AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Thank you, kindly Philip,

Nice to know someone thinks I am smart

I hope that she can help you out with a chook friend for you and Wombat and building your coop! Maybe she has some scrap building material around to get you started???

Keep on chookin'

hmmm maybe she could've had salmonella?

I've only just come across this thread, it's interesting to read about the various worming methods. When I took Pikelet to the Bird Vet on Wednesday, she wormed her as I hadn't ever got around to doing it, and she said it was a good time to do it, as we can't eat her eggs for a month anyway because of the medicine for Coccidiosis. The vet used a liquid wormer called Moxidectin, and she showed me how to hold her head (while someone else holds her wings and body still) open her beak and slowly squirt a one ml. dose from a measured syringe (Pikelet weighs 1.8 kg). You need to stop once or twice to let the chook swallow, so she doesn't cough too much. She showed me how to hold her head still and beak open with one hand: hold your palm facing upwards with fingers apart, then slide your little finger and ring finger either side of the chooks neck. Once she stops wriggling, place your thumb and index finger on either side of her beak and apply gentle pressure to get her to open her beak. You can use your other hand to help if she is stubborn! Once her beak is open you can use your other hand to administer the worming liquid in the syringe. The vet administered the Coccidiosis medicine, then got me to administer the wormer. Then at home I had to give both to Book, our other chookie, then both had to have another dose of the Coccidiosis med. yesterday (I got my daughter to hold them while I gave the medicine). It wasn't super easy, and the poor chookies weren't too impressed, but it wasn't that hard and we got all the medicine into them without them choking; only a slight cough and splutter! I'm sure the Coccidiosis medicine tasted pretty awful too, it sure smelled terrible! I'm amazed my poor girls are still talking to me and letting me pat them! The girls have shown no ill effects from either medication, so I think I'll use the Moxidectin again when they are due for worming, I think it would be easier than tablets, and I'm not sure they would drink the required amount of water if I put it in their water.

some chooks seem to appreciate us doing stuff like giving them medicine or taking ticks off...
sherbet wasn't one of them...

It would be great if someone put up photos of the worming procedure in a separate topic if possible.