Natural dewormer and parasite treatment/prevention

[Hartsharvestfarms]

I’m new at this!! I have had my Lavender Orpington flock for a year and a month and we have had a very humid, wet summer in WNC. I’m really needing some experience/strength/hope on preventing/treating my birds for worms and parasites. Which ones? I have no idea, but I’m going to say ALL of them. I would really like to go the natural route and avoid having any harsh chemicals on my property if possible, I’m not entirely opposed for extreme situations, but want to start off without it.
So background info:
7 hens, 1 Roo 1 year old
12 older chicks
large cement floor coop (8x12) with drywall, it’s actually a room off the basement with a separate entrance. There are two windows in the coop that do not open. We liked this feature for the winter, but it does not offer enough ventilation for the heat of summer. We definitely have a fly problem right now.
My birds free range
They are fed a blend I make of cracked corn, black sunflower seeds, oats and DE. They also forage and get lots of kitchen scraps.
pine shavings over the cement floors, but the chickens all have roosts they sleep on.

many thoughts, ideas or experiences are greatly appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

Your chickens are not getting a balanced diet or enough protein. Free range chickens need a balanced chicken feed, wither all flock/flock raiser feed or layer feed. Those contain all the required vitamins, minerals, and 16-20% protein.

If my chickens have worms, I would use a proven dewormer, such as Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer. If your family member had worms, your doctor would prescribe Valbazen (albendazol) or other medication to treat it. So called natural wormers have been proven not to work. Here is some reading about those:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/control-treatment-of-worms-in-chickens/

 

[Hartsharvestfarms]

This is where I got the recipe from

. I actually mix in an organic commercial feed in the winter months, but right now they have access to so many bugs and forage I wasn’t concerned about lack of protein or minerals. What signs should I be looking for in my birds that may indicate a deficiency? I like to be able to mix my own foods because it creates a large bulk for a much lower cost, but of course I want to do what is best for my birds. This feed is also what I use for my pigs (who also are given kitchen scraps and lots of forage) and what I was planning on feeding my ducks.

 

[Kiki]

I am surprised your one year old chickens aren't having problems laying eggs.
How young are your chicks?

Why do you feed them DE?

 

[Hartsharvestfarms]

Your chickens are not getting a balanced diet or enough protein. Free range chickens need a balanced chicken feed, wither all flock/flock raiser feed or layer feed. Those contain all the required vitamins, minerals, and 16-20% protein.

If my chickens have worms, I would use a proven dewormer, such as Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer. If your family member had worms, your doctor would prescribe Valbazen (albendazol) or other medication to treat it. So called natural wormers have been proven not to work. Here is some reading about those:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/control-treatment-of-worms-in-chickens/

Thank you for sharing that article, I did find lots of great information there and especially appreciated the doses being provided for each treatment option. I still think I would like to try natural prevention, as there is currently no parasite problem presenting itself, but will absolutely keep those things in mind should one occur. I do have Corid-V and Ivermectin on hand and have looked into Valbazen (dang, expensive!) just in case they are needed, so again I am not opposed to a conventional route, just looking for alternatives, especially as a prevention plan. I really wanted to be able to raise chickens organically because I buy organic eggs/meat from the store. I have found that raising chickens (organically or otherwise) is not actually cheaper when done well, so if I’m going to be doing it myself I would prefer to keep chemicals and antibiotics out of my food.

 

[Hartsharvestfarms]

I am surprised your one year old chickens aren't having problems laying eggs.
How young are your chicks?

Why do you feed them DE?

Nope, we normally get 1 (sometimes even 2) eggs a day from each bird, right now we are not getting any because 5 have gone broody and are sitting on almost 40 eggs combined. That’s another new lesson we are figuring out. I put about a cup of food grade DE evenly dispersed in a large metal trash can with the other ingredients. I layer everything so that it is easier to mix. I have been using the DE specifically for prevention if parasites.

 

[Hartsharvestfarms]

Nope, we normally get 1 (sometimes even 2) eggs a day from each bird, right now we are not getting any because 5 have gone broody and are sitting on almost 40 eggs combined. That’s another new lesson we are figuring out. I put about a cup of food grade DE evenly dispersed in a large metal trash can with the other ingredients. I layer everything so that it is easier to mix. I have been using the DE specifically for prevention if parasites.

