parasite control?

[bug_n_flock]

How do you guys manage parasites? It has never been a significant issue in my flock, and I honestly don't think any of my birds have ever been treated for parasites. But that will change soon.


As you may or may not know, we are designing and building large winterizable aviaries for our budgie flock to live in when they are not in the house for pairing and raising chicks, or various other reasons. But it occured to me that by keeping them outdoors, they will very likely pick up parasites. What sort of anti parasite schedual should they be on? What products? Or should we only treat when there is an issue? We will do our own fecal tests, but what products should we use when/if needed?



The mammals on the farm are on a regular parasite control schedual, but none of the birds are(tho they are due for a worming, and a dust bath with probably premythrin since I noticed a tick on one of the chickens yesterday.

 

[SailBoat]

Your best advise will be from our true Breeders as they are most likely to be hands-on in this regard.

From the overall approach, IMHO, you need to be looking a separation barrier between your different groups. At this point, 'you' are the most likely source of transmission between them. This assumes you have physical barriers in place with separate air sources for each.

The separation between your Chickens and the Parrots clearly need to be a physical (solid) separation including Bio and Air. Think Industrial Chicken Farm approach. Especially, if your Chickens are Free Ranging during the day. Each time you move between these two groups, you need to consider a 100% change in clothing and footware (do not mix, wash and clean separately) plus consider showering. With over 100 Chickens, your flock is much larger than the majority of Backyard Chicken Farmer. My Great Aunt had 20 to 25 hens, which more than supplied eggs for seven families.

FYI: You're large enough to be following your State's Ag Department requirements.

 

[bug_n_flock]

The 100 chickens are not adults or permenant residents. most of the cockrels will go in the freezer, and we will probably sell about half the pullets. Leaving us with a future adult flock of around 25 hens give or take. The eggs would be for us but also for our dogs and cats and other animals. We want to produce as much as we can for ourselves and our animals, and eventually maybe sell all natural dog and cat foods, once we have looked into the government regulations on producing such. We would use fresh eggs in that too.



Interesting that you think we should have such a change when going between the birds. May I ask why? The plan is to have the aviaries be open air so they get as many of the benefits of being outdoors as possible. I assume the budgies would pick up the parasites just from being outside, not directly from the chickens or anything. We live in the forest. We own 60 or so acres, but the neighbors are all either farmers or owners of hunting land. And a few plots of hunting land over is the Daniel Boone National Forest. The fight against parasites is not one we expect to win, just to manage.



I hope that gives some more information on our situation. The budgies are still indoors, we are just trying to think thru as many potential issues as we can before they come up.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Open air meaning roof to protect from rain, etc, and three walls on one side. The rest of the aviary being made of safe materials that allow air flow. Double walled so nothing can reach in and grab a bird, buried mesh on the ground. But the birds would be allowed and encouraged to forage thru grasses and plants and such. There will be an assortment of bird safe trees in pots to cycle thru for the birds to destroy, etc. Eventually we will build larger aviaries but to start with we were thinking 2 10' squared footprint aviaries. One each for the boys and the girls.

 

[SailBoat]

I remember well the morning gathering of the eggs, day after day after day. Her Chickens had all been Free-Ranging and they stayed pretty much between the House, Chicken Coop and the Barn and of course fully around each of the buildings inside of about 2 acres and when the garden was open to them, an additional acre. She would feed at different times, which likely kept them close by. She barely got Chick, Chick out and they would come running from all directions. The egg quality was beyond belief.

There is a natural transmission of far more than just parasite between Chickens and Parrots. Free Ranging Chickens can range up to five acres are coming into contact with near everything on the ground and in the mid-low branches of the trees and brushes. Add Ducks and Turkeys and you really amp-up their exposure.

With your Parrots in a open air aviaries that greatly limits their exposure and you become the primary transfer source.

