Advice for poultry owners and gamekeepers (From Smallholder)

Advice for poultry owners and gamekeepers

1:30pm Sunday 7th February 2010

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poultry owners and gamekeepers should ensure they know how to protect their birds against Gapeworm – a parasite that could be on the increase in free range poultry as well as game birds. To find out more, speak to the experts from Janssen Animal Health and visit their stand at the British Shooting and Countryman Show at Newark this February.

Also on offer at the event is a free Flubenvet leaflet updated for the 2010 season detailing worming strategies and gapeworm lifecycles and a free cartoon poster giveaway.

Flubenvet® is a well known licensed product used to treat game birds, traditionally wormed at 3, 7 and 11 weeks particularly with a view to controlling Gapeworm and other parasitic worms. More and more people are reporting finding evidence of Gapeworm in their chickens and free range poultry are also at risk from other parasitic worm infections, so should be treated with Flubenvet® on a regular basis.

This is the ideal time of year to be thinking about worming routines to start in the Spring. The return of warmer weather can signal an increase in poultry worm numbers as the ambient temperature increases above 10 degrees centigrade and more worm eggs found in the soil or litter are able to complete the next stage of development and become infectious.

The most common signs of gapeworm are ‘snicking’ which is associated with difficulty breathing due to the worms living in the windpipe. Other parasitic worms can lead to poor weight gain leading to different sized birds, or even sickly birds and poor feed conversion which can lead to escalating feed costs. To fully discuss strategic deworming programmes and preventative measures for game birds or poultry flocks, drop in on the Flubenvet® stand which is located in the BASC Gamekeeping Hall opposite the Marsdens Game Feed stand. The British Shooting and Countryman show takes place at Newark Showground 27th-28th February.

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