Homemade Verm-X (and natural chicken ways?)

Do you know what determines a serious case of worms? One worm is one worm too many. One female large roundworm can lay as many as 200,000 eggs a day contaminating the soil where your birds forage. Birds peck the soil all the time, in doing so they swallow worm eggs starting the worms lifecycle all over again.
VermX is a waste of money. The worms must be eliminated using chemicals and depending on soil conditions, may require monthly treatments.
I see your point and thank you. I agree the worms must be eliminated. I would suggest that there may be medicinal methods that don't require a purchase from a store.

Again, I tend to have a tons of plant material growing in my medicinal plant garden. I don't administer them or advise. I make medicines for myself for colds and coughs and husband who, three years ago could not get off the couch due to myalgic encephalomyelitis and because of plant medicines, the only change in his lifestyle, has mowed the lawn for the last two years, built a chicken coop and pen, devised a water catchment system from one of our sheds, and built racks and cut wood for next winter. He couldn't even walk a few years ago. Western medicine has nothing for him and every doctors has admitted that and is thrilled with our success. (And they asked for the studies I used, most of which came out of Japan and Europe.) Using peer-reviewed medical studies, I was able to isolate the particular plants that had the chemical constituents that nourish and support the systems in his body that are most affected.

So I won't say plant medicines don't work, because they can - just as western medicines can and often do. But, of course, if western medicines "worked", technically, they'd work 100% of the time for everyone and we know they don't. Neither do plant medicines. But I do think people are smart enough to make their own choices regarding their and their animals' health care.

Believe me, when I need western medicine, I run for it. Not often, but just this week a mild case of poison ivy turned bad in one week and now I'm on a dose of prednisone and it's getting better. I am not anti-western medicine at all. I am for whatever works although I prefer a preventative route for my chooks, now that it looks like they are fine, but if they did get a real case of worms, I have a tube of Safeguard paste on the shelf just in case.

I just enjoy hearing what other folks do, both herbally and medically. And I enjoy sharing possibilities.
 
So do you have a list of the ingredients?
Good question. The ingredient list I saw had: allium (garlic), slippery elm bark powder, peppermint, common thyme, cleavers, cinnamon, quassia, fennel, stinging nettles, and cayenne. I saw one Verm-X product that had elecampane.

I also knew that pumpkin seeds expel worms from the gut, and I have also seen various folks use apple cider vinegar, food grade diatomaceous earth, and nasturtium leaves and flowers in their treatments.

I do know that garlic, mint, cleavers, cayenne, pumpkin seeds, and DE are classified as antihelmintics by the FDA. I am not as familiar with the others having that particular quality. Slippery elm bark powder is extremely nourishing to intestinal and stomach linings which make itand it's like an internal "band-aid" that makes then inhospitable to parasites. Stinging nettles is like a multi-vitamin and is extremely high in chlorophyll which parasites also seem to be adverse to. We all know about DE as a dewormer. I've seen cayenne get rid of worms in cats, personally. Again, these are the ones that were on the bottle and others I've seen in chicken blogs.
 
I can relate to the poison ivy. I've had it several times...miserable.
Anyway, here you go:
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2012/01/ve...eal-evidence-to-show-it-is-safe-or-effective/
Good article. Innacurate, since many of these ingredients are approved by the FDA as antihelmintics, but, you know, always good to see what's out there.

UPDATE: But I will add I agree that there are so many inert and useless ingredients in that concoction, that it is likely useless. But nt because of the types of plants used.
 
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Verm-X proper, as sold on Amazon and other places, does claim to be a dewormer. Personally, I think a serious case would not respond to Verm-X or my herbal concoction in eliminating all worms. This is why I think it could well be used as a nutritional and antihelmintic treatment to prevent infestation and control a very minor one.
Nope. Companies that sell Verm-X on their websites may use words like "wormer", "intestinal parasites", etc. in the "listing" or "listing title" as keywords. These keywords are how buyers find products.

Verm-X does not claim to be a de-wormer and for good reason. Verm-X is made in Great Britain. The makers cannot call their product a "wormer" or "anthelminitic" because it's not a licensed medicine. It's an herbal product. UK and EU law does not allow a non-licensed medical product to use those words. You won't find those words on their labeling, packaging or on their website.

Verm X is "a 100% natural, active formulation that helps restore and maintain gut vitality, a foundation for good animal health. "
They do encourage folks to have a fecal egg count before they introduce the supplement, then to have a follow up 21 days after supplement is ended. They also recommend having a fecal egg count twice a year.