FYI: Whether one is constructing in the depth of a City or out in the Great Outdoors, please assure that your base (foundation) is strong and deep enough to prevent it from being dug through or under! In all cases, the full spectrum of diggers and chewers will be look for weak spots. Assure that your fencing can stop an eagle or large dog.

Close friends have an outdoor aviary and an adult Red Tail Hawk hit the chicken wire fencing and crashed into the enclosure. For the life of me, I do not understand how she (based on size of the hole) managed to not break a wing! But, she killed three B&G's, two YNA's and a BFA. From the remains, they determined that she would kill a parrot, remove its head, wings and claws, and fly-off with the body only to return for another. They had been gone for just four hours.

Consider a double door system for entry with a dead spot between the doors. It will greatly reduce the likelihood of a Parrot getting out.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Oh my, that is a heartbreaking loss.



Yes, I have a few sketches somewhere but the basic plan is to have a shed for lack of a better word for it. Enclosed fully building with insulation, electric, water etc. The shed will have a door with an "airlock" to the outside, and the two aviaries will open from off of the shed. May or may not do "airlocks" between the shed and the aviaries, but the only door in to either aviary will be through the fully enclosed building. The building will act as one solid wall for each of the aviaries, and then there will be solid walls extending out from the building to form the more sheltered halves of the aviaries. We were thinking to do the inner breathable wall out of something 100% parrot safe and stronger than chicken wire ideally. The second, outer wall of the aviaries will also be parrot safe, but strength will be the real focus there. It will be offset from the inner wall by at least a half a foot if not more. Raccoon hands are quite the dangerous things to small birds. We have coyotes and bears here. No stray dogs yet but we haven't been here long enough to know that there aren't any. I'm sure we also have kentucky wildcats, skunks, rats, raccoons, snakes, etc etc etc. Again, our property is right by DBNF, which is something like 700,000 forested acres. Any predators that could be here, probably are.



Thinking dig about 2 feet down and put in 2 layers of heavy gauge 1/2" or 1/4" hardware mesh, bury that and then put a second 2 ply layer of predator barrier. Put in cinderblocks as a foundation and another layer of digger protection around the perimiter, and then soil back to ground level. Think that will be enough underneath, or should we dig deeper and put in more layers of protection/another type of protection? Roof will be solid and shingled or tarpapered or something, but regardless a solid roof roof, so hawks will not have an easy time hopefully.

 

[SailBoat]

Hey, check around looking for chain link fence installation contractors. Commonly, they get a job to replace an existing chain link fence and commonly they are looking to dump what they pull off the job. Could be anything from 4, 6 or 8' heights.

Also, watch for farmers replacing the tin (metal) roofs on their corn, grain, etc. barns - those buildings they never want to leak! Double layer it with 2x4 used to separate (4" side) them really cools the interior heat in Summer and reduces heat loss 'somewhat' in the Winter. Will still want to insulate!

When you set your ground grade, target having the rain water running away and never to the center of your aviary.

FYI: If you have coyote, you do not have big cats, bob cats or wolf 'yet.' This group kill them off really quick. If you become aware that the coyotes are gone, start looking for the big guys. Wild house cats are eliminated by the coyotes. I'm guessing black bear. Generally, they steer clear of Humans. If you get one around your place more than a day, they need to be driven far away and quickly.


Enjoy!

 

[EllenD]

****There is absolutely NO Parasite "prevention schedule", nor any drugs or other treatments that you want to give to your Budgies, whether they are inside or outside, doesn't matter...There are no vaccinations, no "de-worming" medications, no "anti-parasitics" that are made for the "prevention of parasites" in parrots. Period. It's not done after they hatch while they are young as a precautionary-measure, such as breeders of puppies, kittens, rodents, primates, marsupials, etc. do at certain ages of the animals they breed, nor is it done as a precautionary-measure during ANYTIME.[/B]

