It is recommended that all free-range poultry should be treated regularly for gastro -intestinal parasites routinely. Birds pick up worms from wildlife and from each other leading to various problems. These parasites can cause blockages in birds and can in severe cases make birds ill.
How often your chickens need deworming, or whether they need it at all, depends on numerous factors. These factors include your climate, how your flock is housed and managed, the kind of worms that are present in your chickens' environment, and the type of dewormer you use.
And they aren't picky; chickens enjoy everything from beetles and grasshoppers to worms and even ticks! Not only do these insects provide protein, but they also give our free range hens an opportunity to engage in their natural instinct to forage.
Preventative worming is particularly important if your chickens are likely to be exposed to worms or if they free range. Check out or great articles on Preventing Coup Diseases and also how to correctly diagnose the cause of chicken breathing problems in our Learning Centre.
Symptoms of a worm infestation in chickens can include: worms in eggs, abnormal droppings, (diarrhea, foamy-looking, etc) weight loss, pale comb/wattles, listlessness, abnormal droppings, dirty vent feathers, worms in droppings or throat, gasping, head-stretching and shaking, reduced egg production and sudden death.
Capillary worms are found in the chicken's mouth, esophagus, crop, and small intestine, but they are too small to be seen without a magnifying glass. Symptoms of infection also are pale head, droopiness, weakness, diarrhea. The stomach worm causes anemia, emaciation, diarrhea.
Consistency is important for free range chickens. A complete chicken feed should comprise at least 90 percent of their overall diet. Make sure they eat their breakfast before foraging in the yard for dessert. Choose a layer feed with the Purina® Oyster Strong® System to help your hens lay strong and stay strong.
In addition to a good quality poultry feed, a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables can also be given daily. Examples of raw fruits and vegetables that can be fed include: vegetable peels, bananas, apple, berries, carrot, bok choy, silver beet, spinach, cabbage or broccoli.
Illness and parasites
Intestinal worms can greatly affect egg laying and health of a hen.
Zucchini are good for the chickens too, the seeds act as a natural dewormer for them when they eat them. So, if you've got chickens, or know someone who does, don't feel overwhelmed by all that zucchini – just share with the chickens.
All it takes is 1ml per chicken per day
One of the best things about apple cider vinegar is that it only takes a little bit every day to make a huge difference for the health and happiness of your flock. Add 1ml per chicken to your flocks feeder or waterer and that's all it takes.
Caecal worms and tapeworms are less common, whilst the gapeworm Syngamus trachea lives in the windpipe and can lead to a charcteristic 'gasping for breath' movement, the hen stretching her neck out and opening her beak wide. Dose with an effective wormer at least twice, and preferably four times, a year.
Apple Cider Vinegar's low pH destroys germs and worms. Because an acidic pH level in chickens' lower stomach raises barriers throughout their bodies, many parasites are driven out!
Fenbendazole is the only product that is currently approved for treatment and control of roundworms (Ascaridia spp.) and cecal worms (Heterakis spp.) in chickens and turkeys in the United States.
If you catch the worm problem quick enough, a simple garlic treatment usually sorts it. Crush a couple of garlic cloves per bird and put in a stocking – this stops it blocking up the water nipple. Hang this in the water bucket and add a generous splosh of apple cider vinegar (live stuff with the mother).
Chickens have only been fed grains for the last 100 years. Before that, chickens were free ranged for their food. Chickens are extraordinary at foraging. Raising free range chickens has many benefits, including that they produce more nutritious eggs for your family.
Even free-range chickens need to be fed — foraging won't always give them everything they need in a diet. Access to the right fruits and enough insects is helpful, but not enough. Chickens still need the right supplements and nutrients in their food.
On average, most chickens will benefit from having two pellet meals a day. You can either give them this meal by hand or use a feed dispenser. To split up the meals, provide one small portion in the morning and the second portion in the evening.
Many people allow them to free range for short time each day, but to keep the chickens from wandering too far, they limit “recess” to no more than a couple of hours, and often just a half hour.
The easiest and quickest way is to feed the chickens Layers Pellets with Flubenvet. This is a worm treatment with pretty much a 100% success rate. We recommend 1kg of pellets with Flubenvet per bird, the same as you would feed a standard pellet. This should be fed for 7 consecutive days.
To meet their protein requirements, fowls would need to eat an unfeasible number of live worms a day, and would still require energy. By all means throw the chooks worms as you dig your patch, but don't rely on them as a significant source of protein.
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!
ACV is effective against bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella, meaning that ACV in chicken drinking water can protect against the spread of pathogens and may also help to prevent infection in the gut by improving immune responses. ACV in drinking water can prevent coccidiosis.
If you are worming as part of a prevention routine, most poultry keepers worm at least every 3-6 months, between 2 to 4 times a year. At the very minimum treat in the Spring before the breeding season (when temperature rises and worm eggs become infective) and again at the end of Summer (when egg numbers decline.)