Hot/Cayenne Pepper Powder/Flakes for Worm Treatment

[Sarah RN]

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share MY experience with hot pepper powder on trying to rid of worms with my flock. I am not claiming that this is a definite treatment for worms, and what worked for me and my flock might not work for you.

Some chickens in my flock have been gettin infected and re-infected with gape worm since Labor Day. The flock's first treatment with Fenbendazole was around Labor Day and since then we could barely eat their eggs because of the constant treatment with Fenbendazole and its egg withdrawal period. It has been a literal every 3 week treatment with this repeated warm wet weather. We also knew that it was gape worm because of their constant gaping for air and noises they make would go away the next day after we start the worm treatment. We let them free range 1-2 times a day but our backyard isn't very big. With eggs being tossed out for 2 straight months, I was getting frustrated, as collecting eggs from my girls and eating them were part of my joyous daily routine. Last treatment was about 2 weeks ago and two of my hens started showing symptoms again. I read somewhere on the internet that cayenne pepper powder could help rid of worms in chickens. I said why not try it? I did not want to treat my flock with medication anymore so I decided to try giving my flock some hot pepper powder from my pantry. It's something like this if anyone is interested...it's a 1 pound bag so it's a decent price. You can find them much cheaper if you have access to an Asian supermarket.
https://www.amazon.com/PREMIUM-Kore...d=1&keywords=korean+hot+pepper+powder&sr=8-10
Anyway, I started with sprinkling some on their feed and their water. BOY did they go to town on their feed immediately after I sprinkled them! I have never seen them eat their feed like that. They absolutely LOVED it! So I continued sprinkling some on top of their feed and water as well. I did this every morning and after 3 days, none of them were showing symptoms. One particular hen had the worst of symptoms every time she got gape worm and her symptoms were completely gone. I've been sprinkling hot pepper powder every morning on their feed ever since! I don't exactly know how or why hot pepper powder works to rid of worms but I hope this information helps some of you out there, and I hope it works for you as it did for me! If anything, your chickens will still LOVE hot pepper powder in their feed regardless!

 

[Sarah RN]

Gaping is not a diagnosis of Gapeworm itself, and it's hard to know if the gaping is stopping out of pure coincidence when you administer the medications. I personally doubt your treatment plan is going to work, but if you want to give it a try, go for it. One thing I would suggest is sending poop samples of your bird's feces to your state lab, or veterinarian to test to see if there are any Gapeworm eggs present in your birds.

I do understand that gaping is not a gape worm diagnosis itself. They could gape due to food stuck in the throat or other means. After I lost a chicken, I’ve treated my flock 3 times with fenbendazole over the course of 2 months because of the symptoms and all 3 times the symptoms went away but came back after 2-3 weeks. Could be coincidence, yes, but I was sick of giving them medicine and not being able to eat their eggs. Again, I really don’t know, and this is just my experience and I don’t think there is much harm giving them hot pepper powder, besides, they seemed to love it. I am always skeptical of people claiming some natural remedies working for something...usually I try them myself and end up not working. I did try DE and ACV which didn’t work. I was surprised when this worked for my chickens so I just wanted to share it.

I appreciate your suggestion, I might try it if I get the chance.

 

[dawg53]

I hate to disappoint you but gape worms are located in the windpipe (trachea). Did you put the cayenne pepper down their windpipe?
Gapeworms are rare in chickens and birds with gapeworms dont eat nor drink nor lay eggs. They are actually suffocating to death due to the worms in the trachea.
Most likely you are dealing with some type of mild respiratory issue or perhaps an environmental issue with your birds.
Cayenne pepper helps get hens laying eggs when they slack off laying, that's for sure.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi, I am aware that gape worms thrive in the trachea. I’m no expert by any means, but my guess is that perhaps the hot pepper flakes sitting in the crop could make it heat up around the neck area making the worms uncomfortable? I really don’t know. The thing is I know some of my chickens had gape worm because after fenbendazole, their symptoms would completely go away. They would constantly gape for air, constantly shaking their head and one hen would constantly make a loud “caw” noise with neck stretching/gaping out at the same time. And the symptoms would come back after about 2-3 weeks after treatment. I tried the hot pepper flakes and symptoms completely disappeared after 3 days of feeding it to them. I don’t know, I can only tell you my experience that’s all.

