Deworming

Im curious if you all deworm your critters regularly, and if so, how.

We try to steer clear of pharmaceuticals as much as possible, for us and for the animals. But, as far as I know, any alternative forms of deworming dont have any sort of dosage, frequency or studies backing them up to know how/if they work.

We have chickens, an outdoor cat and a dog. The dog spends most of her time inside the house but does hang out with the cat and chickens regularly.

For the chickens, I use the following on an irregular rotation to help prevent parasites and viruses: oregano essential oil in their water, ACV in their water, black walnut hull tincture in their water, garlic powder in their feed and several different “medicinal mushrooms” in their water. So far, I’ve only butchered a few young roosters of ours and forgot to check their stomachs but I plan on butchering several of our 3 year old hens this fall and hopefully will check their stomachs for worms at that time, otherwise I have no idea if my tactics are effective. So far I haven’t noticed any worms in their poop, but that easily could just be due to me not being observant enough.

We used to give out dog commercial dewormer the first few years we had her but last year we forgot and this year I’m wondering about alternatives. Possibly some of the same things I use for the chickens IF I can find out if they are safe for dogs.

As for the cat, we’ve only had him for 6 months and haven’t given him anything for worms, but also haven’t noticed any worms. Also considering giving him some of the same things as the chickens IF they are safe for cats.

Do any of you have other suggestions? Honestly I could probably be convinced to use commercial stuff for the dog and cat since we are more emotionally invested in them than the chickens so having an effective treatment is more important. As for the chickens, id almost rather them have parasites then have to throw eggs away for an entire month. Plus, I plan on eating them at a certain point so dont want to be ingesting whatever drug residues that may linger in their bodies from a commercial treatment.

Thats an impressive chicken water formula you have on rotation.
I didn't see you mention food-grade Diatomaceous Earth

I've had it. My dog's had it. The only warning I found was don't let it get breathed in so avoid making a dust cloud when you scoop.
I tried the rub it in his fur thing but it seemed to really dry out his skin

You are right about dosages etc in this area.

Besides DE, clays like zeolite that humans use could show to be dog safe

I’m all for natural herbal wormers.  My husband and I take a wormwood, black walnut hull, powdered clove formula for 7 days once a year.  We give to all our critters too.  The vinegar in the water is great too for livestock.  It can prevent parasite larvae from hatching.  A blade of grass, wet with dew, can have dozens or even hundreds of tiny, immature parasites on it.  For chickens you can plant oregano and protect it so they can only access what grows out of a covered container.  They will self medicate.  So many plants are natural wormers for small ruminants...pine needles, lespedeza, chicory, seed of pumpkin or winter squash, Paulownia leaves.   Honeysuckle is a mild vermifuge, as are wild roses which also kill harmful bacteria.   We don’t have a regular  schedule but we monitor every animal closely.  If they seem lethargic or slow down in growth when young or inner eyelids or gums appear anemic you have a problem.  Don’t wait until it becomes a big problem.  

R Marr wrote:Thats an impressive chicken water formula you have on rotation.
I didn't see you mention food-grade Diatomaceous Earth

I've had it. My dog's had it. The only warning I found was don't let it get breathed in so avoid making a dust cloud when you scoop.
I tried the rub it in his fur thing but it seemed to really dry out his skin

You are right about dosages etc in this area.

Besides DE, clays like zeolite that humans use could show to be dog safe

How do you use diatomaceous earth for worming? I’ve only used it for mites on chickens. Do you mix it with their food or water or what? Also, how do you give it to your dog?

Faye Streiff wrote:I’m all for natural herbal wormers.  My husband and I take a wormwood, black walnut hull, powdered clove formula for 7 days once a year.  We give to all our critters too.  The vinegar in the water is great too for livestock.  It can prevent parasite larvae from hatching.  A blade of grass, wet with dew, can have dozens or even hundreds of tiny, immature parasites on it.  For chickens you can plant oregano and protect it so they can only access what grows out of a covered container.  They will self medicate.  So many plants are natural wormers for small ruminants...pine needles, lespedeza, chicory, seed of pumpkin or winter squash, Paulownia leaves.   Honeysuckle is a mild vermifuge, as are wild roses which also kill harmful bacteria.   We don’t have a regular  schedule but we monitor every animal closely.  If they seem lethargic or slow down in growth when young or inner eyelids or gums appear anemic you have a problem.  Don’t wait until it becomes a big problem.  

Interesting that my philosophy is to do a rotation of small doses of different herbal remedies throughout the year where you opt for a more intense 7 day treatment once a year. I plan on butchering at least a couple of our older hens this summer and will definitely be looking in their stomachs to see if they are carrying worms.

We do have a hen who’s comb and wattles look a bit purple. They’ve looked like that for months. She had quite a few mites but I treated those and she hasn’t looked any different. Im wondering if she has internal parasites as well

I'm thinking of composting my dogs' poops so am interesting in trying natural parasite treatments for them, but want to keep the dogs safe too. Has anyone else got positive feedback on alternative treatments that I can try? Thanks!

We only have a small flock of chickens, 8 hens and a rooster so I collect their faeces once a year and send it off for a faecal egg count so that they don't have to be wormed unless actually necessary.

There are feral goats, rabbits, possums etc where I walk our dogs so we have always wormed them quarterly as a precaution. They have always loved to eat the droppings given half a chance.