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[Peter]

I have been looking to purchase Flubendazole. I have only 4 chickens and the pellets will go out of date and they are expensive. I can get  Flubendazole powder which has a much longer shelf life. What do you think about that way of worming them. Peter 

[Beantree]

It's a messy process mixing it Peter and the first time I did it I inhaled the dust which made me ill. You will need a mask and gloves and to get the stuff to stick to the pellets I added a little olive oil. You'll need a mixing bowl and then a bucket big enough for the final mix. Can't remember all the details now as we haven't used Flubenvet as prescribed for years, but we always mixed it until the pre-mixed pellets came along, then we got them mail order.

You can't get it here in France but we still have plenty of 5% powder left over, years past its date but still effective. You may wonder how we administer it? Well it's a difficult process but the required dose (each hen eats 1Kg a week) is mixed with an amount of olive oil to produce 7 days of 0.5mL 'shots'. Each hen gets a daily dose but now we only administer it on days 1, 2 and 7 which we've found completely effective. Not a technique I would recommend as the risk of choking is too high. Our chickens free range in varying degrees so to contain them to the runs for 7 days of pellets only would cause stress problems, which in itself is a health hazard.

So to answer your question, my advice is to buy the premixed pellets and accept the wastage.

[Valkyrie]

I use the powder, tried the pellets but mine refused to eat them, at least I know what they are getting as I also dose their corn with it and put it all in a bowl.  Add a few sultanas and they will get something - special for worming time only nowadays.  They seem to treat the powder as if meh it's on the outside but the middle is OK, whereas the dosed pellets were yuk all the way through. While pellets are pretty much the same except size, they never did like that particular brand anyway.  Never had a problem with the powder - I have a separate container to mix it in and now I don't measure the quantity of pellets as I know where to fill the container to.  It does stick to the pellets and I can see which ones have or haven't as the colour changes slightly, not needed to add oil - that is a definite no no for the ratbags.  Just wormed mine again, last time was probably the end of October, although I'm thinking with all the pheasants around and the foxes and all the carrion birds, I might have to do it 3 times a year instead.  When I did use the treated pellets I hated the waste, but then used a vacuum sealer that worked pretty well.   Of course there is plastic waste which is even worse!

[rachel84]

I always used to buy a 5kg pre mixed pellet bag and my 4 girls at the time would pretty much get through it all. Have you tried searching for the 5kg bag?

 

[The Dogmother]

5kg in stock at my usual supplier

TBH, unless you have loads of birds, I wouldn't muck about with the powder.

[mullethunter]

I use to use the 5kg bags - even my 4 bantams would go through half of it in a week so I would think your girls would pretty much eat it all Peter.