Feeding for Worm Prevention?

[Patinas]

I'm sure my flock of 20 hens do not have any worm issues going on at the moment but after a lot of reading, I decided prevention is the best medicine.

About every 3-4 days, I make a mash using oatmeal as the base and then I add the following in combinations depending on what I have on hand:

1. crushed raw pumpkin seed
2. shredded carrot
3. cayenne pepper
4. cucumber (the center with the seeds)
5. garlic powder
6. DE

I also occasionally throw in some yogurt and molasses for probiotics. The hens gobble up the mash although I've noticed they aren't wild about carrots.

My question is, anyone else have a regular worm prevention routine that has worked for them?
How often do you feed it to them?
How long have you been doing it?
If yours is working for you, anything else I should be adding to it?

I realize that by the time you see worms in the poo it's already a bad infestation so I'm trying to prevent that using the natural approach so thought I would throw this out there to get some feedback as to whether or not the natural approach actually works as a preventive measure.

I should note that my chickens do free range almost every day which does up their exposure to potential worm issues.

Any advice would be helpful! Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have always done nothing for worms. I haven't seen any in my birds, and I think all animals carry a reasonable load of parasites and you only see a problem when something else is wrong with the bird that comprises it's immune system.

My birds free range, and have plenty of room. I'm not sure if natural prevention work, I know doing nothing seems to work, and allowing chickens to be in a more natural way, where they can pick and choose what they eat. I always provide a good ration, and the birds get all left overs, and extra garden produce.

I'm not sure why suddenly everyone is worming their chickens. I think we will see worms becoming resistant to wormers like they have in other species. It's better to practice better sanitation and to not crowd them in my opinion and to breed for resistance than to continually worm your chickens.

Chickens love carrots that have been cooked, but raw aren't usually eaten as well, so try boiling them to soften them up.

 

[Isaac 0]

Most Natural Wormers do absolutely nothing.Birds confined in one space or more likley to get worms than free range birds imo.Chickens that are free range are more tolerable to diseases. than birds confied in a small space.I have Wormers on hand but have not had to use them .People that worm there birds twice a year are letting the worms become immune to the wormer.I would just leave them be.

 

[Patinas]

@oldhenlikesdogs and @MasterOfClucker

Thank you both for your responses! I have to say that based on all the "worm" posts on here, the two of you seem to be in the minority when it comes to the "do nothing" approach.

I'm not saying you're wrong or that all the others are right. I personally don't want to medicate my chickens unnecessarily so I never had it in the plan to worm them regularly with OTC wormers. That's why I decided to try the natural approach.

Hard to ignore all the posts on here when something is wrong with a chicken that the usual first response is "It must have worms" or "Get the poop checked for worms". Again, I don't know if that's right or wrong. It just seems no matter what the symptoms are, inevitably someone says "It's worms".

It's good to hear both of you have done nothing and do not have worm issues with your flock. That's encouraging. I guess I've just been going at this with the mindset that maybe the natural way works and even if it doesn't, it's still good stuff the chickens like so it certainly can't do any harm. I just want to know if it's actually doing any good!

I was just curious how many others try this approach rather than using medications as a preventative. I tend to be in the corner of if it isn't sick, don't medicate it but again, maybe that's the naive approach. I'm learning!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Here's my take on it, a healthy chicken will have some resistance to worms, a sick chicken or one with something internally wrong with it will have those worms get out of control and thus it will appear that the chicken has worms and that's the whole cause of it. I believe the chicken is sick first, than has more worms.

It's an easy recommendation to check for worms because it's harder to check for other things with a chicken like running blood work, so checking for worms becomes a recommendation.

That being said, I agree confined birds and birds that live in the south without a good killing winter freeze will have more problems, than I will.

It certainly is something you need to decide on for yourself based on how your flock does, and what your management practices are how you want to deal with the issue. I personally don't treat chickens, we cull the sick or weak, and view them more like livestock.

 

[lazy gardener]

Patinas, I think you hear a lot about worms, because it's the folks who have problems with their birds that are posting. I'm going to ignite a fire storm here, but so be it. The typical discussion goes something like this:
"There's something wrong with my chicken."
"It must be worms. Have you wormed them? Or... Have you done a fecal float test?"
From there, the discussion continues regarding recommendations for a prophylactic worming program, or a float test followed by using the indicated wormer.

There are a lot of BYC members who have NEVER used medication either as part of a preventive program, or to treat a diagnosed worm load. There are a LOT of natural helminthicides out there, some are tested, and written about, and there are plenty of others that are used by animals that you or I are not wise to. One such plant is sharp bladed grass. Ever noticed chickens eating those tough old raspy grass blades? IMO, they go for such things b/c they know that those sharp blades will do a number on any worms in their tracts. My birds skeletonize my rhubarb leaves every fall. Now, they have several acres to free range, with that acreage including lawn, wild areas with lots of varied weeds, woods, BTE orchard and a garden with lots of plant material left after I've finished the harvest. Yet they tear those rhubarb leaves to shreds. Now we've all been told that rhubarb leaves are poison. Yet, there are some writings that talk about rhubarb being an anti-helminthic, as well as it having a myriad of other medicinal uses.

Back to Patina's concoction: I think I'd be inclined to treat only 2 - 3 x/year, even if using all natural materials. IMO, the DE is a waste of time as it's not supposed to be at all effective if you get it wet. One herb I'd consider adding might be ginger root.

Those of us who never have problems of this nature simply don't talk about it b/c we don't have an issue. Whether my lack of issue with worms in my flock is related to my husbandry methods, or possibly related to my colder climate, and the micro climate in which I live is up for speculation.

I can say that my management style includes: deep litter in coop and run, fermented feed, frequent access to cucurbits, especially as summer and fall/winter progresses. Frequent access to garlic. Free ranging as predator load allows, giving flock plenty of room, especially in the run. My summer flock number is up, but... by fall, I will have culled the flock considerably. And, most importantly, IMO, culling the flock yearly to remove weak members. It's said that 10% of the flock or herd harbors 90% of the parasites and disease. Remove that 10%, and you continue to breed forward for a flock that is resistant to local pathogens.

 

[rjohns39]

X2 I was late bringing my birds out of winter housing and had an infection set in. Standard fare, the vet required us to de-worm before treating the problem. We did and have no idea if it had an impact or not. A good friend of mine de-worms once a year regardless of symptoms and she does have a very healthy flock. I kind-of live in the world of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Then again, I swore I'd never give my birds antibiotics, right up to the day they got sick. Then I caved.

 

[Patinas]

Ever noticed chickens eating those tough old raspy grass blades? IMO, they go for such things b/c they know that those sharp blades will do a number on any worms in their tracts.

Thank you for your post! Never thought of it until you mentioned it in the quote above but I do have ornamental golden Japanese grass in my perennial gardens and that's the main thing they love to eat and it has long sharp blades. Makes total sense now that you mentioned it!

While I prefer the natural approach to managing my flock, I would use medications if necessary. I don't plan to cull my hens when egg production drops as they age, they are pets to me vs. just livestock since I put so much time and effort into them but everyone has different goals when it comes to raising any type of livestock and that's the way it should be.

It's good to hear from people who do not regularly deworm their flock! From all the posts on here, I figured it is something I needed to do but chose the natural remedies.

I think I will continue what I'm doing but maybe cut back to once or twice a month. Again, the chickens do love the mash I make them so it can't be doing any harm and I guess mentally, it makes me feel like I'm being proactive, even if it turns out it doesn't work!