Gaping is not a diagnosis of Gapeworm itself, and it's hard to know if the gaping is stopping out of pure coincidence when you administer the medications. I personally doubt your treatment plan is going to work, but if you want to give it a try, go for it. One thing I would suggest is sending poop samples of your bird's feces to your state lab, or veterinarian to test to see if there are any Gapeworm eggs present in your birds.

 

[dawg53]

Trust me. As much fenbendazole you gave your birds, they would not have worms. Yet the symptoms kept reappearing. That is typical for some type of respiratory disease or something in the environment causing the symptoms. Examples could be; inhaling feed dust while eating, dust from dust bathing, pollen, pesticides, ammonia fumes from soiled bedding, improper ventilation, fungus or mold spores, smoke.
If it's some type of respiratory disease, it will show symptoms in birds when they are stressed. Birds that survive are carriers for life and will spread whatever disease it is to other birds.

Also just for your information, birds that are kept on the same soil are more susceptible getting worms than birds that free range. If their feet touch the ground, they will get worms. So, it's a good thing that you have wormed your birds. It is true that wild birds can easily introduce parasites to your soil. I've had it happen with migrating birds. The only thing you can do is worm your birds on a regular basis and fenbendazole is a very good wormer. However if you have doubts about the product, it's very easy to gather up fresh fecal samples and put them in a ziplock bag and take them to a vet and have them look under a microscope for worm eggs. It doesnt cost much at all. Then, the results will verify whether the fenbendazole was effective or non effective. Then you'll have your answer. As always, it's best to give wormers orally to each individual bird. That way you know they got properly wormed.
Putting wormers in feed or water isnt very effective at all. You dont know if all the birds ate or drank it, or if they ate or drank enough of it to be effective, and sick birds rarely eat or drink at all.

I also recommend that you thoroughly inspect your coop/pen for any of the deficiencies I mentioned regarding environmental issues which can be taken care of on your part.

 

[Sarah RN]

this is interesting; thanks for posting.

This link goes to a site giving the nutritional profile for chili peppers, so any active ingredient(s) should appear somewhere in the list
https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Spices,_chili_powder_nutritional_value.html

Do please keep us informed so we know how long the effect lasts

Interesting! Thanks for that nutritional profile! I think I will continue to feed them some every morning as I also heard that the peppers give them a warm feeling during colder months and encourages them to lay (although I don’t have that problem yet they still lay almost everyday). I don’t know if that’s true but I will definitely update on whether they get re infected with worms or not!

 

[Perris]

this is interesting; thanks for posting.

This link goes to a site giving the nutritional profile for chili peppers, so any active ingredient(s) should appear somewhere in the list
https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Spices,_chili_powder_nutritional_value.html

Do please keep us informed so we know how long the effect lasts

 

[Sarah RN]

I hate to disappoint you but gape worms are located in the windpipe (trachea). Did you put the cayenne pepper down their windpipe?
Gapeworms are rare in chickens and birds with gapeworms dont eat nor drink nor lay eggs. They are actually suffocating to death due to the worms in the trachea.
Most likely you are dealing with some type of mild respiratory issue or perhaps an environmental issue with your birds.
Cayenne pepper helps get hens laying eggs when they slack off laying, that's for sure.

Hi, I am aware that gape worms thrive in the trachea. I’m no expert by any means, but my guess is that perhaps the hot pepper flakes sitting in the crop could make it heat up around the neck area making the worms uncomfortable? I really don’t know. The thing is I know some of my chickens had gape worm because after fenbendazole, their symptoms would completely go away. They would constantly gape for air, constantly shaking their head and one hen would constantly make a loud “caw” noise with neck stretching/gaping out at the same time. And the symptoms would come back after about 2-3 weeks after treatment. I tried the hot pepper flakes and symptoms completely disappeared after 3 days of feeding it to them. I don’t know, I can only tell you my experience that’s all. And I did lose a chicken little before Labor Day.

 

[Sally PB]

Cayenne pepper helps get hens laying eggs when they slack off laying, that's for sure.

I had never heard this before. I have three pullets. One has stopped laying and is going through what I hope is a partial molt, and the other two lay about 3x week, down from 5-6x. The hours of daylight are shorter, and will continue to get shorter, so I put the slacking off down to that. What does cayenne pepper do to stimulate laying? Would other hot peppers have an effect? (I have a lot of habaneros in the freezer right now.) Are there studies on this, or is it your own experience? I value both information from both kinds of sources.

 

[Kiki]

Gaping doesn't mean worms. 9 times out of 20 it means trouble breathing...most likely respiratory disease.

Can you get a necropsy on your next loss so you know what you are doing with, please.