Worming Your Chickens

[Egg_newton]

I am curious as to who uses natural wormers vs chemical pesticides. I would love to go the natural route. I haven't seen any evidence of worms and used ivomec last fall as a maintenance med for parasites. All my chickens free range so I'm sure they have something crawling around in there. I would like to know who uses what and if you use them for maintenance or to treat an outbreak and how effective they are. All input is greatly appreciated.

 

[PhilErvin]

I've heard of using food grade DE for worm control . I asked at the feed store in Cherry Valley and they had none but the feed store in Calimesa says they carry it.

 

[dawg53]

you wont see any worms unless you have an infestation. natural wormers are good preventatives,but wont kill worms. chickens can have many different type worms. the main one is roundworms,therefore i use wazine17 to get rid of them first to lighten the wormload. two weeks later i kill the rest using one of the following on a rotational basis; ivermectin pour on, safeguard, or valbazen. in between wormings i'll mix DE or cayenne pepper in their feed as a preventative.

 

[Egg_newton]

I've heard conflicting things about DE. I have some and put it in there dust baths, feed, and all around the run. It did help a lot with flies but didn't do anything for the mite problem I had. Ended up having to use Seven dust

I use the pour on too and am getting wazine tomorrow. I used the Ivomec last fall, also. Poor little chickens come with so many 'extra little hanger-on-ers"