The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: mentalmilly on December 29, 2013, 05:29:13 pm
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Has anyone tried ivermectin for their poultry? I am thinking of giving it a go on the growers just in cast there is an egg withdrawal period. Any input welcome.
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its a POM (sorry if you were aware of that) and useful. my vet told me egg withdrawal was 7 days and that poultry treated with ivermectin should never enter the food chain.
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I use it occassionally for both internal and external parasites. It works very well indeed, even against red mite. I use 4 drops on the back of the neck or 3 for bantams. Never had any problems with it at all.
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I use it on my chickens and my pigeons.
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I use it occassionally for both internal and external parasites. It works very well indeed, even against red mite. I use 4 drops on the back of the neck or 3 for bantams. Never had any problems with it at all.
Me, too. Much more effective than louse powder.
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I use it on my chickens and my pigeons.
Do you sell eggs or eat them yourself?
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Yes I use it don't eat the eggs for a week or more never ate any off the birds that I've used it on but would after a suitable time just the same as we all or most of us have eaten meat which has come from animals where this stuff has been used.
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It isn't actually dangerous to humans at all: the worry is that human parasites will build a tollerance to it. It is used on people in some countries already and is just as effective on such things as headlice as it is on poultry lice and pests on other animals.
I eat my eggs after a week and have probably eaten meat from treated birds too, but not until a long time after using it (ie I'd forgotten because it was so long ago!)
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I think as long as you aren't selling the meat, or the eggs within the withdrawal period its fine. I have two flocks and rotated the worming so I always had eggs-it was very effective in knocking scaly leg on the head. I wouldn't eat any of mine as it stands atm as they are all too old but wouldn't personally use it in growers that might be destined for the pot. Also be careful with it if you have collies/collie crosses as they are very susceptible to it.
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I try and do the chickens when they're not laying. That's POL or when the flock is moulting.
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Thanks everyone, lots of useful tips there. Our vets for poultry are about as useful as a chocolate teapot so no good asking them. Will give it a go when they need worming.
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Sounds about right.
I bought a book that I had to get imported from USA about chicken health/diseases and even that gives the "cure" to most illnesses as "cull"! I think poultry has been so commercialised that anything performing at less than 100% is considered uneconomic and little effort has been made to find cures.
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I use it occassionally for both internal and external parasites. It works very well indeed, even against red mite. I use 4 drops on the back of the neck or 3 for bantams. Never had any problems with it at all.
Just make sure that with any wormer or parasiticide that you are dosing for the weight, if you can't weigh all your animals, dose for the heaviest in the group, as it is better to slightly overdose with wormers and parasiticides, or you risk resistance.
I'm not sure which ivermectin formulation you are using Hevxxx99, but as a vet, I use Xeno 450 in my chickens, which for larger chickens is about 2 pipettes each, so I assume you are using a stronger one that only requires a few drops.
None are licensed for use in egg laying birds, but few things are. As above, the recommendation is not to eat eggs within a week of treatment. For purely worming, Flubenvet can be put in their feed and has no egg withdrawal, so you can eat the eggs safely straight away.
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Yess, mines quite a bit stronger - 1 drop per 500g bodyweight.
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Because it's not licenced for poultry, I can't find anything definitive about withdrawal periods - if anyone can point me to it, I'd be grateful.
I've spoken to my vet about it - we sell eggs to the public - and he is very cautious about giving the OK so I think I'll have to stick with Flubenvet and Diatom.
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Yes Rosemary l also sell eggs to the village so am going to stick with flubenvet. Better safe than sorry.
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I wonder why it is not registered for poultry is it because it is very cheep ?. It's not registered for dogs either but vets use it on hunting hounds. It's safe or not safe whey can it not be registered its been about for years ? ? ? ?. :huff: .
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The ivermectin used on small animals ( dogs, hens, guinea pigs )is the large animal (livestock) prep. It is only licences for livestock probably due to cost of testing and licensing for the manufacturers. This means there are strict guides for vets about which patient can be given it.
There is now a small pipette of ivermectin licenced for pet birds and small mammals ( rats, mice etc )but would work out expensive unless you only have a couple of pet hens. I think you can find data on it from some smallholding web shops.
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as Mammyshaz says. it is safe, its actually used to treat scabies in humans in different parts of the world.
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In order for a product to be 'licensed' for a particular species, it has to undergo extensive testing for safety and efficacy. Certain species are less profitable for the big drug companies to license products, including things like sheep, small furries, and things likely to be used in 'pet' or smallholder chickens. Thus, it is not worth the drug companies doing the long, expensive scientific studies, however, these drugs are commonly used in other species, with the caveat that we haven't got the exact details, but years of use in these species mean we have a very good idea of what doses will work and are safe.
It gets even more complicated when talking about livestock that are producing foods for human consumption (milk, meat, eggs. This is because drugs licensed for these have milk, meat or egg withdrawal (such as 0 days egg withdrawal for tylan soluble or fluvenvet). If not licensed in that species, the drug companies and food standards agency have not worked out how long it takes before there are no drug residues left in the produce for human consumption. Unless they can work this out, they cannot guarantee safety. 'Standard withdrawal periods' can be set with discussion with the vet, for certain medications that are used in other livestock species and have some data on withdrawal periods in that species, and are usually 7 days for milk or eggs, but the only way to be 100% that there isn't a small amount of say ivermectin in the eggs, is to not give it to chickens laying for human consumption.
The ivermectin preparation for small furries and birds specifically says not for birds laying eggs for human consumption.
Hope that gives a little light on why things are not licensed for use in all species, and how complicated it can be in livestock.
As a vet, I still have trouble working out what I should and shouldn't give to my own animals for our own consumption!!
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Eprinex is recommended for use on turkeys, at 7 drops on the back of the neck. I've used it on a bought-inlarge fowl cockerel at 4 drops and the lice disappeared inside a day.