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Thanks!Pumpkin seeds, peppercorns and other “natural” dewormers have been used for centuries but under much different conditions than what most of us provide for our chickens. My family used natural dewormers in their flocks in Cuba where there is nothing else. You can’t buy safeguard or ivermectin in Cuba now or then. The big differences between what they did 150 years ago and what I do:
1) chickens free range and roost free range all the time. No cage time at all. Acres of space. 2) Natural predation and human eating eliminated most chickens older than two years old. 3) Sick chickens culled right away if they didn’t respond to treatments 4) the land and space was much larger than anyone’s backyard so the waste was more spread out 5) there wasn’t any trading, buying and selling. 5) hens hatched and raised chicks (I believe this makes for healthier chicks because the hens were also healthy)) They relied on themselves to produce meat and eggs from their flocks.
They had other “natural” cures most of which included hot pepper seeds. I don’t know if any of it worked but they were successful and had a sustained flock for their needs. The short answer was to cull anything that looked sick so naturally those treatments were thought to be effective. I can’t duplicate those conditions - very different conditions than what many of us have- and I dont kill my chickens if they’re having a bad day, so I use a chemical dewormer.
We struggled with tapeworms in our flock for awhile, too. I find equimax works amazingly well for that. A couple hours after the first dose I stopped seeing the live segments in their poop. We did observe a 2 wk egg withdrawal period, but one of my hens went broody during that time and I gave her a few of the treated eggs & every single one hatched into a healthy, happy chick! That kind of surprised me, I was worried the mess were going to interfere with the development in the eggs... but no issues.Three of our four chickens have tapeworm. I treated with Valbazen, and we are on our tenth day of egg withdrawal. I am still seeing live tapeworm segments in the poop. Should I treat one more time to be on the safe side? There are quite a few segments coming out in the poop, and they are still alive. I would assume this is coming from wild birds and flies. We are trying to control this as much as possible, but it's a pretty impossible task. If I worm again, at what point do I just give up and let them have tapeworm? I can't keep them on Valbazen forever.
I use the ACV and food grade DE (and I do this on intervals and use it myself as well) I believe both create an environment not ideal for parasitic hosting.There is a possible third option which is to have regular faecal worm egg counts done and use medication (wormer) when the results indicate their worm burdon is becoming too high, in much the same way as I do for my horses. The lab that does my horse faecal samples now offers the same service for poultry I believe.
I'm a big believer in only using medication when it is necessary. I have to confess that I have not used the worm egg count service for my chickens yet and with so many of them it is probably not economic in my situation. In the past 3.5 years I have not wormed my chickens other than using Verm-X natural wormer once and I'm not really convinced of it's efficacy. If I have a chicken die of unknown causes, I do a DIY post mortem and I check the digestive tract for worms as part of that. I have found the odd round worm but so far no more than that. I have a large mixed flock of varying ages that free ranges and also several pens, so worming would be complicated. I do have poultry wormer in stock as part of my first aid kit along with Corid, but so far I haven't needed either.
I do use ACV in their water daily (although they have access to other mostly rainwater whilst free ranging) but I wonder if the slight acidity from that makes the digestive tract less hospitable to parasites, although I appreciate the digestive tract is already acidic. I am a regular poop checker and whilst I did find a round worm in a cockerels poop a couple of years ago, I haven 't seen any since.... Of course with so many chickens free ranging, I know there will be some that I miss but parasites are inevitable and it is really only when they get out of balance with their host that it becomes a problem.
I think there is a temptation to try to eradicate parasites altogether and whilst that sounds attractive, I think there is a balance in all things in nature and trying to exterminate one that we humans don't like, often leads to an imbalance and other unforeseen problems like resistance to medication developing. Of course, sometimes things get out of balance for other reasons and that is when medication should be used in my opinion to try to level the playing field again.
On it!!! I’m In the process of collecting samples for the poultry lab anyhow unfortunately it’s raining at the moment but I promise to post this for everyoneI agree! I am new to chickens and my flock is 12 weeks old. Their vent feathers are clean and the poop looks normal to me, but I don't get close and examine it. Should I? How big are the worms? Are they easily spotted? I need to see some infested chicken poo pictures please!
On it!!! I’m In the process of collecting samples for the poultry lab anyhow unfortunately it’s raining at the moment but I promise to post this for everyone
I will see what I can find...
-Kathy
I agree! I am new to chickens and my flock is 12 weeks old. Their vent feathers are clean and the poop looks normal to me, but I don't get close and examine it. Should I? How big are the worms? Are they easily spotted? I need to see some infested chicken poo pictures please!