Ever since "Wormal" stopped being manufactured a few years ago I've been unable to find a suitable replacement for worming my chickens. There of plenty of wormers out there, but none that kill tapeworms. Has anyone found anything useful, or know of a dosage of any other kind of wormer (like for other animals) that can be successfully used?

What about piperazine? Does that kill tapeworms? It is also referred to as "baby pig wormer", but I know it can be given to horses and dogs. Check with your local feed store about its application to poultry for tapeworms.

mt hannigan

Piperazine is only labelled for roundworms. BUT, another question: how often should chickens be wormed?

Piperazine will not kill tapeworms. Neither does any form of Ivermectin, though some people seem to think otherwise. As far as how often to worm birds, opinions vary. Some people say to do it every three months. I only worm mine twice a year, once with Piperazine and once with what I have left of a bottle of Wormal.

Try adding diatamacious earth to the feed. This natural substance is perfectly safe for the birds to eat and will cut up any parasites (tapeworms included) that live in the gut. No poisons required. And the buggers can't become resistant to D.E. since it is a mechanical killer rather than a chemical killer. It also prevents maggots and other nasties from living in the feces. We also feed it to our goats, dogs, cat, and horses. Dust in the coup to kill parasites. One hazard - don't breath the stuff as it is hard on the lungs. Lung tissue is too delicate to be coating with D.E. or just about anything else.

Diatamacious earth..what an interesting concept! I'll try it, however how much should I be using in the feed? let me know

I've heard DE is not effective in deworming- when it gets wet (in the digestive tract), it softens and loses its cutting edge. Also, how do you prevent the chickens from inhaling it if they're scratching around in it? I used it once for earwigs and found it to be rather nasty stuff (didn't kill the earwigs either).

Okey; let me see if I can help clear this up.I've been using Diatomaceous earth (Fossil Flour) for over twenty five years.I advocated its use to the agriculture dept. in college and was ridiculed.I proposed a study and was allowed to use thirty of the schools sheep for the test.Ten sheep (The control group)were not wormed,Ten sheep were wormed with a commercial wormer (I can't remember which one),Ten sheep were put on Fossil Flour. After 30 days fecal samples were taken from each sheep and tested.14 samples were positive for large ascarid.Six from the control group,five from the comercial wormer group and three from the Fossil Flour group.When butchered the control group had eight incidences of Tape worm,the commercial wormer group had six infestations,The Fossil Flour group had seven incidences.There was great evidence that Fossil Flour had little effect on Tape worm.It is however very effective against Large Ascarid and other Micro skinned internal parisites.Tougher skinned and segmented worms are able to survive through Diatomaceous attack.Fossil Flour actually works by nicking the membrane of worms and leaving them exposed to digestive juices which convert them to a protien source for the host.I've used it liberally on several species, Ie. Canines,Equines,Porcines,Felines Galenaceous fowl,and Bovines etc..All with only positive effect. For poultry I top dress their Grit with it,about one Tbls. per one cup grit.They always have it free choice,this is also how I dispense green sun dried Norwegian Kelp and home dehydrated ground Garlic.For dogs I put one teaspoon to about two pounds feed once a day,for cattle and horses I use one cup on about five lbs. sweet feed once a week,for goats the formula is about half that for cows(they're picky).Never any harmful effects.In my Mastiff dogs I actually broke the cycle of Round Worms by treating the pregnant bitches and eventually (three generations) had puppies that were not infected at birth.The encysted larvae that are releasesd by hormonal changes in the bitch became less and less until finally gone.In conclussion it is a very cost effective and useful tool to fight internal parisites with thin skin.JaRaCo

Hi
We are from England, and breed pure breed chickens. Where can we purchase Diatamaceous Earth from? Would it have a different name in our country?

Hi Trusar, It was hard to find DE in Belgium. Found it where they sell swimming pool filter gear. Anny

anny, I do not use DE for worming or anything else for poultry! But I understand the swimming pool filter material is not suitable for consumption by animals of any kind. However, I do use the DE filter material for swimming pools in my vegetable garden borders to help control slugs--works fairly well, until it rains, but it easy to reapply.

I cannot understand how it could remove intestinal worms in poultry. The gizzard pretty well pulverizes every bit of food and junk that a chicken eats. Those exoskeletons are easily pulverized, so could have little or no value after leaving the gizzard for the intestines. Piperizine in water, is an easy wormer, only a day to do its job, does not need repeat for a long time.

I spent hours over a microscope viewing the myriad forms of DE, in college, delicate, fragile and beautiful. Many are rounded, not spikey at all. Should provide some calcium, but oystershell is a better, surer source, and should have all the same trace minerals of DE. Just my opinion. Won't argue with those who swear by it. (I dont swear.) CJR

Hi Cjeanr, Thanks for your explanation and neither do I swear. I am very new at this, didn't mean to encourage the use of DE in any way, just to tell where I found some. Neither did I know there are different kinds of DE.
The point is, I had never heard of DE before reading The Coop. Reading through lots of answers, it seemed to me that it should be very usefull in dustbath against external parasites. Can I use the DE filter material for that purpose ? Or which specific kind of DE ? Or none at all ?
Also, please, could you enlighten me on the use of Piperizine (is it a trade mark and if so maybe the active component).
Here in Belgium I have not been able to find any information about non chemical cures.

By the way, I have done some searching on the web about DE and found lots of information, for axample :

organics@mygarden.ab.ca : insect stop DE

albanmuller.fr : formulas for skincare, even toothpaste with DE

eap.mcgill.ca : publications/eap DE : a non toxic pesticide (quite interesting)

Greetings from Belgium, Anny

We buy DE at our local feed stores or farm or ranch store. I use it to dust our dogs for fleas and have even used it in our carpet when the dogs brought the fleas in with them.You need to leave it in the carpet for a day or two if you can go that long without vaccuming(sp?) Then repeat.We sprinkle it around the foundation of the house and in the garage floor and around feedsacks to keep bugs away.We put in the dog food too.It might be wise if you use a lot of it or on a windy day to wear a mask.We raise broilers for show and keep fans running so we haven't used it on them. In this Texas heat I was afraid of running the risk of blowing DE around the chicken house for them to breathe and possibly causing irritation to the upper respiratory tract. Does anyone have experience with DE and poultry?

There are a number of discussions of DE and poultry here on the Coop site. You can find them by using the keyword search function on the left. Good luck.

There are a number of discussions of DE and poultry here on the Coop site. You can find them by using the keyword search function on the left. Good luck.

Try www.thatpetplace.com, search word "diatom." They sell diatomaceous earth for use in aquarium filters. I don't know anything about it since I don't have this kind of filter, and I don't know if it's the same stuff that you can use for wormer, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Hi!
I was just looking for help with chicken worming when I came across your discussion on D.E. You can find it through Gardens Alive, an organic garden supplier. URL:
http://www.gardensalive.com/
Might be a safer source than pool suppliers. If you talk to them, you'll probably find them very helpful as I have in the past.

Do not use filter quaity D.E. It has been heat treated which reduces sharpness of the diatoms making them less effective and it increases the silica content making them more hazardous if inhaled. Only use agricultural grade or food grade D.E.