What natural remedies do you use ? What works ?

[CluckyChook]

I have been keeping a healthy little flock without the use of many chemicals, my chooks happily drink a bit of apple cider vinegar & soaked garlic and will eat black pepper, natural yogurt, comfry and any other herbs from the garden. I control pests in their house with pyrethrum spray and use dolmite to sweeten the soil, but I have had to use a commercial dust recently for feather lice as they got a bit out of control. They are not bio-secure as they range and get visits from brush turkeys, doves, possums, mice etc and they eat lots of bugs so I suspect that they are always carrying a low level of worms, so far they havn't shown any signs of a heavy or unhealthy worm infestation but I worry if it's just a matter of time !

So I ask you what natural remedies you use and in your experience what works well for eliminating the common chook pests, i.e. worms and lice/mites ?

 

[Chicken_Pauper]

I have not heard of a natural remedy that actually "treats" and eliminates worms... or mites.

I had to use both Sevin Dust on the chickens and Permethrin Spray in the coop to finally get rid of all the mites. I used Valbazen to worm the chickens.

I was using DE and ACV when my chickens got and had to be treated for mites and worms.

I have never heard anyone mention Brewer's Yeast.. doesn't it help to keep fleas off of dogs? Might it help to keep mites off of chickens? Safe for chickens? Too expensive for the amount?

 

[two early]

I am really interested in this thread and hope more people will respond. I have been using DE in the coop but my hen have scaly leg mites and I am trying to treat it with just the vaseline/mineral oil cure. Not showing much improvement but I loathe to use chemicals. But after posting yesterday about what to do, I think I may have to break down and use sevin dust in the coop just to get everything under control. My hens do not like to be handled and so I have grabbing them after dark and washing their legs in castile/peppermint soapy water, applying neosporin to any lesions and then coating the whole leg foot area with mineral oil or vaseline. Last nite I noticed some of the scaly stuff falling off, but the two worst looking hens still have quite a bit of the scaly bumps on them. I am doing this by myself and holding and manipulating an angry hen is quite a challenge. I'll see how things look today. I am cleaning out the coop every day and spreading DE everywhere. I am hoping that there are some people out there that really value natural, organic methods and can offer some more advice on mites specifically and other things generally. Also, what is ACV?

 

[MNShepherdess]

I believe ACV is apple cider vinegar. You need to use the natural food store kind with the "mother of all" I believe they call it? It's basically the thick pulpy stuff that has all the good nutrients in it

I would guess if chunks are falling off, that is probably a good indication that you're winning the battle.

I'm hoping more people post too. I know I like using Vet RX because it has lots of natural goodies in it

 

[liv4fun]

 

[Chemguy]

ACV = Apple Cider Vinegar.

 

[two early]

I want to keep this thread bumped up. Still looking for more to join in natural treatment discussion. Looks like I made some progress on the scaly leg mites: some scales are gone and nice pretty legs are emerging. I talked with a woman at feed store and she said the oil will definitely smother them, but the hard part is keeping a re-infestation in the coop. How much DE is necessary and ok to use? Anyone know? I have it layered on kinda thick on the roost and bedding. Is it a problem when the chickens scratch it in and the dust rises and they breathe it in? Tonite I tackle the bums, where I see something that may be a mite infestation. Can I oil that area as well? Is that a different kind of mite? Would it be better to dust it with DE? I am sticking with Natural methods for 7 days, then I will have to go to chemicals. Has anyone tried colloidal Silver for general healing and immune boost?

 

[CluckyChook]

My treatments so far

coloidal silver I use at the 1st sign of any chook looking a bit off colour, it works really well as an anti bacterial to stop or shorten a cold, also use it on horses, dogs,cats, myself ! I add it to the general coop drinking water when the weather is hot or they have been stressed about 5ml/litre. It will break down in sunlight thou so only add as much as they will drink in one day.

I also use DE in the coops and on the ground but I think I took my eye off the ball for a few weeks and got a lice/mite explosion, (it doesn't take long) so it's great as a preventative if you use it regulary, I was dusting them about every 10 days or so. DE, as far as I know, is OK for chooks to inhale in small doses and you souldn't really be inhaling it yoursefl just as a precaution, as I beleive it is safe to be ingested but not good in your (or chooks) lungs in large doses.

ACV I have one waterer with ACV diluted in it at all times so the chooks can help themselves, they always drink more from this water than of normal water so I guess they like it, it's an awesome general tonic packed with minerals and other great stuff.

Garlic - they hate and will not go near any water with it in.... but my neigbours chooks eat garlic regularaly so I guess my boss chook told them it was poison and they listened !!

Comfrey, I hang up for them when every my Comfrey plant has spare leaves, it's high in minerals and comes with the added bonus of mealybugs.

I havn't had to deal with scaly leg yet, my flock is still young, but it sounds like vaseline and oil is working if they are dropping off with some repeated treatments.

I dealt with a compacted crop with slightly warmed olive oil and some repeated massage and I hope this chook will not be eating any more garden thread.....I felt very guilty when a messy balled up length was expelled a day or 2 later

she also went off the lay for a bit but I didn't blame her !

So far, and I admit that my experiance isn't huge, I have found that any chook showing sign of being 'a bit off' always benefits from a dose of colidal silver, some lean protien (I use kangaroo) and a day or 2 away from the flock. I have a small isolation pen within the regular coop so she can see and hear whats going on but doesn't have to deal with a pecking order or be chased about everytime she gets a tasty morsel to eat.

Oh and I also give them stale bread soaked in milk, about 3 or 4 times a week or yougurt (if they are lucky and it's on offer at the supermarket)

I have my fingers crossed that this will keep my girls happy and healthy and I so far (just over a year so far) I havn't had any major health set backs.

Does anyone know if a low worm load is OK for chooks health ? or should worms be dealt with without mercy and chemicals ?

I hope this keeps going and I am looking for some links to good articles on the above remedies.