garlic bread

[Chickenchick11]

Just because someone wrote it in an article, doesn't mean it's true...none of the 'articles' on BYC are vetted for accuracy.

Garlic in small quantities won't hurt them...but in larger quantities it can be toxic.

That is true. I also know some different people here on BYC who have the Educator Badge and recommend garlic.

Yes, that is true.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Here is the scientific reasoning behind garlic supplementation in chickens:

Garlic has three main benefits to chicken health.

(1) As a prebiotic

A prebiotic forms the platform upon which a probiotic functions, promoting a healthy gut flora. Scientists are learning every day how very, very important our gut microflora is to our overall health, so by supporting the microflora you also support a chicken's ability to fight of disease/parasites, digest food, and absorb nutrients. Garlic contains a moderate amount of prebiotic fibers (inulin and oligosaccharides) at about 17.5% for raw garlic (a bit less in powdered form).

(2) As an antiseptic

One of the components of raw garlic, allicin, is released when garlic is chopped or crushed (it's one of garlic's defenses against pests). It has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiprotozoal (coccidia, anyone?) activities. They're actually studying it now to use in combatting MRSA in hospitals! It is a pretty volitile compound, so the garlic needs to be fresh and raw to have these effects (powdered doesn't work). Garlic will kill roundworms in a test tube, but it's unknown if this would translate to real life.

Here's the caveat: when allicin degrades, it changes into several potential compounds. One of these compounds, disulfide, is known to cause Heinz body anemia in mammals. Birds are somewhat more protected from this as their red blood cells are nucleated, but high doses of garlic (or onions, chives, leeks) can cause them problems. The good news is low levels administered chronically allow the bird to replenish these RBCs easily as production is adjusted to compensate.

3) As an antioxidant

Garlic contains many compounds, primarily sulfur-based, that are considered excellent antioxidants capable of scavaging the free-radicals responsible for cellular damage. The antioxidant components seem to outnumber the oxidant (such as disulfide) components, resulting in a net gain. This antioxidant activity is also highest in chopped/crushed raw garlic.

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So after looking very thoroughly into the subject, this is what I decided to do for my chickens:

Right now they are getting very finely diced/crushed garlic mixed into their daily feed twice weekly. By mixing it into the feed, no one chick can gorge on garlic and overdose themselves. I recently decided that fermenting the feed makes sense for me (I hate waste), so I may modify how it is provided a bit (may mix it in with the treats instead).

With garlic's antiseptic properties, I do not give it at the same time that I do a probiotic so I don't kill the good bacteria while still in the crop/stomach/gizzard. Right now I do them on different days, although with bird digestion probably a shorter separation would do.

I have considered crushed garlic in their water supply. The prebiotic, antiseptic, and antioxidant components of garlic are all soluble in water, so should theoretically be delivered to each bird. However, I am uncertain how contact with a galvanized surface (now) or PVC (future) would affect them...feeding it as a whole food makes more sense from that perspective although providing it via water might be better at controlling the dose received. I have to think more on this and see if there has been any research.

I hope that the information that I have provided will help people make their own decisions regarding garlic supplementation.

 

[aart]

Here is the scientific reasoning behind garlic supplementation in chickens:

Garlic has three main benefits to chicken health.

Can you cite(add link) to the source of this "scientific reasoning"??

 

[Jensownzoo]

Can you cite(add link) to the source of this "scientific reasoning"??

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

Here's the search site for scientific journal articles. I read a LOT of abstracts, but if you like, I can post a few sample articles after I get back tonight. Most of the studies that specifically looked at supplementing chickens used broilers, but I thought the work probably could be translated to layers despite the much more active calcium metabolism in laying hens. General information regarding garlic was usually found on the human side of things, which I used to understand to basic mechanisms at work. If you want to start your own line of literature review, I simply started with the search "garlic" "garlic prebiotic" "inulin" "garlic antioxidant" and so forth...then I started adding "chicken" to the end of the search string to get whatever specific data was available.

 

[Cadbury22]

I tried giving my chickens bread, and they jumped away as if frightened by it!!!!!

 

[SoakasCreekFarm]

Wazine works good for worms.

 

[Chris09]

Here is the scientific reasoning behind garlic supplementation in chickens:

Garlic has three main benefits to chicken health.

(1) As a prebiotic

A prebiotic forms the platform upon which a probiotic functions, promoting a healthy gut flora. Scientists are learning every day how very, very important our gut microflora is to our overall health, so by supporting the microflora you also support a chicken's ability to fight of disease/parasites, digest food, and absorb nutrients. Garlic contains a moderate amount of prebiotic fibers (inulin and oligosaccharides) at about 17.5% for raw garlic (a bit less in powdered form).

