新的动物2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国对我们的家园来说是令人兴奋的,但当外人进入我们的圈子时,风险总是存在的。你永远不知道会有什么额外的寄生虫伴随它们,可能会损害你的健康牛群或羊群。我们的新梵天母鸡就是这样。
我们很喜欢它那甲壳虫绿色的羽毛和古怪的长着羽毛的脚,但在隔离几天后,它之前在一个过度拥挤的农场生活的影响显而易见。当我们买下它的时候,显然,我们还额外买了满满一肚子的虫子。
You may find yourself in a similar situation. The chickens appear pretty normal from the outside, but check the area under the roost early in the morning, and you may find the unsightly appearance of a soupy poo full of wriggling roundworms.
Or, you may notice a chicken that just doesn’t gain good weight despite a healthy appetite, and appears thin and pale. Don’t panic. Worms don’t have to be a death sentence; they are a call to action. And happily, there are a few different ways to get rid of worms with natural and chemical chicken wormers. Read on to learn more about chicken worms and how to get rid of them with chicken wormers.
Where And How Chickens Get Worms
关于蠕虫,首先要知道它们无处不在。它们的卵藏在泥土里,随野鸟的粪便一起带走,藏在蚱蜢和蚯蚓里,有时甚至被灰尘吹进来。我写这些不是为了让你担心——这是事情的自然状态。
除非你在高压灭菌器中饲养你的鸟,否则它们将经常暴露在某种形式的虫卵中。然而,好消息是,健康的鸡在健康的环境中对许多种类的蠕虫有天然的防御能力,很少会有麻烦。
Animal herbalist Juliette de Baïracli Levywrites“The free-ranging farm hen is singularly free from worms; the commercially exploited hen is rarely without them.”
如果你发现你的羊群有寄生虫问题,问题并不仅仅是蠕虫。这表明你的鸡世界出了更大的问题。蠕虫正在寻找一个理想的宿主——一种由于健康状况不佳而防御能力低下的鸟类。
Overcrowding, unclean living environments, processed and unnatural foods, and lack of ground rotation will likely create the sickly, unhealthy poultry that parasites are out there waiting to infest.
Related Post:Chicken Mites
Of course, perfectly healthy chickens in a good environment could pick up worms from a sick chicken that has been recently introduced to the flock as well. This is why a 4-week quarantine of new animals is so crucial before introducing them to the flock. It not only allows them to get used to you and their new home, it also allows you to scope out their health and treat accordingly before they pose a threat to the rest of the birds.
The Signs Of A Wormy Chicken
None of these are going to be nice to talk about, but there are lots of signs to watch for in the intestinal battle waging in your flock. Symptoms are going to range from “ewww” to “I’m really not hungry anymore.” Keep that in mind and read on!
Pale Wattles And Comb
Seeing your chicken’s headgear switch from a healthy red to an anemic yellow could be just that — anemia due to worm infestation. Pale comb could also be caused by heat exhaustion or having just laid an egg, so don’t react based on the sight of a pale bird alone.
Skinny Birds With Huge Appetites
The irony of the worm-infested animal is that they will want to eat all they can get, and all they’ll show for it is bones and poor conformation. The worms steal much of the birds’ valuable nutrition leaving them half-starved.
Gaping And Coughing
Gapeworm is a roundworm that specifically attacks the throat area, causing birds to extend their necks, cough, shake their heads, and look generally stressed with their mouths uncomfortably open. However, this could also indicate that something is caught in their throat.
Though adults can be infected, they don’t always exhibit the characteristic of coughing. Young chicks, however, are in danger if they become infested, and mortality can be high with a bad gapeworm infection.
Worms In Droppings
This is an obvious symptom, but only if you notice it. Make it a point to inspect your flock’s poop daily as it will always give you some sort of feedback about their health. Roundworms are often found in the droppings of infected birds — usually around three inches long and threadlike.
别把蛔虫和蝇蛆搞混了。它们是事后被放在便便里的(就像讨厌的苍蝇习惯做的那样),它们并不意味着鸟有什么问题。
Diarrhea
再次强调,一定要检查你的鸟的粪便。It’s important to familiarize yourself with thehuge range正常健康的粪便和疾病的指标不愉快的消化系统会产生看起来不愉快的便便——这肯定是出问题了。蠕虫感染有时表现为病态,特别是黄色的粘稠物。
Soiled Vent
Yes, poo again. Chickens like to preen and dust bathe to stay impeccably clean (by chicken standards) so finding a bird with a sticky, poop-covered vent and soiled, gooey feathers dangling all around is a sure sign she’s suffering from something. Soiled vent doesn’t always mean worms, but it does mean you need to pay attention because you do have a sick bird on your hands.
