[nerdle]

I'm worming my new rescue hen as a precaution and she pecks up her medicated porridge happily. The instructions say exclusively medicated food - so no other food at all - no freeranging?

How much food does a hen require each day (she is medium sized) and so far she's had porridge, corn and all the goodies she can find in my garden.  Would her medication be wasted if she is allowed other things?  I suspect any worms in her system must be starved ......

Is it essential for her to have layers pellets? I don't mind if no eggs.

I've only had her two days and my garden is untouched my chicken beak and she's loved exploring it.  I hate to take her away from it

Kate

[nerdle]

I can't work out how to put my photo on my posts.. 

Kx

[Helenaj]

The reason they shouldn't have any treats during the worming process is that if they aren't medicated, the treats reduce the effectiveness of the wormer and she may still have a heavy worm burden after you've finished with the wormer.
I know it's hard not to give her treats, but she must eat her pellets and wormer - the former to keep her healthy and give you strong eggs (as it's a balanced diet), the latter so she doesn't die from a heavy worm infestation (a worse case scenario, but does frequently happen).
You are not doing her any favours in the long run by withholding pellets and filling her up on treats, so be a little hard hearted for the next few days and keep her away from treats and free ranging (if possible) and she'll love you all the more when you can feed her a handful of treats in the afternoons once the worming has ceased. This ensures that she can fill herself up on her pellets in the morning. If she has a balanced diet, she'll live longer - just like us!

You can eat the eggs during worming with Flubenvet, but you are not allowed to sell them.

[nerdle]

OK then - a bag of Marriages then.  I havn't got a run for her yet so when it arrives its worming week.  Is she still allowed to peck and scratch grass as that's where her run will be....  Hard hearted doesn't come easily!

Kate

[rachelr]

hi nerdle there are others on here who have large amounts of free ranging birds and we use defrosted sweet corn to mix the flubenvet in and feed once a day. Making sure they eat it all.

Joyful recommended the quantities for me. x

[bygrace]

Glad for this post (thanks nerdle) as this is of concern to me as well. I can keep my girls in their main run while I'm worming (it's now reduced to bare earth so not much free ranging!) but do they still need their greens? Or do you consider that a treat?
Thanks. BG

[Lewjam]

Mine get strickly layers pellets dosed with wormer for the full week.

no treats, no free ranging.  They scrat around in their run but wont find that much in 12 SQ m of garden.  As long as they are filling up on dosed wormer not other foods such as corn or other treats.

Better in the long run IMO.

Lew

[helens-hens]

Some people, myself included, who just have a small number of birds give each bird a treat containing a dose of Flubenvet each day. Some use a grape or similar but I found the easiest way is to make up some pellet porridge with some warm water and, as I only have 2 girls, I add 2 doses of Flubenvet, mix it up well and they share it for breakfast. They go through it within minutes!

[nerdle]

I've missed the forum and so glad its back!

On further esearch I find its flubenvetted layers pellets only and nothing else (grit and water obviously).  My garden is so full of food for her I've had to lock her in (she has lots of room but will get bored) and I feel so unkind its killing me.  I'll let her have some grass too.

For the dog it's one pill and done  - this is a week of agony!!!!

I know I have to do it as she was covered in mites and scalyeg so goodness know what's crawling around on the inside!!!!

Counting the days........

[kegs]

I'm worming mine at the moment - so it's one tablespoon of cooked rice, a drizzle of oil, and a scoop of Flubenvet powder.  Mix well.  Stand back whilst each chicken (I've got 4) demolishes their portion.  Job done.  Then they are back to happily ruining my garden and I don't have to lock them in for a week. 

[nerdle]

Oooohhh that sounds better - so garden wrecking is OK then??

What is the truth of the matter - dying to let her out again....

I suspect consuming stuff from the ground will feed possible worms inside her that have to be starved... or does she just need the right quantity of F?  I which case what quantity???

Kate (your new best friend)

[nerdle]

Thank you Aunt Sally!

On further reflection - I will keep her in and do it by the book this time.  Maybe next time   I'll find another way.  During a snowy week when she doesn't mind staying in might suit us better.

Opinion seems to be divided - a) no treats and medicated feed only or b) a good breakfast of medicated feed then free ranging OK.

[TeaPots]

I have over a hundred chooks atm. Dont quite know how that happened 

 1. the reason for no treats....its is difficult to know EXACTLY how much flubenvet to give each bird as it depends on their weight. By mixing the wormer into the pellets as per directions (or use the medicated layers pellets from I think Marriages) then the doseage is easy, as the bigger birds eat more than the little ones. This is only going to work if they eat nothing else, hence the no extras rule.

2.If you have fewer birds, and you know their weight and EXACTLY the dose to give each one, then you can give that dose to each chook by whatever method you choose, be it on a grape or in porridge etc, and everything else they eat is fine to be unmedicated.

NOTE
General feeding advice: something I cant stress enough, is the value of feeding a good quality layers pellet or mash as  their main diet. It is well balanced, containing the right vitamins, minerals, proteins etc. all the extra treats are unnecessary, and could cause problems if overdone.  Rather like feeding children on sweets all day and letting them pick at their their proper dinner, leaving it cos they are waiting for something nicer to come along, eg corn, porridge. Mine only get mixed corn at bedtime, and only about eggcupful per bird.

Is it cruel to only rarely feeding a dog  doggie choc?

[nerdle]

Hello
Your comment makes perfect sense thank you.

I heard years ago that worms like to feed on the nutrients consumed by thier hosts.  It made me think that my girl shouldn't eat other worms and creepy crawlies as it may aid her parasites survival. - I may be wrong in this case!

I could work out how much layers pellets she eats per day during this week.  This way I can calculate how much F she is consuming. Then I could mix that quantitiy of F with porridge - watch her wolf it down then let her free range without treats (layers pellets only).  It would mean a day's ration of F in one meal so more concentrated.  Does this sound OK?

Kate

[TeaPots]

  much safer than a guesswork dunk of a grape in the f per day, ALTHOUGH, that said, once you work out the daily dose, it may well be the equivalent of a dunked grape  :happy: I am unsure of the toxicity of an overdose, and how much margin for error there is before problems. Its hard to work out the daily dose though!