So if the SHTF you are going to get a few animals, build a chicken tractor, let a few sheep and goats roam in that old pasture, then you will have eggs, chicken, lambs, goat milk, be able to lead the good life. An individual on Survivalblog wrote an excellent 2 part article about sheep and worms. The Rest of the Story, is that there is no way now, before TSHTF to completely eliminate worms and gives some hints on tests you can use to keep your flock alive. Worth thinking about. While this article is limited to stomach worms in sheep, the same rules apply to all of the animals we keep. Combating Sheep Flock Parasites. The modified McMaster test. A side note, of the local horses I have seen die over the last 50 years, in the long run about 1 in 10, all have died of either worms or bad feed. I am sure there have been exceptions, but amateur horse people usually succeed in using those tools to kill them off as the shots and isolation keep the major killers in check. Most of our animals have been modified from some wild one that lead a wandering life, they had less problems as they did not eat in areas where they had deposited their feces a few days before, and thus the worms had not had a chance to develop. The worms as a result adapted all sorts of tools to survive and do very well in the worm heaven you created in your pen or pasture. High food density, confined area, well fed hosts, what more could a good stomach worm want. The sad part about animals, sheep, chickens, horses, cows, etc, is that usually they are just wandering around waiting to die before you get what you want. If you do not "know" your animals and have that gut feeling something is wrong, triggered by a change in what they are doing or how they look that you can't put into words, and figure out what is wrong, they may well either die, quit giving milk or laying eggs or eat like crazy and not gain weight. As hard as it is to lose a pet, it is much worse to starve to death when you are depending on something for your major source of protein.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic for ridding of internal parasites, which is also good for the coved 19. I use it on my animals as well for their issues. As for chickens that don't lay, I have isolated them and found that they are eating their own eggs. I have also isolated another group that among them are some hens brooding so I am not bothering them. A primary group of birds seem to be in competition of, 4 hens I get roughly 6 eggs a day, and they are big eggs as well.
