De-worming advice?

[nhchickmom]

We acquired our chickens as one year olds and were told that they were wormed when they were young. For their safety I am thinking of worming them again......any thoughts on this....is it necessary? I have heard that you need to be careful what you give layer hens if you plan to eat their eggs, which we do. Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[risurocket]

If you want go all natural and still be able to eat their eggs, get raw, hulled pumpkin seeds (they are green) from a natural food or bulk food deptartment and chop them up real finely and mix with their feed. Use about 2 cups for 25 or so chickens.... Do this for a week or 2 depending on how many chickens you have.

Also Apple Cider vinegar in their water every day, helps their digestion, boosts egg production and boosts their immune systems as well as helps with worms. Use 2 tablespoons per gallon.

We did this with our year old organic chickens we rescued from a 400 + chicken ranch and they were worm free within 2 weeks, and have stayed worm free. Plus you can give just whole (smashed, raw) pumpkins and the chickens will gobble them up. Chickens love Halloween.

Good Luck!

 

[nhchickmom]

Thank you for this quick advice. I prefer these simple and organic methods and regularly chomp on pumpkin seeds for the iron so we have PLENTY in the house. We only have 5 girls so i will give them about a 1/4 cup for the next week or so.

Thanks again!

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

Besides the pumpkin seeds, I also give my girls (and their guys)

Organic coconut chips, they also have parasite removing abilities. There is also food grade DE that many people put in with their feed. I mostly use it in their dust bath and mix it in with the bedding to control little pesky bugs-they don't like me too much, as I 'm not too sympathetic with their trying to find a home on my chickies!

 

[greyfields]

My advice on deworming: Only deworm once you have confirmed you actually have them. Have a vet do a fecal analysis for you. It's cheap, painless and then you're not wasting money on dewormer you didn't need to begin with (not to mention putting the birds' lives in peril for no good reason).

 

[nhchickmom]

Quote:
Not to be too graphic, but i have noticed some sort of "red, chunky things" in the chicken poop. Not a lot of it, but it is a new thing. I was suspecting worms which is why I started investigating. Does this sound suspicious to you?

 

[chickenlady]

My poor girl passed red chunky material and then the poor girl passed this:

I use Eprinex pour on wormer. It kills several different variaties of internal and external parasites. There is no egg withdrawal.

 

[conroy]

ughh

I think I just threw up a little.... poor chicken.