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[Beekissed]

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[lazy gardener]

So, now we have Bee, Short Grass, and myself weighing in with anecdotal report that their chickens CHOOSE to consume rhubarb leaves. Any one else care to report re: birds choosing to eat rhubarb leaves when on free range? This, fact noticed when the birds are out free ranging, and have all of the greens in the yard/garden at their disposal. THEY CHOOSE to eat rhubarb leaves. None of us have noted any ill effect from observation of our birds. Both Bee and myself do long section exam of contents of small intestine when processing birds. On only one occasion have I found any thing that even remotely resembled a round worm. This was found in a cockrel that was kept in bachelor grow out pen without access to free range. It makes sense to me to allow my birds to avail themselves of natural anti helminthics instead of giving them chemical treatments. Many people put their birds on a chemical prophylactic program. Personally, I raise my chickens and other food for the sole purpose of keeping such garbage out of my diet.

 

[Beekissed]

Hey well now I know why they always trash my rhubarb!

I always used to think they just scratched around the rhubarb so badly that they wrecked the leaves in that manner, but now I'm using the wood chips in the garden, I could find no leaf fragments left behind to suggest they were just scratching the leaves, nor any signs of them scratching around the rhubarb plant itself.

The leaves were definitely picked clean to the veins of the leaf, suggesting they are indeed eating this poisonous part of the plant....one would have to ask themselves why chickens, with all the world of tender young seedlings and plants to eat would~once let into the garden to harvest bugs at the end of the season~eat every single green part of 2 separate rhubarb plants?

And why do they choose to eat saw grass with many other more tender and nutritious grasses and legumes available? I've found sawgrass in many a gizzard and didn't put it together until I thought back about the cats and dogs seeking out and eating the same kind of grass, and reading about wild foxes doing the same. This would suggest that chickens knowingly choose plants that do help eliminate intestinal worms and that it's possible that's why they are eating the rhubarb leaves. The stem of the rhubarb has long been known as a vermifuge for humans, so it's possible that the leaves act in much the same manner.

 

[Isaac 0]

It would seem that there would be a thread of someone actually showing that Pumpkin seeds dewormed there chickens.The point is that Natural dewormers may have the properties to kill but in a badly infested situation natural Dewormers wouldn't work as effective as Dewomers meant for chickens.As i said before,i dont worm my chickens unless they have it or there sick and im trying to cross off possibilities.There are always two sides to every story and i could find some links proving against Natural Dewormers.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

So, now we have Bee, Short Grass, and myself weighing in with anecdotal report that their chickens CHOOSE to consume rhubarb leaves. Any one else care to report re: birds choosing to eat rhubarb leaves when on free range? This, fact noticed when the birds are out free ranging, and have all of the greens in the yard/garden at their disposal. THEY CHOOSE to eat rhubarb leaves. None of us have noted any ill effect from observation of our birds. Both Bee and myself do long section exam of contents of small intestine when processing birds. On only one occasion have I found any thing that even remotely resembled a round worm. This was found in a cockrel that was kept in bachelor grow out pen without access to free range. It makes sense to me to allow my birds to avail themselves of natural anti helminthics instead of giving them chemical treatments. Many people put their birds on a chemical prophylactic program. Personally, I raise my chickens and other food for the sole purpose of keeping such garbage out of my diet.

There is a small Ruhbarb patch in my spring run. I've not noted the birds eating it whatsoever. They scratch around and under but are not eating the leaves to my knowledge. Granted they have an abundance of lawn with any weed you care to mention to choose from and insects galore so maybe it's not high on their choice of eats. That run is about 60X80 ft. with shrubs, lilacs and huge willow tree they prefer to be under pecking away.

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: Do your birds not go into this run in the fall? It's been in the fall when I've seen birds mowing the rhubarb.

 

[shortgrass]

Do your birds not go into this run in the fall?  It's been in the fall when I've seen birds mowing the rhubarb.

I was just thinking the same thing... They have a good half acre of garden to rummage through, as well as another acre of grass and weeds, but they always get the rhubarb..and the potatoes. Come to think of it, everything on the noxious list seems to be what they mow down I've tried covering the rhubarb with chicken wire and they just STOMPED that down and ate through it, same thing with the taters

So, I moved the whole rhubarb bed; they found it and it was gone in 2 days, nothing but stalks.

And yep, its fall rhubarb, after its gone to seed. They won't touch the fresh spring stalks. Hmmmm, makes me wonder if the ducks mowing down my sage has anything to do with self medicating?


Oh, and no, I've NEVER wormed my chickens

And no, I'm not willing to pay hard earned money on a fecal just to prove a point lol I'll have DH pay close attention next time he processes, though; but still, it'll just be anecdotal. I'll stick with my pumpkins and garlic and dill..and now evidently rhubarb to supply my wormer; it's there year round and it's free

* just remembered there's a higher concentration of toxins in spring leaves...something to do with freezing and collecting in thecstalks, too. Not supposed to eat spring rhubarb if its been frozen on the plant.

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: But, see: anecdotal evidence is still evidence. If there are no worms evident in the gut when doing a gut dissection, that's pretty strong support that your bird's self worming program is working.

 

[Beekissed]

Do your birds not go into this run in the fall? It's been in the fall when I've seen birds mowing the rhubarb.

Same here...never in the spring. Could be the first hard frosts lessens the levels of oxalic acid in the leaves, who knows?

 

[Beekissed]

It would seem that there would be a thread of someone actually showing that Pumpkin seeds dewormed there chickens.The point is that Natural dewormers may have the properties to kill but in a badly infested situation natural Dewormers wouldn't work as effective as Dewomers meant for chickens.As i said before,i dont worm my chickens unless they have it or there sick and im trying to cross off possibilities.There are always two sides to every story and i could find some links proving against Natural Dewormers.

That's usually due to the fact that people use them in the wrong manner. Chemical dewormers are used as a curative treatment, though they don't truly cure. Natural vermifuges are and should be used as a preventative measure, along with other good management practices, if they are to be successful.

Of the two, the preventative measures are, IMO, the most successful, as they never let a flock get to the point of an infestation of worms, whereas usually people are dosing a flock with chemical dewormer when their flocks already have worms visible in the stool or a sufficiently high egg count in the stool to warrant treatment. If they don't wait until then and deworm on a scheduled basis, they risk the mistake of building an intestinal worm population in their flocks that have grown resistant to the usual poultry dewormers.

That's where most of the confusion about natural dewormers comes in...people think they can be used like a chemical dewormer and are often disappointed when they don't see the desired results when they use them in the wrong manner. Another way they use them wrongly is to give them every day or very frequently, in a misled desire to prevent worms in the flock and feeling, since they are all natural, this won't hurt the flock. All they are doing in that case is building a very healthy worm population that have grown resistant to the effects of the natural vermifuges also.

It all comes down to good flock management practices, whether you use chemical dewormers or natural vermifuges.