Worming Chickens

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Worming Chickens
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Gertie

Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 5:53 am Post subject:
I'll give your recipe a go, Marigold, when we get our hens (can't wait).

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 7:51 am Post subject:

Back to worms...we'd prefer not to use the worming product, but am sure I've read that by the time you can see evidence of an infection (either in the droppings or in loss of condition) it's often too late.

Which doesn't mean that preventative measures and natural remedies might not work, on a back garden scale, but all things considered, we've decided to go for the "official" approach on this one.

I don't know what organic flocks are wormed with, anybody?

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 12:26 pm Post subject:

Be careful if you feed scraps to chickens...I don't think you can sell eggs from chickens that have any mammal by-products (yes I know hens will eat mice etc). It would be worth checking Defra. There are some, IMHO, daft regulations regarding not feeding kitchen waste to animals. I can understand the regs for large scale producers but they seem a little strict for the smallholder.

Last edited by Treacodactyl on Wed Feb 09, 05 7:15 am; edited 1 time in total

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 1:04 pm Post subject:
I'll do a little digging on the Defra site tonight. As I often say, it's always good to know the regs and you can decide what to do.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 7:15 pm Post subject:
Right I've done a search and the information is not that easy to find. It may be worth reading through this: https://www.defra.gov.uk/foodrin/poultry/legislation.htm#4.6 Basically one of the various amendments "prohibits the feeding of MBM to any farmed livestock including poultry." (mammalian meat and bonemeal)

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 11:57 pm Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

Regarding worms...we'd prefer not to use the worming product, but am sure I've read that by the time you can see evidence of an infection (either in the droppings or in loss of condition) it's often too late.

Which doesn't mean that preventative measures and natural remedies might not work, on a back garden scale, but all things considered, we've decided to go for the "official" approach on this one.

I don't know what organic flocks are wormed with, anybody?

I'm going to give this some more thought. Thanks for the input, Bugs.

I'll also see whether I can't find the info on the remedies I am thinking of.

Cheers.

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 05 12:51 am Post subject:

It's garlic! I remember now. I knew it was something simple.

I've been looking around on the net - some people swear by it, some combine it with other herbs, and others say if it was that simple chickens wouldn't ever have worms. Not sure I agree with that, but I'm going to look into it. I haven't found anything on quantities yet.

One thing I will do, though, before I use anything in a worming capacity, is ask the vet about getting a fecal sample tested for the various kinds of worms. If one has worms, then they all will, so it doesn't matter whose poo I get tested.

I don't suppose this will be cheap, but I'd rather do that than medicate unnecessarily. I may be able to do it more cheaply by contacting a laboratory directly, through the Net. I'll check it out and let you know how I get on.

I seem to remember reading that most animals, including chickens, can live quite comfortably with a light burden of worms, but if one catches a cold or is under the weather for any reason, the impact of the parasites suddenly becomes greater because the animal's system is weakened, and they can get ill and die, often very quickly.

So it's not that chickens suddenly get worms and die, but that they often have worms already, when their system, weakened by a separate illness, injury or infection, allows the infestation to become fatal.

Same result, I suppose, but it might explain why it can happen so quickly.

People on another forum have also said that chickens can pick up worms by eating slugs or snails! I don't know which kind of worms are carried in this way, and the information came from an American website, so it may or may not apply here, but it's food for thought.

How does all this fit with other information we have on worms in poultry?

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