Garlic clove in water for worming chickens?

[FoodKillah]

Does this method of worming chickens really works? Would it really effect the taste of the eggs?

I just fed 2 cloves of garlic to my little flock. The rooster and 1 girl loved it, 2 ate a few little pieces and 1 didnt try twice. Is it ok to feed to 5 birds 2 cloves daily for 1 week as a treatment?

 

[speckledhen]

Garlic is not a reliable wormer. In fact, I have never known that it works at all for this purpose. It is very healthful, however. I have done the clove in the waterer or chopped it into feed occasionally as an immune system booster. I've never noticed a taste in the eggs at all. If garlic does in any way work as a wormer, I'd think you'd have to feed it in huge quantities. They will have garlic breath, LOL!


Pumpkin seed does however have a proven mild preventative effect. The curcurbit in the seeds paralyzes the worms so they can be expelled. Some follow the treatment with a molasses flush so they poop out the worms afterward. Not sure it works on all worms, but chopping it into something they eat or adding it to their scratch mix, does seem to keep the worm load at a manageable level. A recommendation is pumpkin seeds chopped into buttermilk. Not sure why the buttermilk unless it just sets up a good gut condition with its acidity for the worms to get out faster.

 

[ejb3810]

Raw garlic in the water is commonly used by those in the racing pigeon fancy. It is not used to kill or prevent parasites, but it is a proven booster of a birds immune system. This is not an old wives tale but in fact proven science. It must be raw, as any type of processing(other than crushing) reduces or destroys the chemicals that prove beneficial.

 

[honeydoll]

Very interesting to learn this. I will start doing this.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Does anybody have a primary reference demonstrating the effectiveness of pumpkin seed in poultry? Especially something with data on dosages and percent reductions? I'm very interested in this and I've been spending a lot of time searching for a poultry reference but haven't found one yet. Interestingly, I've found a LOT on the great effectiveness of pumpkin seeds in ruminants, just not chickens. Thanks!

 

[Mervin]

Quote:
Does anybody have a primary reference demonstrating the effectiveness of pumpkin seed in poultry? Especially something with data on dosages and percent reductions? I'm very interested in this and I've been spending a lot of time searching for a poultry reference but haven't found one yet. Interestingly, I've found a LOT on the great effectiveness of pumpkin seeds in ruminants, just not chickens. Thanks!

No, but I do have empirical evidence of pumpkin flesh being a laxative. I grew pumpkins just for the chooks last summer. Well, it really doesn't agree with a couple of them. Butternut Squash had a similar effect.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:

Not quite the kind of data I was looking for.

As I understand it from reading the studies on goats and sheep, etc. just about anything in the Cucurbitaceae works. They produce a steroid called cucurbitacin, which may either act as a purgative or cytotoxic.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Pumpkin seeds, garlic, ACV, red pepper flakes, (some people use DE)....all this stuff 'helps' as a preventative. Once you have an infestation though, your only option is a chemical wormer like ivermectin, wazine etc. Don't get me wrong, I use them all! I rotate one a week (except the DE) every week of the year. I do believe it helps prevent worms, but it will not get rid of them once the bird is infested.

 

[cybercat]

Another well known among us herbalists is pine or cedar leaves. I have used galic for my animals for years with no worm problems. When I do not use it I had problems. I use to breed dogs as well as cats and now poultry. Garlic works for flushing them out of the system. I know of people using it on goats along with pumkin and pine. Unless you know you have worms I would not worm. Chickens are way less prone than other animals.

 

[grandmaof5]

Does the taste of the garlic come through in the eggs? I really overdid the garlic in the spaghetti sauce last night and am wondering if the girls can have the leftover sauce. (it was yummy, btw)