POINTING IT OUT TO YOU!!! wORMS, WORMS, wORMS

Gamefowl are scavengers, scavengers eat what they can find and since they are ground dwelling creatures they mainly eat off the ground, scratching and pecking for nourishment. It is inevitable that they are going to get worms, now what they pick up out of the ground in your particular area will determine what type of infestation you can get. The worms that you may pick up in California may differ from the worms that you can get in a place like Georgia, it depends on the insect host.

Let’s break it down:

Most worms come from insects, the insect is a host to the parasite, the bird eats the insect, the parasite is then transferred to your Gamefowl, the parasite sets up shop in whatever part of the body that is most suitable for their development and growth. Within different timeframes (each parasite is a bit different) they set up house and start to lay eggs and feed upon your gamebird. Since most worms are bloodsuckers, this will severely weaken the bird as their numbers increase. This is pretty basic stuff here. It gets a bit more complicated. There are 96 different types of parasite and worms that can infect your birds, some are microscopic, and some can grow quite large, some will actually outgrow the host and pass through their droppings to begin the cycle all over again. All worms have a different growth cycle and a different egg laying cycle, so this makes it a necessity to constantly treat for worms.

Like I said above, most parasites are blood suckers, but some are actually tissue feeders, and some (tapeworms in particular) feed from the nutrients that your birds are getting from that expensive feed you are throwing down. This can be very problematic as the infestation gets more and more progressed.

I have never found one wormer that is effective against all worms - for the bloodsucking variety the most effective wormers contain Ivermectin which is effective against about 90% of all worm infestations. This doesn’t mean go run out and buy a big bottle of cattle Ivomec and not expect ramifications from dosing this to your gamebirds as it is really too strong for your birds. You are trying to dose an average 5lb bird with a product that is made for a much larger animal. Ivermectin filters through the liver, and overdosages over a period of time will damage that liver. We are raising athletes, and good liver function is very important health wise. If you have ever been on someone’s yard (or your own) and notice an increase in pale or green-eyed birds this is a clear indication of Ivermectin overdose. Weakness is a clear sign in competition.

Ivermectin products are systemic type wormers, they only have to come in contact with the skin to be effective - this means they do not have to be ingested or injected, you can actually drop in on the bare skin and it travels throughout the bird’s body and remains effective for about 90 days. We have a product called NEOBICIDE that is made for the weight of an average gamebird.

Now for the worms that are not bloodsuckers things can get a bit trickier. Let’s take the Tapeworm as an example, to eradicate this type of worm, you must get the bird to pass it out of their body as it can’t stay inside your bird and your bird recover their health, in some cases if the worms do not pass it will result in death. Worming can be a deadly business, but very necessary. Severe infestations are a do or die choice in some cases of adult worm infestation, the younger worms tend to cause less problems and pass much easier with fewer problems, so when first starting a worming program, it gets easier as time goes on providing you have a set schedule.

In order to pass these worms they must first be paralyzed by your medication of choice because they are hooked into the flesh of your bird in whatever place they have made their home. When they pass, the worms normally die very quickly when forced out. The residual worms that remain in the gamebirds body will be weakened and over time die and pass out of your gamebirds body. This type of worming is normally done on a 45 day cycle.

You must break the cycle of the worm and since we don’t really know what type of infestation you may have, it is imperative to work over a period of time and kill the worms at that stage in their growth when they have not started to lay eggs. Not many wormers kill the parasites eggs, and it normally takes 3-4 worming on a 45 day cycle to break that worms growth cycle to completely eradicate the worm from your gamebirds completely.

We have several different types of wormers that can be used in on a 45 day cycle and all are effective, some are natural solutions like ALL NATURAL WORMER, which is available in a dropper or in pellet form. If you prefer capsules we offer ALL AMERICAN WORMER CAPSULES. For the chicks we offer - BLACKNUT TINCTURE or FLOCK WORMER, either of which can be used in the water to get them started right. If you are looking for a product to use before you pick up your birds for conditioning to make sure that you are as wormfree as you can insure, we offer ENDZUM WORMER.

So to recap, in order to eradicate all worms, you will need 2 products - one with an Ivermectin base like NEOBICIDE to be given on a 90 day cycle. You will also need a good parasitic paralyzing type wormer like ALL AMERICAN WORMER CAPSULES or ALL NATURAL WORMER PELLETS or DROPPER to be given on a 45-day cycle.

We are here to help you with whatever your healthcare needs may be and you are welcome to call anytime 800-903-6387 or drop me an email. I dont speak Spanish but I have a good translation program, we are here to help you.

Pointing it out to you!!! Welcome TO THE 21st century

I never intended to ever put a website up as I am convinced that we are under enough scrutiny under normal circumstances and since most people are too intolerant to even try to understand what makes this sport great and rather focus on the brutality, I was hesitant. It took a bunch of malicious gossip to bring me out of my comfort zone and into the 21st Century. More on that in a future post.

However, I also feel that we must be as game as the roosters we show, so here we are…

As some of you all know, F B McGuinness has been a leader in gamefowl research for over 35 years. I am proud of our accomplishments in this field and feel we are a positive influence within our community.

With the demise of the leading Gamefowl Journals, The Gamecock, Grit and Steel, and The Feathered Warrior, we all lost a platform where buyers and sellers were as good as their word. We lost a way of calling out scammers and bullshit artists. Now these scammers move from site to site as their nefarious actions get reported, often changing their Facebook names and profiles. Some are actually living overseas and pretending to live in the US. They use payment methods like PayPal and Venmo to get our hard-earned dollars and send us nothing in return. Now don’t get me wrong, I too have used this same platform for hard-to-find goods, and I’ve been fairly lucky in this, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t also been cheated. I immediately put out a post on the forum that I was cheated on to inform the community of the nature of my loss. Some might be embarrassed to admit this, but for the greater good of our community and if I can prevent just one person from being scammed, I can eat the loss to my wallet and the blow to my pride.

As we go through this new technology together, lets agree to focus on the positive aspects of our actions. It is in all of our interests to further this sport into the next generations and use the Golden Rule in all our endeavors.