Worms In The Eggs
I saved the worst one for last. Yes, it is possible for worms — roundworms, specifically — to wind up in the oviduct and actually end up in an egg. If this occurs, you probably have a serious infestation on your hands and need to act quickly.
Options For Chicken Wormers
对于蠕虫的治疗基本上有两种方法:化学疗法和自然疗法。Personally, I have never and will never use chemical treatments on my birdseven though others swear by them, so I am admittedly biased. All the same, I’ll try to share a broad spectrum of treatments so that you can make the best decision to suit your personal poultry philosophy, and we’ll discuss chemical options at the end.
Diet Treatment
Finely diced garlic, cayenne pepper, and raw, grated carrot are all-natural vermifuges (worm expellers) that can be used to naturally treat infested birds. Additionally, diced onions, pumpkin seeds, blackberry leaves, elder leaves, wormwood, and hyssop are excellent additions to the healing bird’s diet as they are particularly undesirable to worms.
Including these foods as a normal part of the birds’ diet along with lots of whole seeds, grass, and wild weeds, will also be preventative. As with all-natural treatments, these will only have an effect if the chicken’s environment is also made clean and healthy.
清理并维护受影响鸡舍的地面和床上用品,对于打破蠕虫的生命周期和真正长期治愈禽鸟至关重要。
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A standard dose of worm-fighting food varies with what you have available, but if you need a guideline, two cloves of garlic per hen, mixed in the food with three grated carrots, and a tablespoon of cayenne pepper, is a good place to start.
You can carry on this treatment for ten days — scrupulously cleaning the chickens’ house daily to remove worm eggs — and you will almost certainly see some improvement.
Here are links to two natural worm-fighting recipes thatchicken keepershave used with success.
- This woman makes amonthly worm-fighting mash这是她的鸡喜欢的——所有的材料都是你可以在杂货店找到或自己种植的!
- Another option (particularly as fall holidays have people using up pumpkins at a dizzying rate) isthis woman’s pumpkin soup recipefull of nutrition and worm-fighting action.
As a note, some people avoid garlic and onions in their birds’ food because they fear it will flavor the eggs. Having fed my chickens garlic and onions for years now, I can confirm that I’ve never had an “allium egg” … I think it’s a rumor, not a fact!
A natural treatment that is available for purchase isVerm-X. I haven’t used it on my own flock (opting to play the chef for them instead) but this all-natural treatment uses herbs rather than isolated chemicals and therefore has no egg withdrawal period.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Even though I’ve used it, I’m on the fence about this one. However, you’ll find many people online touting the benefits of occasionally adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to every liter of their chickens’ water.
虽然它不能治愈,但它创造的酸性环境被认为可以阻止蠕虫,并有助于调节鸡的整体系统。Check outthis article for the use of ACV in chicken waterandthis article against the use of ACV, and decide what you think is best for your birds.
Chemical Chicken Wormers
Since I manage a small flock, I will never recommend chemical treatments (per my earlier bias) but they’re out there, and they are effective in the same way that allopathic medicine is effective. They deliver a result, create drug resistance if overused, and can create the illusion of fixing the problem by removing the symptoms even if the source remains untreated.
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You can worm your chickens chemically twice a year to stave off any worm infestations, but if their living environment and diet are poor, you will be waging a constant chemical war. As always, do your research, count the cost, and make the decisions that are best for your homestead however you decide.
为了获得这些治疗,可能需要兽医处方。为了得到那个处方,你通常需要带一个粪便样本来测试-这将是一个遗憾的治疗和压力你的鸟不必要的!
Additionally, some medications will require an egg withdrawal period, meaning the eggs produced by birds undergoing treatment will need to be discarded — not composted, eaten by humans, fed back to the flock, and certainly not sold.Read the labels carefully. Some chicken wormers likeWazineresult in birds with permanently inedible eggs.
Here’s a short list of some of the medications you may encounter. Keep in mind, none of these are specific brand names. This is a list of the active ingredients that are sold under many different labels.
- Albendazole:Treats abroad spectrum蠕虫。它确实会和很多其他药物产生负作用。
- Piperazine:只对蛔虫有效。建议不要在蛋鸡中使用(这是瓦辛中的活性成分),但在肉鸡中停用一段时间后应该没问题。过量服用会导致死亡。
- Fenbendazole:In the United States (I believe), this is the only medication technically licensed for use on poultry so it may be your vet’s first pick.Some productsfeaturing it have a zero-egg withdrawal period.Othershave a 7-day withdrawal period.