There are multiple reasons why Parrots are not given any type of parasite-prevention treatment, but the main reason is that most-all of the precautionary-treatments that are given to most other pets/livestock animals (except for Reptiles/Amphibians for the same reason as birds) ARE POISONS/TOXINS THAT CAN AND DO EASILY KILL PARROTS, ESPECIALLY VERY SMALL PARROTS SUCH AS BUDGIES, PARROTLETS, COCKATIELS, CONURES, ETC. ALL THE WAY UP TO MACAWS AND COCKATOOS....There are few "parasites" that effect/attack/use Parrots as their hosts, even Parrots who live outside, with certain species of Mites being the one exception. But even the most-common species of Mites, such as Feather-Mites and Scaly-Face Mites, are not very common, even in Parrots who live in outdoor Aviaries.

So the general-concensus among the Avian-Medical Community is and has always been that "The great-risk giving Parrots and other birds who are pets/livestock preventative parasite treatments is not at all worth the little to no benefit that these birds would get from them."

***Birds in the wild are not effected by Fleas or Ticks at all, in-fact most poultry birds, game birds, raptors, and yes, Parrots, actually eat Ticks by the thousands, which is why a lot of people who live in areas where there is a massive Tick-population are actually buying flocks of different species of birds, such as Guinea Hens, Chukkars, and all types of Chickens to live on their properties and eat all the ticks. And Fleas want nothing at all to do with birds/parrots, as they don't have any hair/fur, and feathers do not provide Fleas with any of their environmental needs like animals with hair or fur do...In 8 and a half years of being the Medical Liaison of a large, private Avian Rescue that brings-in all species of birds who are found outside and who have been living outside for long periods of time after getting lost by their owners, or who have been purposely kept outside by their owners in Aviaries or just in their cages outside, I HAVE NEVER, NOT ONCE, EVERY FOUND A TICK, A FLEA, OR FLEA-DIRT ON ANY BIRD BROUGHT-IN TO THE RESCUE. NOR HAS ANY BIRD EVER BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ANY TYPE OF WORMS IN THEIR GI-TRACTS, SUCH AS TAPE-WORMS, ROUND-WORMS, HOOK-WORMS, ETC. AND HEARTWORMS DO NOT EFFECT BIRDS. Not in a Chicken or Duck, a Quail, Chukkar, Pigeon/Dove, or any Parrot...

****So what's left as far as "Parasites" that you could possibly treat your Budgies for on a Preventative-Basis, and that actually do in-fact effect and INFEST BIRDS? Well, the only one that is applicable to birds or any and every species are different species of MITES, the 2 most-common being Feather-Mites (as we call them) and Scaly-Face Mites...There are others, but those 2 are the only ones that we usually see in our pet parrots, regardless of whether they live inside or outside...

So if the only parasites that even effect/infest birds of any species are certain species of Mites, then why don't we give our pet Parrots, our Poultry Flocks, our pet Game-Birds, etc. some type of "Preventative-Treatment to guard them becoming infested with Mites? Well, it's a good question, and one that many people have discovered the answer to the hard and tragic way unfortunately...The only Anti-Parasitic medications that work to kill Mites/keep Mites away from our birds are ALL VERY DANGEROUS AND POTENTIALLY-LETHAL POISONS, with IVERMECTIN BEING THE SAFEST AND MOST-EFFECTIVE TREATMENT for basically ALL of the types of Mites that commonly-Infest Parrots; But we always have to consider the "Benefit vs. the Risk" when we're talking about "Treating an Active-Infestation vs. Giving Ivermectin on a Preventative-Basis", especially when we're talking Parrots who don't weigh in the pounds but rather in grams...