Now. Will it hurt? I don't think so. Will it help support the gut as a supplement? Probably will, that's the claim.
Will it de-worm? Likely not - then it's time to use the Safeguard that you have:)
 
Good question. The ingredient list I saw had: allium (garlic), slippery elm bark powder, peppermint, common thyme, cleavers, cinnamon, quassia, fennel, stinging nettles, and cayenne. I saw one Verm-X product that had elecampane.

I also knew that pumpkin seeds expel worms from the gut, and I have also seen various folks use apple cider vinegar, food grade diatomaceous earth, and nasturtium leaves and flowers in their treatments.

I do know that garlic, mint, cleavers, cayenne, pumpkin seeds, and DE are classified as antihelmintics by the FDA. I am not as familiar with the others having that particular quality. Slippery elm bark powder is extremely nourishing to intestinal and stomach linings which make itand it's like an internal "band-aid" that makes then inhospitable to parasites. Stinging nettles is like a multi-vitamin and is extremely high in chlorophyll which parasites also seem to be adverse to. We all know about DE as a dewormer. I've seen cayenne get rid of worms in cats, personally. Again, these are the ones that were on the bottle and others I've seen in chicken blogs.
I can tell you're new with chickens. Just about everyone wants to go organic with chickens when they first get them. I jumped on that bandwagon years ago, as have many others.
You'll eventually learn that organics dont work. Chickens are birds, just about everything about them is different. They cant be compared with mammals. Their metabolism, the way they digest food etc...is different.
Forget the FDA, they have no clue about chickens.
Perhaps you havnt considered that many of us have been there, done that.

Garlic contains sulfuric compounds that can possibly cause anemia in birds. DE is absolutely worthless, it wont prevent nor treat external parasites much less internal parasites.
A chicken would have to eat a truck load of crushed pumpkin seeds in order for the cucurbitin to be effective eliminating worms. Cayenne pepper doesnt get rid of worms neither.
Trying to make a hostile environment for worms internally is not going to happen.

Nematodes are everywhere in the soil. Your environment dictates how often you should worm your birds.
Warm, wet or moist soil will require frequent wormings. Cool/cold or rocky mountainous soil may require less frequent wormings, the same with hot desertlike soil/sand.

Keeping birds on the same soil will require frequent wormings. Sunlight will kill worm eggs on the soil, but not in the soil. Insects are vectors for worm infections, but not all insects are infective. Deep litter is a cause of many worm infections, particularly capillary worms which can be deadly to chickens.

Some people say chickens can handle a small wormload. What are the worms doing internally besides mating and laying eggs? They are sucking the life out of the chicken.
Can your dog or cat handle a small wormload? Can you or your children handle a small wormload?

There is the topic of wormer resistance. There are two benzimidazoles I've been using for years in poultry; Safeguard and Valbazen. I use both and they are very effective wormers. I've also used Levamisole and Pyrantel Pamoate, also very effective wormers. Also Equimax or Zimecterin Gold strictly for tapeworms.
I dont use Ivermectin for worming due to ineffectiveness treating large roundworms from my experience. Mites are also showing resistance to the product. Besides, Ivermectin products have a long egg withdrawal period, not so with the benzimidazoles.
 
Best way I've found to prevent worms is to keep the coop bedding and run bone-dry. If in UK/Europe, Stalosan-F helps with this.

If the birds have worms though, the best thing is flubenvet.
x2
Keeping everything as dry as possible helps deter parasites. I use sand in the pens and coops. Sand doesnt wash away or cause nasty mudpuddles that birds love to drink. Sand dries quicker than dirt/mud. It's easier to scoop poop as well.
Flubenvet is a very good wormer, wish we had it here.
 
A chicken would have to eat a truck load of crushed pumpkin seeds in order for the cucurbitin to be effective eliminating worms.

It depends on the worms. There are several recent studies that show cucurbitin is effective in eliminating tapeworms. Here is one study, I cite it because the dosing amount was 2 grams of pumpkin seeds per bird, per day.

https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/veterinary/issues/vet-19-43-2/vet-43-2-4-1807-39.pdf

Keeping birds on the same soil will require frequent wormings.

I think that depends on your soil, the type of worms in your soil, your birds and your philosophy. I've never wormed my flock and they are on the same soil. My oldest range from 5 to 8 years old. All actively laying and in good health.

I'm not opposed to using medicines and de-wormers if necessary, but I personally haven't found the need for routine chemical de-worming to maintain a healthy flock.

Another consideration for me is that chicken de-wormers are off-label use and if you read the fine print, you are not supposed to use them in egg or meat producing chickens. Although I suspect that a lot of over-cautious, CYA language (I would still eat the eggs), I give away eggs to friends and family, and I would feel uncomfortable doing that without disclosing the deworming.
 

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