- Ivermectin:Requires a 7-day egg withdrawal period. This treatment is a little more toxic and thereforeunlicensed for poultry, though your vet may still prescribe it.
- Levamisole:requires a 7-day egg withdrawal period. Treats large roundworm, hairworm, and caecal worm. It may only be available in Australia.
How Often Should I Worm My Chickens?
这在很大程度上是个人决定,因为有些养鸡的人从不给鸡喂虫,而有些人则几乎是按照宗教的规律给鸡喂虫。如果你选择通过饮食自然地对待你的鸟类,不断混合驱虫食物只会使它们在生活中受益。从某种意义上说,你的工作就是在你的鸟类体内和周围维持一个对蠕虫不友好的环境。
严重的虫害可能需要更大剂量的大蒜或艾草,而不是蠕虫的典型生命周期,并仔细清理生活区以清除虫卵。我们的目标是最终打破这个循环——杀死所有的成虫,然后在幼仔能够产卵之前杀死它们。
This requires consistency in food treatment and cleaning to be effective. You may choose to constantly offer them anti-worm food, or do a monthly special meal to keep things running smooth.
If you treat your birds chemically, the most important thing to be aware of is how much is TOO much. Follow each chicken wormer’s specific treatment schedule and don’t overdo it. It is possible to end up breeding worms that have a built-in resistance to whatever chicken wormer you’re using.
Related Post:Chicken Breed Guide
Some chicken wormers work best if applied to the flock in a seasonal cycle: spring, summer, and fall, with winter being a dormant time for many worms. Again, be sure to read the instructions for each specific wormer to apply it safely. Random worming of random birds — with the exception of worming a new flock inductee during the quarantine period — is usually ineffective.
How To Prevent Worms
The best defense against worms is good flock management practices, hands-down. No amount of medicine or chemical treatment will compensate for dirty living environments and bad food.
If you don’t have the opportunity to free-range your birds, the health of the chickens’ house is your direct responsibility.
鸡舍应该有充足的新鲜床上用品,而且不能有酸味或粪便味。如果你的鸡有一个室内区域和一个室外区域,你可能需要帮助他们在室内区域的材料。我发现我的孩子醒着的时间都在外面。
And even if you use the deep-bedding method, as we do on our homestead, keep adding bulk material for the chickens to scratch through and turn into useful compost. Our hen house never smells bad unless I’ve not added enough material.
The run should be also supplemented with tons of bulk material for chickens to scratch through. If at all possible, rotate runs and allow the ground to rest, chicken-free, for a year before you return birds to it. If it is not possible, make it a practice to totally empty out the run at least once a year, and ensure that all the old, rich compost the chickens have created doesn’t go to waste!
Once you scoop out the old, be sure to add lots more bulk material immediately. Bare ground is not only super boring to a chicken, but it also creates a potentially worm-ridden environment with puddles and muddy conditions.
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Though I add bulk material to our chicken run on a daily basis, I clean it out totally about twice a year — once in the fall, once in the spring. I like to remove the summer compost and refresh the gardens as the fall plantings get going, then take advantage of the huge amount of bulk material that falls freely to the ground in autumn. The sound of chickens playing in a huge pile of leaves is a delight to the heart!
And in the spring, I like to clear out the winter’s material to provide new garden beds with a huge boost of composted goodness. Then I use whatever leaves are still hanging around to refresh the run along with the cut grasses from the first spring mowing.
What advice do you use when it comes to keeping creepy-crawlies out of your chickens’ intestines? Do you agree with my all-natural stance, or do you have more experience with using store-bought chicken wormers? What have you had success with? Share your stories below!
Rebekah Kay Barrsays
伟大的食谱,我的新母鸡是张开嘴呼吸,冠紫蓝色,眼睛闭着和咳嗽可怜的东西!我给她滴了几滴胡萝卜汁、大蒜和辣椒,半小时后效果很好!她张着嘴停止了呼吸,开始吃东西和整理羽毛:)谢谢你这篇很棒的文章!
Leigha Staffenhagensays
Hi Rebekah,
That is fantastic news! Thank you for sharing your experience!
Leigha
Dominique zumersays
Photo/Attachment:
my hen has a soft crop and swollen, she vomits liquid, which natural recipe I can use. she eats and runs normally, thank you