[mentalmilly]

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. 

[lord flynn]

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.

[Hevxxx99]

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.

[Bodger]

I use it on my chickens and my pigeons.

[Marches Farmer]

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. 

[Rosemary]

I use it on my chickens and my pigeons.

Do you sell eggs or eat them yourself?

[bigchicken]

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.

[Hevxxx99]

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!)

[lord flynn]

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.

[Bodger]

I try and do the chickens when they're not laying. That's POL or when the flock is moulting.

[mentalmilly]

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.

[Hevxxx99]

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.

[fsmnutter]

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.

[Hevxxx99]

Yess, mines quite a bit stronger - 1 drop per 500g bodyweight.

[Rosemary]

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.