Worming time seems to come round so quickly. I usually worm in March and September but we are only a few weeks away from March and we already have three girls laying so I decided to get on with it.
I am sticking with my usual way of doing it which is to add flubenvet powder to mash for seven consecutive days.
Today is the third day and I haven’t found any worms so I am confident that they are worm free but it’s best to be preventative. The girls enjoy a week of mash anyway.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Have you considered sending a sample of poo away for testing rather than routinely worming? That’s what I do now. Not sure if one approach is better than the other, just interested.
Never would have thought of that. Surely it would have to be for the whole flock and expensive. Worming seems quite simple. Sometimes there have been worms, usually when an older girl comes in and sometimes none which is always good. I wormed last autumn twice because of the gape worm with Diamond which is probably why there are none this time but I wanted to be sure we were worm free. I am happy doing this but every one has to go their own way. I am glad to find this time there are no worms and am happy to do this twice a year to be sure the flock stays worm free. It’s always interesting to hear other peoples take on this though.
I’m not trying to influence you and I don’t work for them!! It’s not expensive though – you take a composite sample of the poo from all your girls and then send that off. It costs £9.95 from Westgate labs.
Since I’ve been doing this I’ve only wormed once with flubenvet (because the results suggested I should).
I do still use harkamectin (off licence) routinely to keep any creepy crawlies away.
I am surprised it doesn’t cost more. I am still not sure how they tell if they need worming unless there are worms in the poop though. When I have found worms in the past (usually on the second day of worming only) it has only been in one or maybe two poops so very low level and probably just one girl. I have just finished for this time round and found none. I use smite spray in the chicken shed in the summer and check regularly for mites throughout the summer months.
I think it’s because they can see the microscopic eggs shed by the worms.
Ahh, that makes sense.
Just wormed mine as well xx
Just a couple more days for ours. It’s good to know that they are worm free xx
Allways good when the job is done, and fleas for Ellie.
It is good to get it done.