So here's the Bottom-Line with Mite-Infestations in our Parrots and using Ivermectin to treat them/get rid of them...YOU HAVE BUDGIES, WHICH I OWNED, BRED, HAND-RAISED/HAND-FED FOR 20+ YEARS, BOTH INDOORS AND OUTSIDE IN A LARGE AVIARY DURING THE SPRING, SUMMER, AND FALL...I'm sure that you are well-aware that with Budgies, because they are such small Parrots and typically weigh well-under even 100 grams, even larger English Budgies, we have to ALWAYS be extremely careful when dosing them any type of medication, holistic supplements, vitamin/mineral supplementation, etc., because the chances of over-dosing them on pretty-much anything and everything is very possible and easily done, unfortunately...I don't know if you've ever had to treat a Mite-infestation of any type in any of your Budgies before, but most Certified Avian Vets, upon the direction of the Avian Medical Research Community, are now treated with Ivermectin, just like they always have treated them with when they are infested with most-all types of Mites, HOWEVER, they now give most-all species of Parrots who are infested with Mites, from Parrotlets, Budgies, Cockatiels, and Conures up through Macaws, Cockatoos, Great-Billed Parrots, etc. A ONE-TIME, SINGLE INJECTION OF IVERMECTIN BASED ON THE BIRD'S WEIGHT, WHICH ONLY NEEDS TO BE REPEATED IF THE MITES ARE NOT COMPLETELY ERRADICATED WITHIN 10-DAYS AT THE BIRD'S FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT, AT WHICH THE CAV WILL DO A SWAB/COMBING AND MICROSCOPY TO CONFIRM THAT THE MITES ARE EITHER GONE, OR THAT THE BIRD NEEDS A SECOND, FOLLOW-UP INJECTION OF IVERMECTIN, THE DOSE AGAIN BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE BIRD.

***They used to prescribe different formulations of Ivermectin and routes-of-administration for our pet Parrots who were infested with some type of Mites, everything from sprinkling a powder-formulation on their food or in their water, which resulted in many parrot deaths, to APPLYING A TOPICAL LIQUID FORMULATION OF IVERMECTIN, MUCH LIKE THE TOPICAL "DROPS/SPOTS" THAT WE PUT ON THE SKIN OF DOGS AND CATS TO PROTECT AGAINST FLEAS AND TICKS...This is extremely important to understand, especially when it comes to our Parrots, even our larger Macaws, Cockatoos, Great-Billeds, Amazons, CAG's, etc., who are still typically weighed in "grams" instead of "pounds"...Whether we are talking about treating an active-Mite infestation in our Parrots, or we're talking about giving our Parrots something on a Preventative-Basis so that they don't get Mites to begin with, WE CANNOT EVER APPLY ANY TYPES OF POISONS, TOXINS, ETC. TO OUR PARROT'S SKIN, FEATHERS, ETC.!!! As all of the commonly-used Flea and Tick "Prevention" medications that we give to our dogs, cats, rodents, etc. to keep them from getting Fleas, Ticks, Mites, etc., are applied to their skin and absorbed into their bodies slowly, over-time, OR any of the injections that we give to our other pets of Poisons, Neuro-Toxins, or other Preventative Treatments/Medications to protect against Parasites (there are also a lot that make the females or the males sterile so they can't reproduce, etc.), If we were to give these types of "Preventative" medications/applications to our small Parrots, they would cause the death of our birds long-before any Parasites got anywhere near them...They are just too small (especially when you are comparing "Skin Surface-Area vs. Overall-Size", this is referred to as "The Mouse/Elephant Curve", and I won't go into it, but it's the main reason we don't use any topical Anti-Parasitics on our Parrots or other birds, you can Google "Mouse/Elephant Curve" if you aren't familiar with it)

So bottom-line is that:

#1) There are VERY FEW Parasites at all that commonly effect/infest birds of any species at all, with certain species of Mites being the only real Parasites that we find effecting our pet birds/parrots, farm birds, game birds, etc. There are no Worms that effect birds on a regular-basis, and neither Fleas nor Ticks effect or infest birds, but are rather typically eaten and erradicated from a locality by the birds outside in the area. So it doesn't matter whether your parrots/birds live indoors or outside in an outdoor-aviary, the only parasites that commonly effect birds of any species are certain types of Mites, with Feather-Mites and Scaly-Face Mites being the most-commonly found in Parrots, whether indoor or outdoor Parrots.

