Natural Chicken Worming Methods

Chickens are a common choice for backyard-scale food production. Keeping a productive flock means taking care of your chickens' health. "Worms" can refer to a wide range of internal parasites in chickens, many of which can cause serious harm, loss of production and even death. Fortunately, chicken farmers can use several natural methods to worm their chickens.

  1. Prevention

    • The most effective way to keep your flock free of internal parasites involves prevention. Chickens often pick up parasites through contact with feces, which provides a breeding ground as well as a transmission vector from one bird to another. Change the litter in your chicken coop often. If you scatter feed on the ground, do it away from the sleeping and brooding areas. Keep the grass cut short in areas your chickens frequent, as exposure to the sun destroys many parasite eggs. Keep sections of your chicken run fallow and off-limits to your birds for a year at a time, allowing the soil to purge itself of parasitic eggs.

    Diatomaceous Earth

    • Diatomaceous earth (DE) is an abrasive powder formed from the fossilized shells of tiny marine plants. Deadly to micro-organisms, it has an extremely sharp and jagged texture on a microscopic level that makes it safe for prolonged contact with large organisms, such as humans and chickens. Dosing your chicken's feed with a daily regimen of food grade DE can destroy a wide range of internal parasites. Mix the feed with 2 to 5 percent DE, but read the instructions on the package for recommended dosage for your product. Keep in mind that DE is also used as a laundry additive, as well as in pool filters and pest control applications. Feeding your chickens DE not specially marked as food grade could do them serious harm.

    Apple Cider Vinegar

    • Apple cider vinegar, a commonly used poultry dietary supplement with antiseptic properties, contains vitamins and trace minerals; it can also help balance the pH of your chickens' digestive tracts. Adding a 2 percent mixture to your chickens' drinking water for one week out of the month can help destroy worms in the digestive tract and help boost your birds' immune system to help them fight off other invaders. Apple cider vinegar can tarnish metal watering containers over time; only use it in plastic containers.

    Garlic

    • Garlic serves as a treatment for flocks that have shown evidence of harboring internal parasites. While you can grind it up and add it to feed, this addition can affect the taste of the eggs produced. A tincture of garlic and water provides the same chemical mixture without as much garlic flavor transferred to the eggs. Soaking 10 to 12 garlic cloves per cup of water overnight will create an effective garlic tincture. You can then add this water to your birds' drinking water at a rate of 1 cup of tincture to 8 gallons of drinking water.