So the season is upon us so here is the organic worming procedure/recipe I use and I have never had any worms or a problem with them that I know of. I have never used any de-wormer medicines and have some very healthy 4 year old hens that show no signs of slowing down. in addition to doing this treatment twice a year (as soon as pumpkins are available and then again in Dec with pumpkins I saved) I give the girls raw buttermilk from my co-op about once a month or so. This has been mentioned before in BYC but I figured it would not hurt to mention it again.
I use raw buttermilk like I said from my co-op and organic pumpkins I grow myself but you can use the stuff in the store as well. No need to waste the pumpkin either just use the seeds from the one you are carving for Halloween although you may need several if you have a large or multiple flocks.
This treatment is a 3 day process. You will need fresh pumpkins, buttermilk, bran, regular milk
Day 1 remove all feed (leaving water) by noon so that chickens have nothing to eat and must fast (they will not be happy about this)
Day 2 Cut pumpkin like you are making a jack-o-lantern and scoop out all of the seeds (it is fine to have the stringy stuff as well. put in a blender with buttermilk and blend at high speed so that it becomes a wet mash of pulverized seeds and buttermilk.
feed this as the only feed after a day of fasting to all chickens (make sure there is enough for them all to fill up on it during the day) they will love it ad just might forgive you for starving them the day before.
Day 3 Now make a mash of bran flakes and regular milk (again I use raw cows milk since that's what we drink, and you should too
) make sure they have enough of this all day as well.
Feed this mash to the birds and stay away from their rear end as there will be some wet yucky poo happening now.
Day 4 back to regular feed as usual with some DE and ACV in water ETA real yogurt as well will put back the good bacteria
although if you use raw milk it will be in there as well.
Sounds weird I am sure but here is why you do this. The pumpkin seeds have a natural chemical in them that paralyze the worms and parasites in the birds intestines. The pumpkin seeds must be raw and chopped up in order to work. the buttermilk is a natural de-wormer of sorts not sure of the exact reason for it though. Anyway the worms get paralyzed and the next day the bran and milk act as a laxative expelling them from the bird. I have never seen any in the poo but since I dont have a problem with worms I dont really expect to, but I have spoken to people who have seen the worms be expelled when they did it and looked at the feces afterwards.
Hope this is helpful to those wanting an organic natural approach to worming
I use raw buttermilk like I said from my co-op and organic pumpkins I grow myself but you can use the stuff in the store as well. No need to waste the pumpkin either just use the seeds from the one you are carving for Halloween although you may need several if you have a large or multiple flocks.
This treatment is a 3 day process. You will need fresh pumpkins, buttermilk, bran, regular milk
Day 1 remove all feed (leaving water) by noon so that chickens have nothing to eat and must fast (they will not be happy about this)
Day 2 Cut pumpkin like you are making a jack-o-lantern and scoop out all of the seeds (it is fine to have the stringy stuff as well. put in a blender with buttermilk and blend at high speed so that it becomes a wet mash of pulverized seeds and buttermilk.
feed this as the only feed after a day of fasting to all chickens (make sure there is enough for them all to fill up on it during the day) they will love it ad just might forgive you for starving them the day before.
Day 3 Now make a mash of bran flakes and regular milk (again I use raw cows milk since that's what we drink, and you should too
Feed this mash to the birds and stay away from their rear end as there will be some wet yucky poo happening now.
Day 4 back to regular feed as usual with some DE and ACV in water ETA real yogurt as well will put back the good bacteria
Sounds weird I am sure but here is why you do this. The pumpkin seeds have a natural chemical in them that paralyze the worms and parasites in the birds intestines. The pumpkin seeds must be raw and chopped up in order to work. the buttermilk is a natural de-wormer of sorts not sure of the exact reason for it though. Anyway the worms get paralyzed and the next day the bran and milk act as a laxative expelling them from the bird. I have never seen any in the poo but since I dont have a problem with worms I dont really expect to, but I have spoken to people who have seen the worms be expelled when they did it and looked at the feces afterwards.
Hope this is helpful to those wanting an organic natural approach to worming
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