#2) The risk that we would put our birds in if we were to start giving them any type of "Preventative Anti-Parasitics" to protect them from getting any type of active-Parasite infestations, most-all of which are actually Poisons and Neuro-Toxins, IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WORTH ANY BENEFIT THAT OUR BIRDS WOULD GET AS FAR AS "PREVENTATIVE ANTI-PARASITIC CONTROL"...

#3) If your Budgies were to ever contract an active-infestation of Mites, whether they be Feather-Mites, Scaly-Face Mites, or any of the few other types of Mites that effect birds, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO QUICKLY AND SAFELY ERRADICATE THEM IS TO GIVE YOUR BUDGIES A ONE-TIME, SINGLE INJECTION OF IVERMECTIN, THE DOSE OF WHICH IS BASED ON THE WEIGHTS OF EACH, INDIVIDUAL BIRD.; This one-time, single injection of Ivermectin, dosage based on each bird's individual weight, is safe, effective, and most-importantly IT IS QUICKLY METABOLIZED BY OUR BIRDS AND PASSED FROM THEIR BODIES TO THE MITES, SO THE RISK OF OUR BIRDS BEING POISONED BY A SINGLE IVERMECTIN INJECTION, AS LONG AS AN AVIAN VET PRESCRIBES THE PROPER DOSEAGE BASED ON EACH BIRD'S INDIVIDUAL WEIGHT, IS EXTREMELY SMALL, AND EXTREMELY UNCOMMON.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Checked the Merck veterinary manual, got the answers I needed.



https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exot...als/pet-birds/parasitic-diseases-of-pet-birds


Roundworms and protozoa are issues for the record. I suggest you read the link, but thanks for your input.



For the record I never expected fleas. Chickens do get ticks even though they eat them, especially in regions like ours:wilderness, TONS of wildlife, and large herds of farm animals nearby(at least 200 head of cattle between the two neighboring farms). Ticks are EVERYWHERE, even on at least one of my chickens(noticed a tick biting one of my chickens only a couple of days ago). I was wondering more about roundworms, gapeworms, cropworms, etc. So, more internal parasites than external.



Most farmers around here regularly worm their poultry, fyi. Same as they do their mammalian livestock. Different products(I assume) and different schedule, but same thing. Parasitic activity is pretty region specific. You may not have as many up north in Pennsylvania, but here in Kentucky they are a real presence, and they can even kill animals significantly larger than a budgie. Horses, goats, cows, turkeys, emus, etc.



Fyi: your post has a lot of info and thanks for that, I really do appreciate it. Just a heads up tho(please do not take this the wrong way), it also felt sort of patronizing. I don't think that was your intent, but it did come off that way at points. I actually have a background in biology and did research in a federal lab for a few years. I would never put any sort of "spot-on" treatment on a bird, ever. And I wasn't really asking about mites. I mentioned fecal tests, so I thought that was kind of clear I meant worms, protozoa, etc. Meh, not a big deal I just figured I would give you the feedback in case you were not aware.

 

[EllenD]

Absolutely not...How many pet parrots have you heard of having Roundworms? None...Theres a reason, and that reason is that in the US the populations of Roundworms (the typical type that effect other animals such as dogs, cats, etc.) Are typically acquired by these animals while they are babies who are drinking milk from their parent-animals! This is the reason that Roundworms and any other species of worms are not seen in pet parrots. Period.

