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[sumi]

Nine ways to help prevent parasites in your flock

Taking proactive steps to minimize internal parasites is easier than treating sick birds.​

Lancaster, Pa. [May XX, 2017] – Do you find yourself throwing away eggs after treating your flock for internal parasites? Although it’s nearly impossible to keep your chickens completely worm-free year-round, proper management can help prevent parasite issues in your flock.

Why should you care about worms in your birds?

Worm, or parasite, infestations can cause poor growth, decreased egg production and in severe cases, death. Internal parasites can also make a flock more susceptible to diseases or make existing diseases worse.

Backyard birds can easily ingest internal parasite eggs while scratching the ground and foraging for bugs, including snails, slugs, grasshoppers, ants and earthworms. Insects can also harbour parasite eggs, which infect your birds when ingested.

If your birds are not behaving normally and seem distant from the rest of the flock, it could be a sign of parasites causing illness. Pay close attention to your birds for additional symptoms of internal parasites:

 Appetite loss

 Weight loss

 Watery droppings

 Dehydration

 Hens stop laying

 Separation from the rest of the flock

 Balance and coordination loss due to weakness

 Poor feather quality

 Dull combs, wattles and eyes

1 Tellez, G., Pixley, C., Wolfenden, R.E., Layton, S.L., Hargis, B.M., 2011. Probiotics/direct fed microbials for

Salmonella control in poultry. Food Research International. 45(2012):628-633.

While parasite infections can be serious, being proactive can help prevent parasites from ever
becoming an issue. Here are nine ways to help keep your birds happy, healthy and parasite-free:

1. Avoid overcrowding – Give birds plenty of room to be comfortable. Overcrowding can cause an abundance of germs in a small area.

2. Clean coops at least once a week – Cleaning and adding fresh bedding prevents infected droppings from accumulating.

3. Avoid introducing infested chickens to the flock – Purchase your chickens as newborn
chicks. If you purchase adult birds, quarantine them for a minimum of two weeks to monitor their health and assess for potential disease and parasite symptoms. 2

4. Avoid giving feed or treats on the ground – Ground pecking for feed and treats increases
the risk of your flock consuming parasitic bugs and encountering droppings from contaminated birds.

5. Keep chickens off freshly tilled ground – Chickens love to eat bugs and freshly tilled ground turns up insects possibly hosting parasite eggs. Keeping your flock away from freshly tilled areas can help limit their exposure to an overabundance of tasty bugs.

6. Keep wild birds away from your flock – Wild birds could be infected with parasites and shed parasite eggs through their droppings.

7. Use integrated pest management (IPM) practices to control insect populations – IPM practices are an eco-friendly way to eliminate or control factors required for pests to survive.

8. Test and sanitize drinking water – One sick bird can infect the rest of the flock simply by contaminating the waterers. Test and sanitise the water, and keep waterers and feeders cleaned to help control or reduce the chance of spreading infection.

9. Target worms – Use an all-natural supplement to help breakdown the natural defences of intestinal worms and their eggs. This makes parasites more susceptible to attack by the bird’s immune system, stomach acids and bacteria in the gut.

Naturally preventing diseases before they start is the best strategy to support the immune system of your birds, prevent expensive, time-consuming veterinarian visits and maintain a happy, healthy flock. For more information about poultry health, visit http://www.dbcagproducts.com and “like” the HealthyFlock Face Book page.

2 Agriculture Victoria. 2011. Quarantine advice for small poultry flocks. [Accessed April 24, 2017].
http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agric...ry/quarantine-advice-for-small-poultry-flocks

DBC Ag Products delivers innovative, natural solutions that target intestinal health to overcome animal agriculture’s toughest challenges. Its unique, proprietary formulas focus on the optimal combination of new and proven technologies to prevent disease, save animals, improve feed utilization and deliver profitable results to customers. The Backyard Chicken® Health Pack, including Zyfend® A, has been successfully used for over 30 years in daily heath programs at modern operations, including organic-certified and natural-certified production systems.

 

[Flufferes]

well written.

 

[13ChickenGirl]

Great advice

 

[chickengr]

great information.

unfortunately my chickens love scratching muddy soil.

I have a big problem with tapeworms and there are no wormers for chickens for tape worms. I use dog wormer but it seems the worms became resistant (or my chickens reinfect). I managed to kill some tapeworms (one was almost 2 inches long) with a natural mix I made. here is the recipe:

- a handful of pumpkin seeds
- 2 pinches of cloves
- 2 pinches of black peppercorns
- 2-3 dried cayenne peppers
- a handful of dried wormwood
- little thyme

I ground them together till I got fine powder. I mixed about 2-3 tbs with their feed for about 50 chickens.

only the first day I found that gross tapeworm. I continued to give them this mixture for 3-4 days just in case.

it will not really prevent the future infestations but helps a bit. I now give it to my chickens once a week.

 

[chickengr]

we had another rain and another worm infestation. this natural mixture cannot prevent it. it seems it works with the tape worms but now I have seen roundworms in droppings.

I put copper sulphate and acv in water. as my chickens don't drink medicated water I mix it with their feed. my paralyzed brahma hen expelled at least 4 roundworm with this. my vet got mad when heard about copper sulphate. but I googled enough before I took decision to give it to my chickens. even some human medicines contain copper sulphate.

