Newbie's question: how is it that something as old and mild as pumpkin and coconut can be effective against worms when today's dewormers have to be much stronger than the ones people began using INSTEAD of pumpkin and coconut all those years ago?
I'm not an expert on deworming, natural or otherwise, but I'll give an opinion. Take it for what is is worth, which may not be much.
There are several different types of worms. The different worms need different treatments. What is effective on some worms may not be effective on others. And like antibiotics, some treatments are fairly mild, which means they are pretty specific in what they go after and some are very strong, which means they are a broadband and will treat a lot of different types of worms. So "worming" can mean different things to different people.
Not sure if it is correct or not, but it is certainly possible some strains of worms have built up a resistance to certain treatments.
Like a lot of things, chickens having worms is not unusual. A low level infestation is not that big a deal to them. It is when the numbers build up that it becomes a problem. And if you ever notice that you have a problem, you do have a sufficiently heavy load that you need to treat. Some of the natural dewormers may reduce the numbers to where it is not a problem instead of totally erradicating them. The only way to know for sure that the specific worms have been erradicated is to have a vet run the specific test. Many people deworm once or twice a year, whether there is an indication or not, just as insurance to try to keep the numbers down.
I do a lot of gardening. I am not certified organic and never will be. I do not just throw insecticides at anything and everything, but if I identify a specific problem and determine a certain insecticide is called for, I will use it. I don't want to spark an organic versus not organic debate, but some of the organic methods include planting enough for me and the insects or have ways to reduce, not eliminate the problem. Some natural dewormers may control, not eliminate, the problem.
I've also read the stories about the herd of wild horses that had worms and six months later were wormfree, supposedly because of a natural dewormer. I personally find this story plausible because wild animals have been thriving for thousands of years with worms without our help or treatment. But wild animals are not penned up where their poop builds up and increases the parasite load beyond manageable levels. Ours are not wild animals but are kept in circumstances where we need to help protect them from parasites and diseases.
We all have different circumstances of how we keep our birds. Some are penned and contained and some are allowed to virtually be "wild". We have different levels of what is acceptable, both in treatment and in results. If the chickens are healthy then the infestation has been controlled even if all worms are not eliminated. Different levels of infestation by different types of worms call for different treatments. And pumpkin or coconut or garlic or whatever you believe in is not readily available, at least economically, to everyone at all times, whether 40 years ago or now.
As I said, I am not an expert and I don't know how these natural dewormers work, whether they inhibit reproduction of the worms, kill or paralyze them, or just flush them out of the system with a laxative-type effect. We do have different set-ups, different problems, and different expectations. I would expect different things to work differently for us.
As I said, this is just my opinion. Don't count on any of this as being 100% accurate or think I have any special knowledge. I don't. But I have an opinion.
