Worming free range hens?

[JillA]

I know there is a wormer you can put in their water but my lot wander far and wide and get their water wherever they can find some. Is there a way to worm them without restricting them or stressing them out? I suspect they need it - but have no idea how

 

[MotherOfChickens]

to be effective, its far better to confine them for a week and feed them flubenvet pellets. Its worth it-I lost some to gapeworm last year through ineffective worming (hadn't confined them).

 

[Kinder]

Totally agree about using flubenvet pellets. Used to mess about with other wormer medications but have found by far the easiest and most effective were these pellets.

 

[Clodagh]

They probably don't need doing if they range over a wide area, we only do the ones who are confined and their ground gets stale. Also only do it if you see wormy poos - check under their perches.

 

[PorkChop]

We use Flubenvet in their feed, which you can mix yourself or buy pellets with it already in.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Totally agree about using flubenvet pellets. Used to mess about with other wormer medications but have found by far the easiest and most effective were these pellets.

its the only licensed wormer for poultry in the UK and the only one to treat all GI worms (ivermectin will treat some but its mainly for ectoparasites). Solubenol is also flubendazole but not recommended for back yard flocks. Mine free range over a wide area but if you have crows/starlings/pheasants its worth doing regularly.

 

[JillA]

Thanks - they do free range but are shut up at night, so best be on the safe side I reckon. I looked for the basic Flubenvet but it seems to be out of stock in lots of places. Mine don't like pellets, they eat mixed corn but they LOVE soaked cat kibble as a treat so I could add some to that maybe? Second only to mealworms in their list of favourites

 

[MotherOfChickens]

there's a manufacturing problem with the premix-better to get the pellets, they'll eat them if confined and there's nothing else and Marriages are quite a good quality pellet. farmandpetplace do a variety of pack sizes with good delivery.