Worming with Droncit

[LaylaConsuela]

Hi Everyone,

I have recently taken on 2 ex-production hens and one of them has come in with tapeworms. I spoke to my livestock vet and she said most vets in the area don’t hold a avian wormer to treat tapeworms as they are quite rare and just to buy the cat wormer Droncit. Has anyone used this successfully before? She couldn’t be sure on the egg withdrawal period, any suggestions?!

 

[Eggcessive]

Praziquantel is the ingredient in Droncit, and you can buy a horse dewormer in feed stores called Equimax to worm a chicken with tapeworms. Dosage is 0.03 ml per pound of weight, or 0.15 ml for a 5 pound chicken. Repeat in 14 days. Total withdrawal for eggs is 24 days. Zimectrin Gold is another brand with praziquantel, but it only contains half the amount of it, and requires twice as much, plus is more expensive.

 

[Folly's place]

The problem is that in the USA there's no approved drug for chickens with tapeworms. Praziquantel works great, and is not approved.
Fenbendazole is approved for chickens, with either no egg withdrawal time, or a very short time, depending on the dosage used. It will kill some species of tapeworms, along with many other intestinal worms, depending on the dosage used. Because it is an approved drug, use that first, unless you have had the type of tapeworm she has diagnosed.
Wonder what other parasites these birds carry?
Mary