Worming Chickens
Preventing worms in your animals is the unfortunate but necessary job of all pet owners. Looking after your poultry pals is the same drill as any other pet - prevention is the best cure! There are products, natural and medicinal, that you can give to your chickens to prevent worms or kill current ones.
So let’s go inside the not altogether lovely but definitely necessary topic of worming your chickens- yay!
What are worms?
There are a number of different kinds of worms - here are some common ones that are known to affect poultry animals:
- Hair worm - can be found in the oesophagus, intestine, stomach, and the crop.
- Roundworm - affects the digestive system.
- Gizzard worm - affects the gizzard- primarily an issue in geese.
- Gapeworm - affects the trachea and lungs.
- Caecal worm - causes blackhead organisms to occur- particularly potent to turkeys.
How do chickens get worms?
Chickens often pick up worms as a result of foraging. Generally, worms are transmitted through droppings, as they live in the droppings of an infected bird. These worms will then stay on the ground until they are picked up by another chicken that’s foraging around for food. The types of worms that are commonly transmitted in this way are roundworms, gizzard worms, hair worms and caecal worms.
The birds can also pick up worms indirectly, through eating creepy crawlies such as earthworms, snails and slugs. This happens because the crawlies the chickens snack on have eaten the worms excreted by another infected bird. Hair worms, gape worms and tapeworms can be transmitted through this method.
What are some signs my chickens might have worms?
There are a number of symptoms that chickens will exhibit if they’re affected by worms - none of them are particularly pleasant, but are important to identify.
- Weight loss or weight gain
- Eating more feed than usual
- Gasping for breath (this will be the result of gapeworms blocking the airway)
There are a number of different products available for the treatment of worms.
- Chicken wormers:
You can buy specially made chicken wormers from any major pet stores or online. It generally comes in liquid, tablet or syrup form, and should be added to your chickens water once every three months. You can generally administer orally as well, but might be easier just popping it into the water! How much you add will depend on your flock size, but there should be guidelines on the box.
The wormers generally cater for the prevention of ALL types of worms, rather than just one specific type.
Some common worming brands (in Australia) include:
- AristoPet Wormenda Poultry Wormer
- MavLab Avitrol Bird Wormer Syrup (tablet form also available)
- Skyes Big Pig and Poultry Wormer
- Vetsense Kilverm Pig and Poultry Wormer
- Diatomaceous Earth
- Food
In terms of its worming capabilities, Apple Cider Vinegar acts as a mild antiseptic and also a mild antibiotic, so it will kill some bacteria and germs, and deter worms from making a home in your chickens. Again, it’s not a 100% guaranteed treatment, but still beneficial to feed to your chickens.
Garlic is another natural food substance that is known to help keep worms at bay, and makes your chicken’s internals a less attractive place for parasites to settle. Adding some ground up garlic into your chicken’s feed is a great way to get your chickens to eat it, and you can also pop some slightly crushed cloves into their water. Again, garlic is just great to give to your chickens regardless, as it helps their respiratory system and boosts their immune system.
In terms of what the most effective methods for worming your chickens is, your safest bet is to go with a proper poultry wormer and apply that every three months as a preventative measure as you’d do with any other pet - it’s much better to stop worms rather than cure them!
Deworming the Flock: What You Need to Know
by Melissa Caughey of Tilly’s Nest
What a hot topic this always seems to be across the poultry world and backyard chicken keepers. Some folks, will tell you that they never deworm their flocks. Others, will tell you that they religiously deworm their flock every six months. Some use traditional deworming products while others prefer natural preventatives. I thought today, I’d spend a little time chatting with you about worms.
However, before we blast off into this chat about worms remember, when making any sorts of chicken keeping decisions please:
1. Do your research.
2. There are lots of people with strong opinions out there. Do what works for you and your flock. Only you and your vet can make the right decision.
3. Explore all of your options.
There are a few different types of worms that can affect chickens in different ways and live in different places along their gastrointestional tracts. The more common worms that chicken keepers deal with are tape worms, round worms, hair worms, gape worms, and caecal worms. Chickens that have worms can show a decrease in egg laying, weight loss, diarrhea, pale egg yolks, coughing or rasping, head shaking, lethargy, and even death.
Sometimes worm infestations are visible to the naked eye. Other times, it is helpful to seek out assistance from a local veterinarian that can run a relatively inexpensive test to detect worms invisible to the naked eye. All vets are capable of running this test.
Having your flock tested for worms serves four purposes:
1. Can confirm a positive diagnosis.
2. Can tell you what types of worms you are treating.
3. Prevents unnecessary use of medications, which stresses the flock.
4. Retest after you have treated your flock for worms to be sure the treatment was effective.
Once the presence of worms in your flock is confirmed, it is best to treat the entire flock. It is important to remember that worms typically have a life cycle from 2 to 8 days. This means that in most cases, your flock will sometimes require two courses of medication. There are quite a few commercial products available on the market today for deworming. It is wonderful that chicken keepers have options. Many of those options are available “over the counter”. When selecting a dewormer for your flock, you will need to know what type of worm(s) your chickens have. Different deworming products target different types of worms. Deworming is stressful on chickens, so avoid deworming under six weeks of age, during the winter, or during the fall molt. Please note that the below medications are those available at time of this publication (October 2014) and are subject to change. Prior to treating your flock, please check for updated information and always read the package insert. Here are some more tips when the need for medicating your flock arises.
You ask, what is an egg withdrawal period? This means that during the medication treatment all eggs need to be thrown away. They cannot be composted, fed back to the flock, or eaten. After the medication, the package insert will tell you when you can resume eating eggs. The day after the medication is finished, is the first day of egg withdrawal. This can go on for weeks after the last dose of medication. The egg withdrawal period is there to protect you, the consumer. You do not want to inadvertently ingest the medication that your flock was on. It can linger in the eggs and meat of the birds.
Flubenvet 1% safe for use in egg laying hens, withdrawal period only for meatbirds, no egg withdrawal period
Verm-X no egg withdrawal period
Piperazine (Wazine 17)– packaging advises against use in egg laying hens, OK in meat birds with a withdrawal period
Fenbendazole (Panacur)– safe for use in egg laying hens with a withdrawal period. (3CC PER ONE GALLON WATER, AST)
(Hygromycin B) Rooster Booster Triple Action Wormer– no withdrawal period
As you do your research you will discover that there are some natural products shown to have some effect on worms. The most common being pumpkin seeds, garlic, and food grade diatomaceous earth. I have reviewed the research and the published studies show that these three dietary supplements do reduce the fecal egg count to some degree. However, I would caution anyone to rely solely on these methods alone to deworm the flock. These supplements should probably be thought of as more of preventatives than actual treatment.
Photo Credit: Depending on the wormer directions, wormers are either added to the feed or the water.
Lastly, here are some more tips to prevent the spread of worms and to help keep their populations at bay.
1. Sunlight helps to kill the worm eggs.
2. Keep a dry environment.
3. Tidy up the coop and run from chicken poop on a regular basis.
4. Always quarantine new additions to the flock for 4 weeks and they should be checked for worms.
5. Keep wild birds out of the chickens’ living area.
6. Avoid overcrowding.
6. Consider adding pumpkin seeds (also squash seeds, cucumber seeds), food grade diatmaceous earth, and garlic to your flock’s diet.
For more information on deworming your flock, please visit my website.
Doses used in studies:
2% of the feed ratio for food grade diatomaceous earth
Garlic 3% of the feed ratio garlic powder (not garlic salt)
