Deworming Chickens: How to Deworm Chickens Safely

Just like most mammals, chickens also have some worms. This isn’t a problem, per se. On the other hand, if the worm load becomes overwhelming and the chickens start to exhibit symptoms of illness, that’s when you need to do something about it.

Too many worms can decrease egg production, and in some cases, even cause death. The solution to this lies in getting a chicken dewormer for your flock. The tricky part is figuring out how to deworm chickens safely.

That’s right. There is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Here’s an in-depth guide on everything you need to know about deworming chickens.

Types of Parasitic Worms

Parasitic worms can either have a direct or indirect life cycle. A worm with a direct lifecycle lives out its entire life inside the chicken. Its eggs are shed in the chicken feces, which then infect other chickens when they peck at it. Chickens peck at anything, so, as gross as it may seem, that’s not unusual.

However, worms with indirect life cycles usually live in other species like snails, slugs, and earthworms. They infect the chicken then it ingests these species.

There are other parasitic worms with even more convoluted lifecycles, but we’re not going to bore you with that here. For now, those are two main ones you need to be aware of.

Let’s get into the interesting bits, shall we?

Several different types of worms exist. However, some are more harmful than others when it comes to the overall wellbeing of your chicken. Here’s an overview of the ones you need to worry about.

Roundworms in Chickens

Roundworms have a cylindrical body and range anywhere between one millimeter and seven meters (23 feet) in length. They have a direct lifecycle, so they live out their entire lives inside the small intestines of the chicken.

Roundworms happen to be the most common of all the worm infestations that occur in poultry.

Sick Bird Symptoms

Decreased appetite
Diarrhea
Pale wattles and comb
Shabby appearance
Significant weight loss
Stunted growth
Intestinal blockage in severe worm overloads, causing eventual death

Gape Worm in Chickens

Gape worms are nasty, to say the least. They reside in the chicken’s windpipe and suck on blood from the tiny blood vessels there.

As they grow and multiply, these worms cause partial blockage of the windpipe, causing the chicken to gape for air. That’s how they get their name.

They have a peculiar “Y” shape: the male and female worm interlocked in what appears to be permanent copulation. The eggs they lay are coughed up by the chicken, effectively getting them out of the respiratory system before being swallowed again.

They then pass through the gastrointestinal system and get excreted in the feces. The next chicken then picks them up when they peck at the egg-infested poop.

Sick Bird Symptoms

Choking in severe infestation
Coughing while gasping for air
Loss of appetite
Shaky head
Sneezing
Tatty and shabby appearance
Yawning

Cecal Worms

Cecal worms are quite common in poultry, although they aren’t nearly as problematic as roundworms and gape worms. They have a direct lifecycle and reside in the ceca of chicken – the two pouches located at the point where the small and large intestines meet.

These can harbor blackhead disease, but that’s a bigger issue for turkeys than it is for chickens. This is why you shouldn’t raise chickens and turkeys together.

They are often carriers of the parasite but don’t exhibit any of the usual clinical signs of worms in chicken like we’ve seen with other parasitic worms. Those with a cecal worm overload often have a ratty and depressed appearance.

Valbazen for Chickens

There are several dewormer solutions for chicken available on the market, some more effective than others. One of the most popular ones is Valbazen.

It is a broad-spectrum dewormer designed to eliminate several different types of worms in cattle, sheep, goats, and a wide range of livestock. Low dosages of the drug can safely be used to eradicate worm infestation in chicken.

It effectively eliminates roundworms, gape worms, cecal worms, tapeworms, and virtually any other kind of worm you can think of.

How to Use Valbazen to Safely Deworm Chickens

Since poultry has small digestive tracts, they can only get rid of a limited amount of debris at a time. It is, therefore, important that you use a “milder” dewormer first before you bring out the big guns.

A chicken vet would likely prescribe Wazine initially to eliminate the roundworms only. Going straight to Valbazen would get rid of all the worms at once, which could end up killing the chicken.

Giving them two ounces (60ml) of Wazine in a gallon of water every day for 10 days completely gets rid of roundworms. This frees up your chicken to get rid of all the other worms it has, but at a much safer rate once you administer Valbazen. You want to use 0.5ml of the drug on regular-sized chickens and 0.25ml for smaller ones.

There are generally two ways you can administer Valbazen. The first involves taking an oral syringe and squirting the required dosage of the drug directly down the chicken’s throat. You have to do this for your entire flock.

The second technique involves mixing the drug into the chicken feed for all the birds to ingest. While this technique is more convenient, the first one is more effective.

What to Do After Administering Valbazen

Once your chickens have gone through the cycle of Wazine and Valbazen, avian vets recommend that you boost their immune system. The best way to do this would be to feed them buttermilk or yogurt. These deliver probiotics to their system, which enhances their immune function.

You should also give them cat food mixed with scrambled eggs for extra protein. These foods should be administered for three consecutive days once they finish their rounds of deworming treatment.