I have a variety of chickens in my 'Coop #1' (Seven hens, one roo). The youngest one is twenty-two wks old, the oldest one is 18 months old. I have noticed they have been getting rather thin lately especially the oldest one. Their poop is loose and disgusting. Now I'm going to describe the poop in great detail, if you would rather not read about descriptive droppings then you probably should stop here. 
My rooster for one thing has the MOST nastiest poop I've seen. It's like...mustard... Rarely does he poop something firm, and even when he does it's slightly green and soft - too soft in my opinion. Why is he pooping out mustard-like substances? Sometimes it's slightly clear and piecey green. I can feel his keel bone sharply and it concerns me.
June, the eldest of all my chickens in 'Coop #1' is extremely thin. I'm wondering if she's malnourished (which is the case with worms) because her new feathers are light and not at all like the dark mahogany a Buckeye should have. She is slow, very, very slow. The last one to jump out in mornings, she's always a few steps behind everyone and often get's left behind in the mad dashes my chickens make for food. xD Her poop is so small and tar-like. It smells repulsive and has some white. If her poop isn't small it's slightly green and loose. Oh and she pooped one FIRM poop a couple days ago! I was so excited! It was a musky green with white and medium size, it looked b-e-a-u-tiful.
The rest of my chickens have similar poop and all seem on the thin side.
To be absolutely honest with you all; I don't want to poison my chickens. I know DE doesn't get rid of the evil ones like tapeworms and roundworms so I was hoping for something that would work and still be something our chickens would eat normally. I read somewhere on BYC that a lady used pumpkin guts and garlic to deworm her flock!? She said it worked well. If that's the truth then I certainly would like to try it! Wormwood works on humans, would it not work on chickens also? I know that humans are mammals and birds are...well birds, so the worms may differ slightly. But still perhaps wormwood would work. Does anyone have experience in this?
But then again, a natural wormer may not get all of the worms. I am well aware that my chickens are wonderful hosts for other types of worms as well. I need help on deciding before I loose a bird or open an egg and a worm pops out!
My rooster for one thing has the MOST nastiest poop I've seen. It's like...mustard... Rarely does he poop something firm, and even when he does it's slightly green and soft - too soft in my opinion. Why is he pooping out mustard-like substances? Sometimes it's slightly clear and piecey green. I can feel his keel bone sharply and it concerns me.
June, the eldest of all my chickens in 'Coop #1' is extremely thin. I'm wondering if she's malnourished (which is the case with worms) because her new feathers are light and not at all like the dark mahogany a Buckeye should have. She is slow, very, very slow. The last one to jump out in mornings, she's always a few steps behind everyone and often get's left behind in the mad dashes my chickens make for food. xD Her poop is so small and tar-like. It smells repulsive and has some white. If her poop isn't small it's slightly green and loose. Oh and she pooped one FIRM poop a couple days ago! I was so excited! It was a musky green with white and medium size, it looked b-e-a-u-tiful.
The rest of my chickens have similar poop and all seem on the thin side.
To be absolutely honest with you all; I don't want to poison my chickens. I know DE doesn't get rid of the evil ones like tapeworms and roundworms so I was hoping for something that would work and still be something our chickens would eat normally. I read somewhere on BYC that a lady used pumpkin guts and garlic to deworm her flock!? She said it worked well. If that's the truth then I certainly would like to try it! Wormwood works on humans, would it not work on chickens also? I know that humans are mammals and birds are...well birds, so the worms may differ slightly. But still perhaps wormwood would work. Does anyone have experience in this?
But then again, a natural wormer may not get all of the worms. I am well aware that my chickens are wonderful hosts for other types of worms as well. I need help on deciding before I loose a bird or open an egg and a worm pops out!