 

[happyfrenchman]

I guess I am the turd in the punch bowl. I did not find that article very useful. I saw it in my E Mail and I was disappointed when I read it.
Cleaning the coop once a week? That is alot of work that would not likely pay off. Avoiding introducing infested chickens? Yeah... I guess that is a good idea. But keeping them from digging in the dirt? Free ranging chickens are exposed to all kinds of things. I would prefer to know what to give them as an all purpose wormer. I use piperazine myself. Or Wazine. Once parasites get established, they are biologically adapted to spread throughout the entire flock, through droppings into the dirt. They will live in the dirt throughout the range of your flock. You have to interrupt the life cycle as best you can. I know it is not an organic solution, but chemical wormers have their place in a realistically operated chicken flock. You have to take away their water and replace it with the medicated water. I use a nipple bucket. I keep them in the coop the day I worm them (which keeps them from finding alternative water sources) and I toss the eggs for a week. Every 6 months.

 

[tsisqua]

I've been having good results using diatomaceous earth. When the coop/hen house gets cleaned, it gets generously sprinkled on the hay and in the nests. Once every four months, I mix some food grade diatomaceous earth with their food. This method is working very well for my four girls.

 

[Linda V]

I've been having good results using diatomaceous earth. When the coop/hen house gets cleaned, it gets generously sprinkled on the hay and in the nests. Once every four months, I mix some food grade diatomaceous earth with their food. This method is working very well for my four girls.

Tisqua: I'm a huge fan of chicken-grade DE too! But, I read many articles by experienced chicken farmers, etc., of the additional benefits of using the correct type of SAND in the coop, so we put a good 8" sand foundation down in the lower part of our coop AND I also put sand in the bottom of the roosting drawer so each a.m, I use a kitty litter scoop to quickly and easily de-coop the poop and I also mix DE into the drawer and the bottom of the coop so when they do their sand baths they get it all!

To keep them cool in summer, I remove the normal shavings from their nests and replace it with the special sand with a touch of DE...they love it!

Sand keeps their coop clean, pleasant smelling and their feet nice and clean too! Just make sure you get the correct type or your birds will die...literally.

I'm now going to use an Igloo, 2-gallon, thermos with a new device attached to it called BriteTap! (see pics). It will be on top of a large, inverted plastic bin to elevate it and they will enjoy ice water from that all summer - nipple system, of course! I can put tepid or warm water in it during the winter as well, but I'm also adding ACV to it (by recipe) to keep them healthy AND to keep the water from getting hinky!

Additionally, I'm going to mix ACV, dishwashing liquid & water in a large, spray bottle and will clean the coop, etc., with this a few times each week to kill and prevent lice, etc., from setting up a home!

Some put me down for holistic/natural/homeopathic remedies, but the lady who I learned this from has a website online and has decades of hands-on experience with these things and has NEVER had health issues from parasites!

Also...Tractor Supply sells packets of electrolytes & vitamins you add to their water as well and it's not only dirt cheap, but 1 pkg lasts forever if you have two hens like we do!

My girls will also get a large area of their 14-foot run of pure, hardwood ash from our firepit (no chems) along with a bit of DE added for their sooty-baths!

Lastly, I'll be adding fresh, minced garlic to their diet each day to get mites, etc., from staying on them and returning to them

Check out these pics of the new drinking system and thanks for posting your message. It's nice to know there are a few DE fans out there...lol!

 

[tsisqua]

Tisqua: I'm a huge fan of chicken-grade DE too! But, I read many articles by experienced chicken farmers, etc., of the additional benefits of using the correct type of SAND in the coop, so we put a good 8" sand foundation down in the lower part of our coop AND I also put sand in the bottom of the roosting drawer so each a.m, I use a kitty litter scoop to quickly and easily de-coop the poop and I also mix DE into the drawer and the bottom of the coop so when they do their sand baths they get it all!

To keep them cool in summer, I remove the normal shavings from their nests and replace it with the special sand with a touch of DE...they love it!

Sand keeps their coop clean, pleasant smelling and their feet nice and clean too! Just make sure you get the correct type or your birds will die...literally.

I'm now going to use an Igloo, 2-gallon, thermos with a new device attached to it called BriteTap! (see pics). It will be on top of a large, inverted plastic bin to elevate it and they will enjoy ice water from that all summer - nipple system, of course! I can put tepid or warm water in it during the winter as well, but I'm also adding ACV to it (by recipe) to keep them healthy AND to keep the water from getting hinky!

Additionally, I'm going to mix ACV, dishwashing liquid & water in a large, spray bottle and will clean the coop, etc., with this a few times each week to kill and prevent lice, etc., from setting up a home!

Some put me down for holistic/natural/homeopathic remedies, but the lady who I learned this from has a website online and has decades of hands-on experience with these things and has NEVER had health issues from parasites!

Also...Tractor Supply sells packets of electrolytes & vitamins you add to their water as well and it's not only dirt cheap, but 1 pkg lasts forever if you have two hens like we do!

My girls will also get a large area of their 14-foot run of pure, hardwood ash from our firepit (no chems) along with a bit of DE added for their sooty-baths!

Lastly, I'll be adding fresh, minced garlic to their diet each day to get mites, etc., from staying on them and returning to them

Check out these pics of the new drinking system and thanks for posting your message. It's nice to know there are a few DE fans out there...lol!

View attachment 1044390 View attachment 1044391 View attachment 1044392 View attachment 1044393

 

[tsisqua]

Thank you for all the good ideas! As for the sand, well, LOL, I live in Central Florida and my entire back yard is sand. Probably not the right kind, but it is what it is. I've got two RIRs and two BRs, and they spend the day turning my backyard into a version of the lunar landscape. Next month, they will have full run of the garden once the green beans are done. My four girls will get rid of weeds, weed seeds and pests for the Fall planting season.

I love the waterer! I'm going to do this for them, as it's already getting really hot here, and this will make them very comfy while they work the garden for me.