The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Topic started by: Rosemary on October 22, 2007, 09:49:43 pm
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Anyone got any experience of herbal wormer, good or bad? I'm uncomfortable about using chemical wormers but do. I've got an information leaflet about a product called Verm-X, now available for dogs, cats, poultry, horse and sheep. I'd really like to try it but would welcome any information anyone has.
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hi rosemary,
i've just bought some for my chickens. and will start administering this weekend when i can isolate individuals to compare results with oyther stuff. i will let you know later how it goes.
p.s. your mind works a bit like mine on the calder ranger front.
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Havent used it myself but know of quite a few people that have used it on their chooks, and they have all said how good it is. Must get some I think.
Naughty people about the Calders!!! ;D ;D
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Anyone out there able to draw a Calder Ranger, complete with hat? I have no artistic talent at all...
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I've read the blurb and I'm going to give it a go with the sheep and horses initially, since I don't have any wormer in hand for them. In a fit of efficiency, I bought enough wormer for the dogs and cats for the whole year and it's too expensive to waste. If it's successful with the sheep and horses, I'll expand its use.
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having issued the first treatment 3 weeks ago i am still not too sure if it has worked on all my chickens. they are due a secand treatment at the weekend so maybe this will show definite results. it is difficult when birds free range at times due to wild birds like pheasants sneeking around for food and water. but shortly they will go into winter housing so hopefully next spring the ground will have cleansed a bit. i don't know if i will use the same stuff on the pigs yet?
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Carl, how did you get on with the herbal wormer? I'm about to worm our poultry and planned to give it a go. To be honest, I think the worming is all a bit hit or miss, since I'm never sure if all the hens eat enough or any. We usually just do a wee poo examination and see if we see anything.
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I use the wormer for the chickens and it seems to work, though as someone said , you don't know if they all eat it. I've used the dog wormer too with ok results. The dog loved them and was always begging for more. The cat liked the first few but then refused to eat any more. Good job it was a free sample!
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We've done our hens (3 days) and sheep (7 days). I will have an egg count done for the sheep at some point, but we'll just need to keep an eye on the hens and their leavings.
As far as wormers go, unless you drench individual animals, you don't really know how much they've had. We used to use Flubenvet and the same applied. However, we have the liquid Verm X for the hens - we soaked small pieces of bread in the liquid and fed it to the hens and every hen had some. They seem to like it fine.
I'll post back with "results".
Rosemary
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i have been using the verm x pellets on my birds and have struggled to come to a conclusion on its results. they don't seem to all get the right amount, though i think there is no signs of a worm infestation in my flock.
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I suppose the proof of the pudding etc etc - if we´ve no worm infestation, it must be doing the job. I expect it doesn´t work like a conventional wormer, given the way it´s given over a number fo days. I never knew which hens took the Flubenvet either since some eat more pellets than others.
I´m happier not giving them chemicals though, so long as it works.
Rosemary
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This may sound like a daft question, but i'll ask it anyway...
How do you tell/know if your chooks have worm infestation? what are the signs?
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just wondering if there were any updates on this topic as I'm thinking of using this for my sheep?
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I'm going to send away samples to have an egg count done this weekend, so I'll let you know the results when I get them back.
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We use the Juliette de Bairacli Levy book quite alot of general advice on health around the farm.
There is also this for chickens which may be useful.
http://www.kingbirdfarm.com/Layerhealthcompendium.pdf
We find the main thing, though is to give everything large ammonts of garlic (crushed in food, oil in drinking water, and evrywhere amongst the pasture and woodland pig forage) this sorts out most infestations of mites, lice and worms to the point where I dont know when the last time we had an issue was!
Never used drugs on any of the animals as yet.
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I don't have any experience of this but did come across it in some journal or other. That comfrey is a natural anthelmentic (wormer) in sheep it may be the same for hens and other livestock. I was planning to try it but haven't got round to planting any. (One of the drawbacks of being employed as a smallholder is I have to get permission for these projects)
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We've been using VERM-X for sheep and poultry. I've just ahd a faecal worm egg count back for the sheep and it was <50 ie they coudl see no eggs in the faeces at all. This doesn't mean they don't have worms but the levels are low. To be fair, they were wormed traditionally before I got them and they went on to grass that had only been grazed by sheep escaping from the field next door for years, so the grass was pretty clean. I don't intend to worm again but will have regular counts done.
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I've just re-read the article i saw about natural wormers.....
I MADE A MISTAKE
CHICORY is the stuff not comfrey
my apologies.... I really should check stuff