First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[JRNash]

@ Ralph,I got to pondering the ongoing experiment in the meat bird crosses today. And I've just about convinced myself I'm going at this wrong.
The broiler industry is based upon exploiting hybrid vigor through a multiple generation cross. I think any major gains
will have to use a similar aproach. I'm thinking take the best F1's from the different crosses and set up a 3 clan system. That's the only way I can see concentrating specific traits in a closed flock and still (hopefully) maintaining the benefits of hybrid vigor.

 

[lpatelski]

Do y'all worm your chickens?
If so,what do you recommend.
I saw a roundworm in the chicken poop.It FREAKED ME OUT!! I hate bugs!!! Im leaning towards wazine. Its not rated for layers,but it's used on people!!! I saw one article where it said the round worms can get INSIDE the egg while its forming. I will have NIGHTMARES tonight!

You need to do more than a visual for worms. Take a few fecal samples to your vet. When you medicate your herd with a de-wormer make sure you do not over or under dose. There is a huge resistance to de-wormers developing, same thing with antibiotic resistance. If you under dose and the strongest worms survive, natural selection prevails. Over generations we now have resistant worms.

The following is taken from a basic parasitic info site.

I hate the name of the "for dummies" articles.

There are no dummies out there. Just folks who haven't read the article yet.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/parasitic-worms-in-chickens.html
How to diagnose parasitic worm infections

A veterinary diagnostic laboratory or veterinarian’s office can diagnose intestinal worm infections by examining droppings under a microscope for parasite eggs or by postmortem. Small animal veterinarians may not be very familiar with chicken parasites, and some flock keepers armed with a microscope may want to take a look themselves:

Credit: Illustration by Barbara Frake​

Treat and prevent parasitic worms

You can’t completely eradicate parasitic worms, so the goal is to knock down their numbers by deworming so they do no harm to their hosts. To dewormyour chickens means you give a medication that is effective at killing or paralyzing intestinal worms. The dead or dying worms pass out of the chicken’s intestines in the droppings.
Be careful about deworming too much. Repeated deworming only leads to worms developing resistance to medications. Good evidence actually suggests that hosting a few worms is an immune system booster, believe it or not!
Albendazole, fenbendazole, ivermectin, and levamisole are effective treatments for most parasitic worms of chickens. Fenbendazole and albendazole have the advantage of being extremely safe medications. Piperazine is only effective against roundworms.
In the United States, legal use of any dewormer medications for chickens (except for piperazine in non-laying chickens) requires a prescription from a veterinarian. Talk to your veterinarian about timing of treatment and egg discard times.
There is not an effective herbal or mineral remedy for chicken worms. Tobacco is far too toxic. Extensive research on diatomaceous earth (DE) has had very disappointing results; the substance has little if any effect against internal parasites. The dried leaves of Artemisia herbs (wormwood and sweet Annie) seem promising.
Completely keeping your chickens away from worms isn’t possible. With good management on your part, worms may never cause illness in your flock. Good nutrition and a clean environment are very important in preventing heavy worm infections and illness due to parasites. Here are other things that flock keepers who don’t have a parasite problem usually do well:

• Manage chickens:
  • Give the birds plenty of room. Avoid overcrowding.
  • Try not to introduce wormy chickens to the flock. Get your chicks as day-olds or deworm older birds before letting them meet your flock.
  • Remove (cull) birds with repeated parasite problems. Some animals are just inclined to being wormy (it may be a genetic predisposition). Those few chronically wormy individuals are responsible for most of the worm burden in the flock and most of the contamination of the environment with worm eggs.
• Manage the flock’s environment:
  
  I hope this helps a little. Wazine is a good de-wormer, but why not find out exactly what your birds are infected with.
  • Rotate and rest pastures for pastured poultry. Periodically move the chickens to different ground, and leave the old site empty of birds for several months or years, if possible.
  • Keep wild birds away from the flock. They may be infected and shedding worm eggs in their droppings.
  • Keep chickens off freshly tilled ground. Doing so greatly reduces the amount of feasting on the banquet of turned-up earthworms and insects.
  • Use integrated pest management (IPM) practices to control insect populations. Integrated pest management is an environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices, such as rotating pastures and using mechanical trapping devices before resorting to broad-spectrum chemical pesticides. For more about using IPM for your flock in the United States, contact your local extension office.

 

[JRNash]

Thanks Linda,I'd already read the same information.lol

 

[JRNash]

You don't need a microscope to see these guys.

 

[JRNash]

I'm working on the "environmental" aspect now,increasing the pens (150 x 50 now) and placing cross fencing so that I can rotate the range. Also raising the elevation to eliminate the wet conditions from the constant rain.

 

[JRNash]

I'm pretty well doubling my pen size.

 

[Turk Raphael]

You don't need a microscope to see these guys.

The ones you can see aren't generally the ones that do the most damage, it's important to mix up a flotation solution and look for the eggs.

Microscopes can be had at a reasonable price...the ones found in high school classes are plenty powerful for the job.

 

[cyborg]

Big enough?

Looks the perfect size for everything from Rabbits to Wolves, I bet that would put the fear of God into flicker tails.

LOL! When I was about 16 or 17, I bought my first nice rifle, a Parker Hale model 1200 in .308. Really beautiful gun. So, I hit this arroyo across the street from my house, itching to shoot my new toy. Finally, I spotted a sparrow perched in a tree. I only found ONE feather!

 

[Dave C]

Do y'all worm your chickens?
If so,what do you recommend.
I saw a roundworm in the chicken poop.It FREAKED ME OUT!! I hate bugs!!! Im leaning towards wazine. Its not rated for layers,but it's used on people!!! I saw one article where it said the round worms can get INSIDE the egg while its forming. I will have NIGHTMARES tonight!

I worm twice a year, buy in a special layer pellet with flubenvet wormer added, chickens eat it as normal and you can still eat the eggs, job done.

 

[Turk Raphael]

I worm twice a year, buy in a special layer pellet with flubenvet wormer added, chickens eat it as normal and you can still eat the eggs, job done.

I guess that works for some but we check stool samples every 4 months and use a compound that is species specific. If there's no heavy load, we hold off until the next testing period.

That works for us.