I’m a big believer in supporting my chickens naturally wherever I can.

I don’t believe healthy chickens need to be constantly dosed, treated or medicated “just in case”. I’d much rather concentrate on building healthy birds in the first place with good nutrition, sunshine, fresh air, clean water, herbs, natural foods and a healthy environment.

And garlic is one of the things I regularly give my own girls.

What I love is that modern research is now looking at many of the same properties that traditional keepers have valued garlic for all along, including gut health, antimicrobial activity, immune support and parasites.

So what is so special about garlic?

What makes garlic so interesting?

Garlic contains naturally occurring sulphur compounds, including allicin, which is produced when fresh garlic is crushed or chopped.

Allicin is one of the compounds that has attracted a lot of scientific interest because of its antimicrobial and other biological properties.

A large 2024 review of garlic research in poultry looked at its effects on gut health, intestinal bacteria, immune function, antioxidant activity and overall poultry health.

And there’s quite a bit more research behind humble old garlic than you might expect.

Garlic and gut health

I think gut health is one of the most overlooked parts of keeping chickens well.

A healthy digestive system doesn’t just mean good poos. The gut plays an enormous role in how well a bird absorbs nutrients and interacts with the microorganisms living within its digestive tract.

Research in poultry has found that garlic supplementation can influence the balance of intestinal bacteria. Some studies have reported reductions in potentially harmful bacteria such as E. coli and increases in beneficial bacteria including Lactobacillus.

That makes perfect sense to me.

Rather than waiting until something goes wrong and then trying to fix it, I’d much rather feed in a way that supports the chicken from the inside out.

Garlic is one small part of that.

Garlic has natural antimicrobial properties

This is hardly a new discovery.

Garlic has been valued traditionally for its antimicrobial properties for a very long time, and modern research has identified several compounds within garlic that help explain why.

Studies in poultry have investigated garlic for antibacterial, antioxidant, immune-supporting and antiparasitic effects.

Of course, one clove of garlic isn't some magical forcefield around your chicken.

Natural health doesn't work like that.

For me, it's about lots of small things working together: good food, herbs, movement, sunlight, low stress, a clean environment and allowing chickens to behave like chickens.

And then there are parasites

This is where garlic gets really interesting.

Chicken keepers have used garlic as part of natural parasite management for generations, and we now have poultry studies looking at exactly that.

Garlic and coccidiosis

Coccidiosis is caused by microscopic Eimeria parasites that live in the intestinal tract.

A 2019 study involving 240 broiler chickens experimentally infected with coccidiosis found that birds receiving garlic showed improvements in intestinal lesion scores and reductions in the shedding of coccidial oocysts compared with infected untreated birds.

Another study published in Veterinary Parasitology in 2021 looked at garlic essential oil in chickens infected with Eimeria tenella.

Researchers reported fewer oocysts, reduced intestinal damage, fewer clinical signs and improved body weight in the garlic-treated birds.

That's the sort of research I find really interesting because it supports the idea that plants we've traditionally used aren't simply old wives' tales.

There are active compounds in them doing something.

What about worms?

Garlic is probably best known amongst natural chicken keepers for its use in worm management.

There is evidence that garlic has antiparasitic activity, but the research on established intestinal worms is less clear-cut than the research around coccidia.

One poultry study looked specifically at allicin in chickens already infected with the large roundworm Ascaridia galli. In that experiment, allicin didn't significantly reduce the number of established adult worms.

To me, that doesn't mean throwing garlic out of the chicken cupboard.

It simply tells us that supporting a healthy digestive environment naturally and treating a bird with a heavy, established parasite burden are two different things.

My approach has always been to look at the whole bird rather than routinely treating healthy chickens for something they may not even have.

I would rather concentrate on good nutrition, healthy soil and surroundings, herbs and natural foods, while keeping a close eye on my flock.

If a bird is unwell, that's different. You investigate what's actually going on rather than blindly throwing anything at them, natural or otherwise.

Garlic may support the immune system too

Garlic has also been researched for its effects on poultry immune function.

Studies included in the 2024 review found changes in various immune and antioxidant markers in birds receiving garlic.

Again, I don't think of this as garlic being some magic “immune booster”.

I think of it as feeding foods containing naturally occurring compounds that may help the body do what it was designed to do.

That's much more in line with how I keep chickens.

Garlic has even been researched for mites

Here's another interesting one.

A study published in Poultry Science tested garlic juice on laying hens affected by northern fowl mites.

The researchers applied a diluted garlic preparation around the vent area once a week for three weeks, and the garlic-treated birds ended up with significantly fewer mites than the untreated chickens.

Do I suggest everyone go outside and marinate their chickens in garlic juice?

Probably not.

But I absolutely love that researchers are finding measurable effects from something as simple and natural as garlic.

How I give garlic to my chickens

I don't make this complicated.

About twice a week, I make my girls a garlic, herb and oat mash.

My usual mix is:

• oats
• organic crushed garlic
• coriander
• parsley
• thyme
• rosemary
• Greek yoghurt
• a little cayenne pepper
• turmeric

And the girls love it.

The bowl gets cleaned up ridiculously quickly.

For me, this isn't about measuring out some precise medicinal “dose”.

It's a nutritional herbal treat made from ingredients that I already value for their natural properties.

I particularly like using crushed garlic because crushing the garlic is what starts the chemical reaction that produces allicin.

The herbs vary depending on what I've got around, and I'm not standing there with laboratory scales measuring every gram.

Chicken keeping really doesn't need to be that complicated.

It's good food, given regularly as part of an otherwise balanced diet.

Why I prefer putting garlic in food

Some people put garlic straight into their chickens' drinking water.

I prefer mixing mine into food.

Firstly, they absolutely demolish it.

Secondly, particularly through our Australian summers, I want my chickens drinking as much fresh clean water as they need. I don't want to make their only water source taste so strongly of garlic that somebody decides she isn't drinking it.

So the garlic goes into the food and the water stays fresh.

Simple.

Do I give it every day?

No.

My girls get their garlic and herb mash around twice a week.

Their normal chicken food is still their main diet.

Natural ingredients don't need to be constantly fed in huge amounts to be worthwhile. More isn't automatically better.

I see garlic, herbs, greens and other whole foods as part of the variety I give my flock.

And that's really the whole philosophy behind how I keep chickens.

So, should you give your chickens garlic?

I do.

It's inexpensive, natural, easy to feed, the girls love it, and there's a growing body of poultry research looking at many of the same benefits chicken keepers have associated with garlic for generations.

Research has investigated garlic for gut health, beneficial intestinal bacteria, antimicrobial activity, immune function, antioxidant effects, coccidiosis and other parasites.

Does that mean garlic fixes absolutely everything?

Of course not.

Nothing does.

But I also don't think we need to dismiss traditional, natural practices simply because they didn't originate in a bottle with a pharmaceutical label on it.

Plants contain extraordinarily complex compounds, and we're still researching what many of them can do.

For me, natural chicken keeping is about supporting a healthy animal rather than constantly waiting for disease and then treating it.

Good food.

Fresh water.

Sunshine.

Space to scratch.

A healthy environment.

Herbs and natural foods.

And knowing your flock well enough to notice when something isn't right.

My garlic, herb and oat mash is just one little part of that.

The fact that my girls think it's the greatest meal they've ever been served is a pretty good bonus.