When and how to worm?

[HorizonChickens]

Our chicks are 10 days old now - when should we worm them? And wondering if the black walnut or cayan pepper really worms and would be safe for the chicks? Or perhaps pumpkin ???

 

[ranchhand]

Do you know that they have worms? I would never worm unless I had proof that they even had them. At 10 days old, how could they get worms?

 

[HorizonChickens]

Ranchhand-- I don't think that they do have worms - I've never seen any. From my readings, I thought I understood that I was to worm them as a preventative. I'm not a fan of chemicals, so I want to use the natural remedies if possible.

So, I don't need to give the chicks anything until I see worms? no preventatives?

 

[lemurchaser]

If you want to go drug free, you can always have a vet run fecal analysis on them once a year. If you collect and mix poop from a couple chickens, you only need one sample run. For 3 years mine have not had any parasites.