9 chicks are 3 months and were hatched and raised by my first broody hen. I offered organic chicken feed for the babies and my mixture for her and she taught them how to eat that so I actually stopped offering the mix after two weeks because I kept having to just change it out to keep it clean and fill the homemade mix. They were free ranging from about 3 weeks on when Mama let me know she was ready to bring them out of the “mama baby unit” we built in our coop. They have all thrived. We have actually had a way lower success rate incubating eggs and feeding the commercial chick feed than mama did raising her babies with the home blend. I’m not sure what the feed has to do with it or if her natural mama instincts just topped our learning curve. The other 3 chicks are 8 weeks old and actually just joined the flock. They are currently being separated with a hardware cloth divider until I’m more confident they are going to adjust well in the flock. Today I let the flock out in the morning and when I came back to check on the broody mamas and younger Chicks I did let them out briefly, as the rest of the flock was off ranging, they did well and stayed mostly in/around the coop and I let them back in about an hour later. Just a short period while supervised so that they could meet some of the hens at a time rather than the whole flock.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

thoughts, ideas or experiences are greatly appreciated!

Get a fecal float several times per year to identify YOUR internal parasite load and species and don't treat what you don't have. If needed use an effective proven method for the species identified. Practice good waste management, without over crowding. Don't roll out the welcome mat to other wildlife.

Despite seeing signs some folks will swear is worms.. the floats done by the vet have said otherwise thus far and I have YET to treat. We also drink our groundwater, etc.. and try to go chemical free when possible.

. I have been using the DE specifically for prevention if parasites.

Throw that trash out.. it has proven ineffective in humid environments..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

I completely agree about that diet being inadequate.. not only possibly in protein but amino acids... and will note that insect are a good source of protein, but many are high in fat as well. Save yourself some funds on health care and parasite treatment by providing a correct diet first and treat everything else as a treat... especially for them broody hens. Genetics is important to vigor and immunity but good nutrition is the foundation to all things health related including fighting off internal and external parasites as well as disease, etc.

The effect of poor nutrition on laying often decrease quantity by about 10% which most home producers will never notice.. JUST sharing information, here.. I do see your response that your numbers are higher on your new feed, using a broody.. Interesting, I'd love to see some hard numbers and data including which feed, what breed, blah, blah! That's just me and my curiosity on this learning adventure since you asked about our thoughts.

Wow, you're gonna have outbreak of chicks, thanks for sharing your adventure.

 

[Hartsharvestfarms]

Get a fecal float several times per year to identify YOUR internal parasite load and species and don't treat what you don't have. If needed use an effective proven method for the species identified. Practice good waste management, without over crowding. Don't roll out the welcome mat to other wildlife.

Despite seeing signs some folks will swear is worms.. the floats done by the vet have said otherwise thus far and I have YET to treat. We also drink our groundwater, etc.. and try to go chemical free when possible.


Throw that trash out.. it has proven ineffective in humid environments..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

I completely agree about that diet being inadequate.. not only possibly in protein but amino acids... and will note that insect are a good source of protein, but many are high in fat as well. Save yourself some funds on health care and parasite treatment by providing a correct diet first and treat everything else as a treat... especially for them broody hens. Genetics is important to vigor and immunity but good nutrition is the foundation to all things health related including fighting off internal and external parasites as well as disease, etc.

The effect of poor nutrition on laying often decrease quantity by about 10% which most home producers will never notice.. JUST sharing information, here.. I do see your response that your numbers are higher on your new feed, using a broody.. Interesting, I'd love to see some hard numbers and data including which feed, what breed, blah, blah! That's just me and my curiosity on this learning adventure since you asked about our thoughts.

Wow, you're gonna have outbreak of chicks, thanks for sharing your adventure.

A regular fecal float test is awesome advice, thank you. I would way rather know exactly what is (or is not going on) than trying to treat something that may not even be an issue because I am just learning the ropes. With so many broody hens I may just go back to the basics and buy an organic commercial feed to kind of reset every one and continue to do more research on making my own blend. The goal with making my own is to offer as many Whole Foods to my animals as possible and avoid fillers. I obviously want to make sure that the diet is balanced and there are animals on my homestead that have such strict nutritional needs that I would not even consider trying to create my own.
Yes, the chick hatching adventure! I am definitely a little concerned about how it will go, but we have a brooder box on standby in case chicks need to be removed and are also building 4 more small mom/baby hutch/runs that I will be able to use for hatchings, quarantines and injury in the future. I really thought an 8x12 coop, 2 brooder boxes, “hospital” box and wire dog crate would be enough for my little flock, but that is another lesson I am learning by doing things the wrong way first!