, capillary/thread worm, cecal and others. For propolatic treatment; [One (1) mil. Per gallon of water for three days] or for [sick birds use 2 ¼ mil. Per gallon of water for three days] Of Safe-guard.

Valbazen; .16 mil per 4 pound chicken/bird . [ One(1) liter teats 6250- 4 pound birds] or [twenty five(25) pounds per mil.]

Ivermectin; sheep drench, 5 mil to 5 gallons of water or [ #birds x pounds divided by 110 = # of mils per total.]

I have read the piperazine package and it doesnt mention us dose is that often, also doesnt state a withdrawal time on it. Many have said that piperazine is what is used in humans to get rid of round worms so maybe there is no withdrawal on it? Seems like a long time to dose and wait for eggs if you do have to withdrawal on it.

For worming I either use Ivomec injectable or Safe Guard both of these are safe and both kill all the worms including Gape-worm, this worm is hard to kill and can be very very bad, last year was a terrible year for it because of the wet and this year is also going to be bad. I worm twice a year except last year i did it three time., I worm in the fall after lock up and again if the spring before letting them out, I treat the water for 3 days just to make sure. Ivomec injectable 4 or 5 cc to one gallon of water and Safe guard one good teaspoon to a gallon of water.

Thanks Jayme and pops. Good info. Before I ask any more questions about your responses, I'll see if there are any more responses. I know I keep saying thank you - LOL - but thanks so much. I just love the support and experience everyone shares when it's asked for.

I use eprinex in a bottle dropper, (saved one from house plant fertilizer!!)
And then one dark and lonely night, in the spring and the fall, ha ha....
I go out with a head lamp on and go threw the barn, each bird gets a few drops on the back of the neck, no one is really disturbed, and it goes really fast.
Eprinex is fairly expensive and only comes in huge containers. I actually shared with some people so have enough for along time.

But chickeesmom isn't Eprinex for lice and mites and some internal parasites and Piperazine for the internal parasites Eprinex doesn't kill?

My understanding was it took care of all of that, but like Silkiebantam, I also have pest strips in my coop.
Great topic, sometimes I tend not to read cause I think I know it all!

I understand. At least you recognize it and are willing to admit it. I can relate.

That's whats so wonderful about these sites, we learn something new everyday, and sometimes we get to learn it over and over again...

I use piperazine for worming, but I do not do the three dose thing suggested by the vet. I do not expect it to completely rid my birds of worms. I expect that it will knock them back to a tolerable level where they are not detrimental to the health of the bird. I think it is unreasonable to expect any bird that free ranges at all to be 100% worm free 100% of the time. To keep my birds guaranteed worm free would require more doses with stronger chemicals than I am willing to commit to.

I mix mine 2 1/2 teaspoons to 2 gallons of water. This gets set out in the morning and taken in at night. If you are worried that your birds won't drink enough, withhold water the day before. THey'll drink!

No withdrawl time was mentioned because none is required.

Eprinex will kill most everyting inside and outside your bird! If you decide to Eprinex for lice and mites it will also wipe out whatever internal creepers there are. WIth the possible exception of tapeworms. I Eprinexed for lice and mites, was happy to know that it wiped out internal parasites, but the next time I felt the need to worm, I used piperazine. It is easier to dose(no grabbing and parting feathers) and does a job that I am satisifed with.

Chickens can and do live with a certain level of intestinal worms. A certain amount can be tolerated but beyond that things get bad. Piperazine keeps things to a dull roar. But if you want total annihilation, bump up to Eprinex or any of the other cattle/horse wormers mentioned. BUt then you enter the gray zone of egg toss times...there are no clear answers there, just best guesses and personal experience.

That's great Uno. Thanks for the thorough information. Sometimes it all feels like one big cr*pshoot...........whether to even do it and then how to.

Learning as I go thanks to all of you.

There is a lot to learn and many different ways of doing things and it's wonderful that so many people will share their different ways.

What you have to decide is what you want to acheive, what you are comfortable doing, what results you will be satisfied with. There's no absolute right or wrong way, just finding that way that will send you away feeling that you have done right by your birds, taken reasonable steps to keep them healthy.

I never used to worry too much about worming until we had some meat birds die of gut blow out due to massive worm overload. It was gross cleaning the rest, their intestines were so thick with worms that they fell apart as Hubby tried to remove them! IT freaked me out SO BAD that I swore I would worm our meatbirds after that. In this case, since I will be eating them, I use piperazine with the clear knowledge that no withdrawl time is required.

But for the laying flock, unless they display serious poor health that I attribute to worms, I feel once a year is enough. Twice if I remember to!

Jaymie, this is such good information, would you consider making it a sticky?

I just posted about this idea on the deworming guineas thread: https://wcps.canadian-forum.com/t699-deworming-guineas

It is what we plan to use. There is side effects and no waiting period required for pumpkin if you want to eat the meat or eggs!

Thanks nigle. I wouldn't be surprised if it helped keep them at bay. I have also read and do put chili flakes in their treats in winter, which is suppose to keep the internal parasite population down as well as warm their insides during the colder season.

I remember hearing that crushed red pepper flakes and also cayenne (1 tsp.-1 tbsp.) mixed into their feed or water works as well. I had forgotten about that! It is supposed to increase egg production too. I think that this is to be done every 2 months too, not like it's hard!

Hmmm...I had forgotten that...and I even have a bottle of flakes sitting in the coop ready to be used. Now with the chickens done, I guess it is the guineas and ducks turn next...