(2) As an antiseptic

One of the components of raw garlic, allicin, is released when garlic is chopped or crushed (it's one of garlic's defenses against pests). It has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiprotozoal (coccidia, anyone?) activities. They're actually studying it now to use in combatting MRSA in hospitals! It is a pretty volitile compound, so the garlic needs to be fresh and raw to have these effects (powdered doesn't work). Garlic will kill roundworms in a test tube, but it's unknown if this would translate to real life.

Here's the caveat: when allicin degrades, it changes into several potential compounds. One of these compounds, disulfide, is known to cause Heinz body anemia in mammals. Birds are somewhat more protected from this as their red blood cells are nucleated, but high doses of garlic (or onions, chives, leeks) can cause them problems. The good news is low levels administered chronically allow the bird to replenish these RBCs easily as production is adjusted to compensate.

3) As an antioxidant

Garlic contains many compounds, primarily sulfur-based, that are considered excellent antioxidants capable of scavaging the free-radicals responsible for cellular damage. The antioxidant components seem to outnumber the oxidant (such as disulfide) components, resulting in a net gain. This antioxidant activity is also highest in chopped/crushed raw garlic.

I hope that the information that I have provided will help people make their own decisions regarding garlic supplementation.

I have seen chickens and other livestock that had worms and coccida even after being feed a lifetime of garlic.
Garlic Oil (the oil that comes from pressing garlic) is good for a lot of things including cleaning the gut after worming and medicating but a wormer it is not.

 

[Jensownzoo]

I have seen chickens and other livestock that had worms and coccida even after being feed a lifetime of garlic.
Garlic Oil (the oil that comes from pressing garlic) is good for a lot of things including cleaning the gut after worming and medicating but a wormer it is not.

I definitely agree that it is not a dewormer! More like support for the immune system to cope with parasitism. Except for it's role as a prebiotic, I imagine most of the beneficial effects are mainly concentrated in the first part of the digestive system in a preventive role.

--------------
So, I promised a sampling of studies I looked at:

Dietary fructooligosaccharides and potential benefits on health.
Sabater-Molina M1, Larqué E, Torrella F, Zamora S.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20119826

Probiotics and prebiotics: A brief overview.
Chow J1.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11953920

In vitro efficacy of allicin on chicken Eimeria tenella sporozoites.
Alnassan AA1, Thabet A, Daugschies A, Bangoura B.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26264230

Drug resistance evaluation of some commonly used anti-coccidial drugs in broiler chickens.
Harfoush MA1, Hegazy AM, Soliman AH, Amer S.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21246941

Effects of feed additives on ileal mucosa-associated microbiota composition of broiler chickens.
Ruiz R, Peinado MJ, Aranda-Olmedo I, Abecia L, Suárez-Pereira E, Ortiz Mellet C, García Fernández JM, Rubio LA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26440010

The effects of increasing levels of dietary garlic bulb on growth performance, systolic blood pressure, hematology, and ascites syndrome in broiler chickens.
Varmaghany S1, Karimi Torshizi MA2, Rahimi S3, Lotfollahian H4, Hassanzadeh M5.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26049796

In vivo antimicrobial potentials of garlic against Clostridium perfringens and its promotant effects on performance of broiler chickens.
Jimoh AA1, Ibitoye EB1, Dabai YU2, Garba S3.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24517015

 

[Chris09]

@Jensownzoo

That's a lot of garlic that there feeding in some of those studies.
In the study, "The effects of increasing levels of dietary garlic bulb on growth performance, systolic blood pressure, hematology, and ascites syndrome in broiler chickens" they fed a 5 g/kg ratio or around about 8 pounds of garlic per 100 pounds of feed.

I have a funny felling if your feeding that much garlic to a laying hen the eggs are going to have a strong sulfur smell.

 

[Jensownzoo]

@[COLOR=0066CC]Jensownzoo[/COLOR]

That's a lot of garlic that there feeding in some of those studies.
In the study, "The effects of increasing levels of dietary garlic bulb on growth performance, systolic blood pressure, hematology, and ascites syndrome in broiler chickens"  they fed a 5 g/kg ratio or around about 8 pounds of garlic per 100 pounds of feed.

I have a funny felling if your feeding that much garlic to a laying hen the eggs are going to have a strong sulfur smell.


  
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Hmmm...comes out to about a half a clove daily if you assume a comsumption of 1.5# of feed weekly. I did a quick (regular) internet search to see if anyone who currently is supplementing with garlic noticed an off-taste to their eggs and didn't find that they did, but also didn't know how much garlic they were giving. It would be an interesting comparison to feed half your layers garlic and half not and compare the two in terms of flavor.

I am not feeding nearly that much though. About 5-6 cloves twice weekly divided between 21 chicks. Enough for a bit of a boost in my mind, although who knows if that is enough since a standard "dose" hasn't been established.