The Poultry Keeper

CrazyLady · Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 37 Location: Gloucestershire

hi i need a little help here, i took one of my girls to the vet a week ago and he said that i needed to worm all my girls and I've never done this before so i went to my local farm supply store and got a tub of flubenvet having read the label i cannot figure out the correct dosage for my girls i have six black rocks and i don't think they have ever been wormed can anyone help me ?
thanks

Knobby · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 1:44 pm Post subject:

Well.....(and Im gonna get shouted at here) I just sprinkle a nice even coating on the top of their food.....I know it should be measured out.....But they are still alive !!! Wink

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

Hi

Mix 1.2gram of Flubenvet into 1Kg of food, and feed as normal over a week.

If they eat all the food before then, just mix up a further supply

CrazyLady · Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 37 Location: Gloucestershire

thank you so much for your replies i go do it now

CrazyLady · Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 37 Location: Gloucestershire

i have just come across a slight problem in that i do not have any way of measuring a small amount like 1.2g can anyone tell me how much it is roughly in say teaspoons? thank you for you help.

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

Very approximately, a level teaspoon Very Happy

Lisa · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:30 pm Post subject:

AFAIK an average chicken is supposed to eat 125g of pellets per day.

Six chickens should eat 6 x 125g x 7 days = 5.25kg of pellets over the 7 days.

Its 1.2g of flubenvet per 1kg of pellets...

So you want 1.2 x 5.25 = 6.3 grams flubenvet mixed into 5.25kg of pellets and feed that for 7 days.

1 level tsp (5ml) of flubenvet is near enough 5g (checked on some scales that weigh to the gram) so I'd make that about 1 and a quarter level teaspoons of flubenvet to 5.25kg of pellets.

One thing to bear in mind is that if they get treats, scraps or leftovers too as part of their daily food, then they might not eat a full 125g of pellets per day and so not get a full daily dose of Flubenvet. So another way is to take one full days worth of flubenvet and mix it well into some tasty treats you know they will devour (eg mine love yogurt and oats). I have fed it this way once instead of adding it to their pellets - but you have to try to make sure each chicken gets their fair share, which can be a bit of a laugh and a challenge!

Personally I don't worry too much about getting the dosage spot on to the exact gram. I think it is more important that they definitely get enough so they are wormed properly, especially if you have reason to think they definitely do need worming because of poor health. So I tend to err on the generous side...

If its a gram or two over I personally don't panic for two reasons:

1) a double dose rate is often recommended by a vet if you suspect your chickens have tapeworms (not that common). That recommendation would automatically come with a 7 day withdrawl rate (to be on the safe side) before eating any eggs because it is an unlicensed usage of the drug.

2) IIRC the drug in Flubenvet is also one of the ones used to treat internal parasites in humans. Obviously no-one wants to take drugs they don't need (via any residue in the eggs) but I just wanted to point that out incase anyone thought a pinch too much might have some terrible side effect.