As far as "protozoan" infections go, this is referring to Giardia. That's it. And there is no preventative-treatment for Giardia in any animal, bird, reptile, or person for that matter. Giardia is an infection that yes, needs to be treated if acquired by any living creature, BUT YOU TREAT THE ACTIVE-INFECTION OF GIARDIA (OR OTHER PROTOZOAN INFECTIONS FOR THAT MATTER, THOUGH OTHERS ARE NOT AN ISSUE IN THE US, UK, CANADA, OR MOST OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES). So could your Budgies acquire a Giardia infection from LIVING OUTSIDE IN AN AVIARY? NO, NOT UNLESS YOU ARE ALLOWING THEM TO DRINK FROM A NATURAL WATER-SOURCE OUTSIDE! (Even if your Budgies were to drink rain-water that collects outside in their Aviary they are not going to acquire a Giardia infection, as it lives in stagnant water-sources, as well as water-sources that have been effected by Giardia from an outside-contamination source)...Either way, there are not any preventative-medications that you can give ANY PET or yourself to protect against Giardia or other Protozoan infections, YOU SIMPLY TREAT ANY ACTIVE INFECTIONS THAT THEY MAY ACQUIRE...But again, unless you allow your Budgies to drink from an outside, natural water-source (excluding rain-water), then they aren't going to get Giardia or any other Protozoan infection.

***The big deal here is asking yourself the question "IS GIVING MY BUDGIES SOME TYPE OF PREVENTATIVE-MEDICATION TO PROTECT AGAINST "ROUNDWORMS" WORTH THE RISK OF KILLING THEM? The answer is a big, huge, resounding NOOOOO...I've not EVER seen nor heard of a pet parrot acquring a Roundworm infestation, and the ONLY WORMS that I've ever seen or heard of a pet parrot acquiring at all was a single-case of Hook-Worms that a pet Timneh African-Grey in Texas (I believe San Antonio), who lived INSIDE it's owner's house, contracted from their owner's new Dalmation puppy that they had just brought home a week before their bird became sick; it was later revealed that the bird's owner, in an attempt to "socialize" their Timneh with their new puppy, because they were worried about the bird becoming jealous, plucking, biting them or the puppy, etc., was allowing their bird to EAT OUT OF THEIR NEW PUPPY'S BOWL ALL WEEK LONG! I don't know if you heard/read about the study done by the CDC and that they published the results of around 2011-2012 (I don't remember exactly when it was released, only know that I was working at the Suzuki Dealership at the time and my boss, who was a huge dog person, told me about it, and then I went online to the CDC research sight and read the entire control-study write-up)...It basically stated that over 75% of parasite, bacterial, and fungal infections that PEOPLE WHO OWN DOGS ACQUIRE ON A REGULAR-BASIS COME FROM THEM NOT REGULARLY CLEANING/DISINFECTING THEIR DOG'S BOWLS, NEITHER THEIR FOOD OR WATER BOWLS, but instead they just keep dumping them out and refilling them...So I immediately related this study to the Timneh contracting an active Hookworm infestation from being allowed to eat out of the new puppy's bowl. Makes sense... (I'm talking in-captivity or pet-parrots, and in the US, UK, Canada, or other developed countries, not any undeveloped countries where parasites are actually normally found in the human-beings drinking-water and food-sources, you have to remember where we live as well)..

****Just to be clear here, the safest, most-efficient treatment for an infestation of any species of Roundworms, Hookworms, Pinworms, or Tapeworms is giving a daily, oral dose of Panacur for a certain number of days (usually 7), where the daily-dose that you give starts out high and then is decreased each day. Panacur was long-ago found to be not only 100% effective against most common GI worm infestations, but it's BY-FAR THE SAFEST TREATMENT AVAILABLE, IN-CONTRAST TO MOST OF THE LIQUID "DE-WORMERS" THAT WE USED TO GIVE OUR DOGS, CATS, ETC....So again, not only is the risk of your Budgies or anyone's pet birds/parrots contracting any species of GI worms so slim that the risk or giving your pet parrots/birds some type of horrible, awful Poison or Neuro-Toxin that is purposely meant to stay in their system for long periods of time to try to prevent any type of GI Worm infestation not at all worth the risk, BUT IF A PET BIRD/PARROT WAS TO BY SOME MIRACLE ACTUALLY ACQUIRE AN ACTIVE-INFESTATION OF ROUNDWORMS, HOOKWORMS, PINWORMS, TAPEWORMS, ETC., THE PANACUR THAT IS USED TO TREAT AND ERRADICATE AN ACTIVE-INFESTATION IS 100% SAFE, WORKS TO ERRADICATE THEM EXTREMELY QUICKLY, AND PRESENTS LITTLE TO NO CHANCE OF CAUSING EITHER UNWANTED SIDE-EFFECTS IN YOUR BIRD, OR THE ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF YOUR BIRD, LIKE ANY AND ALL OF THE POSSIBLE "PREVENTATIVE MEDICATIONS" THAT YOU COULD POSSIBLY GIVE THEM.

