Hi,

As I will be selling most of my chicks, I would like to treat them for worms and scaly face as a precaution before I sell, at what age is it safe for them to be treated?

 

Thank you!

Hi Kathryn, That's a nice thought that you want to make sure you are sending off healthy birds. But preventative treatment for scaly face is not necessary. If there were an outbreak of scaly face among some of your birds, then a preventative dose to your whole flock would be a good idea, in addition to treating the ones with symptoms.

 

By whole flock, I mean all the ones housed in the same aviary or cage as the affected birds- not every bird you own. I wouldn't treat any birds in breeding cages, unless you actually see physical evidence of scaly face on them.

 

But to just dose a baby bird that isn't at risk for scaly face to begin with is an unecessary exposure to chemicals. I don't even know how young it is safe to treat them.

 

As for worming them, I think people who house their birds in outdoor aviaries worm their flock on a regular basis, and people who house their birds indoors have no need to ever worm them, unless they bring in an infected bird or otherwise suspect their birds have worms. I think I have read that it would be recommended to worm any parents (from outdoor situations) before they are put down to breed.

 

I have never heard of anyone worming a chick before it is sold, but if you suspect that the parents or the chicks do have worms, then I would not sell them at all until you are sure that they have recovered and are growing in a healthy way. It's my understanding that parasites in a young chick would cause side afffects that you would be able to notice, so if the chicks are healthy and properly developed, they most likely do not have worms.

 

If you are comparing them to how puppies get wormed before sale, it is a different story. All dogs have worms in cyst form in their muscles. Mother dogs will pass these to their puppies, and all puppies must be wormed at least twice while they are babies. I haven't heard of anything like this in birds.

Edited February 12, 201312 yr by Finnie

Oh okay cool, I didn't know if it was advisable or if you had to as actually I had only dealt with puppies and kittens

I want to do what's right and keep good husbandry skills, I keep my birds when not breeding in an outdoor aviary so try to keep them wormed and I wormed the adults before breeding etc...

I also had a bird that I had bought develop scaly face around three months afterwards, I'm not sure if it carried it in, but it didn't show with quarantine, but now I treat all my new birds while in quarantine and have treated my whole flock. None of my breeding pairs have shown it, so it should be fine?

Yeah, I think it should be fine. Your birds sound well cared for, so I doubt that you will be spreading anything to unsuspecting buyers.

 

And I'm with you. It's important to keep a good reputation among your customers.

Thanks for the advice