De-Wormers Plants for Chicken

Medicinal plants aren’t limited to human use. Medicinal plants can benefit your chickens too. The following three plants are natural de-wormers for your free-ranging chickens:

Garlic can be a preventive for worms and is considered an organic de-wormer for chickens.

Garlic, allium sativium, is a perennial that grows from bulbs. Place crushed garlic pieces in your chickens' waterer for a weeks time. Also acts as insect repellent.

Don't feed garlic directly to your hens, because their eggs will take on a garlic flavor. Remember to put a few cloves of crushed garlic in their water for worming, using moderation. 

Nasturtium is a very common old-fashioned garden plant that has many redeeming qualities.

Nasturtium, nasturtium majus, comes in both annuals and perrenials. Zones vary by species. 

Bright, sunny, slightly spicy edible flowers are perfect to add to salads and for chickens to eat, This is a great herb for chickens, combining antiseptic, antibiotic, and insect repellent qualities. Its seeds also have a natural de-worming attribute for chickens. 

Nettle often gets a bad rap because of its stinging properties when handled, but is a great dynamic accumulator, a natural chicken laying stimulant, and a good preventive for worms

Nettle, urtica species, can be harvested and dried, boiled in water and steeped like a tea. Let mixture cool entirely and add to your chickens' laying mass. 

Pumpkins and other squash/melons - There are varying opinions on this subject and not much study has been done, but raw ground pumpkin seeds are thought to be a natural de-wormer, not only for chickens and ducks but for sheep and goats as well. Twice a year, spring and fall, it is suggested that you feed your girls ground raw pumpkin seeds free-choice for a week.

The pumpkin seeds (as well as the seeds of other members of the cucurbitaceae family such as winter, summer, zucchini and crookneck squash, gourds, cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon) are coated with a substance called cucurbitacin that paralyzes the worms.  The larger fruits and vegetables contain higher levels of cucurbitacin, while the smaller cucumber contains far less. 

Since pumpkins are plentiful and inexpensive in the fall, that is what I use for my fall worming. You can merely cut a fresh pumpkin in half and feed it to your chickens, but I take it one step further and make them a Pumpkin Soup. I add some yogurt and molasses to cause a bit of diarrhea and help flush the paralyzed worms out of the chickens' systems.  Dandelion greens also serve as a natural diuretic and are included in most natural livestock de-wormer 'recipes', plus the chickens and ducks love them!