***So it makes absolutely no sense at all to risk making your pet birds/parrots extremely sick or even killing them in order to try to prevent them from contracting an extremely rare, uncommon GI-worm infestation, when the very small doses of Panacur that are used to treat an active GI-worm infestation cause no unwanted side-effects, and present little to no risk of the accidental death of your bird. And this is why most-all Certified Avian Vets do absolutely no preventative-medicating against any types of parasites in pet birds/parrots at all...The odds of your Budgies contracting ANY TYPE of parasitic infections/infestations while living outside in an aviary anywhere in the United States are basically ZERO, and if they would ever happen to contract some type of parasitic infection, you simply need to take them to your CAV to treat the active-infection/infestation, which poses little to no risk to their health or their lives.

***And I wasn't at all thinking of infections caused by Protozoa, Giardia being the main one in the US, as being classified as "Parasites"; typically Protozoan infections are lumped in with Bacterial and Fungal infections and not classified as being actual "Parasites"...But even if you were to consider Giardia and other Protozoan infections as being "Parasites", just like the common Parasites that effect other species of pets in the US, Giardia and other Protozoan infections are extremely rare in pet/captive birds and parrots, even those who live outdoors in an Aviary, Coop, Pen, etc., because their owners aren't allowing them to drink from outside water-sources such as ponds, lakes, streams, creeks, rivers, etc., nor to eat wild animals, the carcasses of wild-animals, or any other food that they are not actually feeding their birds themselves...IN FACT, GIARDIA AND OTHER PROTOZOAN INFECTIONS ARE ACTUALLY MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE COMMON IN WILD BIRDS AND ANIMALS BECAUSE THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY DRINKING FROM STAGNANT WATER-SOURCES AND EATING ROTTING AND UNSAFE FOOD SOURCES IN THE WILD. There are a few other Protozoan infections (as well as Amoebic infections if you want to look at this topic as a whole and really get to the nitty-gritty of it) that commonly effect people and their "animal" pets such as dogs, cats, ferrets, etc., any pets that they would feed wild/game meat to, which again, just like Giardia, there's not much you can do to prevent them from happening, but that are easily, quickly, and safely treated once an active-infection is diagnosed...And the really nice thing for us bird-owners when it comes to any Parasitic infections, such as any species of Worms, Giardia, etc., is that they are ALL almost immediately evident in our bird's droppings! This is one of the very few signs/symptoms of illness that our birds cannot do anything at all to hide.

****I think it's much more important (and obviously safer) to make sure that your parrots who are living outdoors in an Aviary have no access to any water-sources that you're not giving them, nor any food-sources that you're not giving them, than it is to worry about giving them extremely harmful Poisons and Neuro-Toxins to prevent against possible Parasitic-infections that they have less than a 5% chance of ever contracting....Make sure that their outdoor-aviary is 100% secure with no possibilities of them getting out.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Did you read the whole link? We are in the southern US, which they specifically mentioned a 6 month schedule for worming for roundworms, and that there are several protozoans besides giardia that are not only affecting partots housed outdoors in the southern US, but cause massive die offs...


And animals get roundworms from the dirt, not just their mothers. Nematodes kill adult animals who have been wormed before, or are the adult animals sneaking back to mother's milk bar when people aren't looking?