When thinking about de-worming your birds, maybe you should consider going a more holistic route. I mix food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) and crushed red pepper (like the stuff you put on pizza) to my chickens feed. Both kill off any worms your birds may have or get. DE is also an excellent source of easily digestible calcium and the red peppers are probiotics that aid the immune system. The one thing you have to monitor when using the DE is eggshell hardness. If the hens are getting too much DE the shells may become fairly hard. Which could be problematic for chicks trying to hatch out of an rock shell. This is easily remedy by cutting back on how much you give them. As for the red pepper it is great for raising the body temperature. This is great in the winter but not so much in the summers. Just monitor how your birds are doing and all should be well.
The ratio I use that seem effective is 1 cup of DE and 1 cup of crushed red pepper per 400-500lbs of feed. Since my feed is stored in large metal barrels each holding about 200lbs of feed, that is how I figure my amount. Lately I had to go easy on the DE after dropping an egg and it did not break.
I give DE to my cats, dogs and llamas DE and no one on my place has worms.
Oh, another thing that is good for getting rid of intestinal parasites is pumpkin seeds, but much more expensive unless you grow pumpkins (my goal next years).
DE can usually be purchased at most feed stores or you can order it on line. Prices do vary greatly and it is a much better value to buy in bulk (like 50lbs rather then 10lbs). A 50lb bag at our local feed store goes for about $38 and the 10lb goes for $18. I usually just by the 10lb because I really do not have a way to store that much for a long period of time. The crushed red pepper I buy at the Vietnamese store in town in a 5lbs bag which cost about $10 dollars and lasts for several months. You could probably find it a restaurant supply store or any other international store.
The good thing about going this route is it has so many positive benefits for the birds, it is not so harsh on their systems and you do not have to throw away the eggs using either DE or the peppers de-worming your hens. Depending on how many birds you have it is probably much cheaper in the long run to go the more holistic path.
Hope this information helps.
The ratio I use that seem effective is 1 cup of DE and 1 cup of crushed red pepper per 400-500lbs of feed. Since my feed is stored in large metal barrels each holding about 200lbs of feed, that is how I figure my amount. Lately I had to go easy on the DE after dropping an egg and it did not break.
Oh, another thing that is good for getting rid of intestinal parasites is pumpkin seeds, but much more expensive unless you grow pumpkins (my goal next years).
DE can usually be purchased at most feed stores or you can order it on line. Prices do vary greatly and it is a much better value to buy in bulk (like 50lbs rather then 10lbs). A 50lb bag at our local feed store goes for about $38 and the 10lb goes for $18. I usually just by the 10lb because I really do not have a way to store that much for a long period of time. The crushed red pepper I buy at the Vietnamese store in town in a 5lbs bag which cost about $10 dollars and lasts for several months. You could probably find it a restaurant supply store or any other international store.
The good thing about going this route is it has so many positive benefits for the birds, it is not so harsh on their systems and you do not have to throw away the eggs using either DE or the peppers de-worming your hens. Depending on how many birds you have it is probably much cheaper in the long run to go the more holistic path.
Hope this information helps.
