Does anyone use Colloidal Silver or Grapefruit Seed Extract?

[kuntrychick]

Do you use it only when you suspect something?

How do you give it? In the water? Directly on the bird or by mouth? Dosage?

What experiences have any of you had in treating chickens with either of those? What did you treat for?

 

[purelypoultry]

I have never used these things or even heard of them before. Where did you hear about using these things?

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I have kept parakeets all my life, and colloidal silver in their water was great for clearing out those mystery colds. It works as good as dr meds for sinus infections in people, but not at all on colds in people. I tried it on a rooster that came down with what i'm pretty sure was infectious coryzoa, and it was useless. even at human dose. For the parakeets, i spritzed 5-10 sprays into their water. Strong, but they don't really drink a lot of it all at once, anyway.
I am interested in the GSE too. I have read that for sick chickens you can use 2 drops on a bread cube per bird. I have not tried it yet, but it is supposed to be effective against bacteria, mold, fungal, etc. . I am interested in any "practical" knowledge, too. I think it would be a great alternative to vinigar in the water, maybe at whatever dilution that is used when using it for a veggie wash.... I wonder if this would make a good "egg wash" for those who wash their eggs?

 

[fuzzybutt love]

For those wondering about these, these are a couple of the "antibiotics" of the natural medicine world. The GSE is a well-known item used primarily for a soak to get bacteria off fruits and veggies, especially since the e-coli scares. Non "natural" folks use this as it's considered safe for children used this way. It is also taken internally.

 

[BlazeJester]

Silver is biocidal and I'm guessing if it's used for parakeets it's fine for chickens. You may be hard pressed to find chicken owners that use it, though.

 

[Life is Good!]

The avian pet rescue I volunteered for used GSE in all their bird's water - I think it was 3 drops per water bowl (think 1/3 c water). It was used as a preventative for infection....which specific diseases I'm not sure of....

I've used both for myself to knock out a virus this fall which wouldn't leave our household. Chiro recommended it - tasted AWFUL - think oily water - but it did the trick. I'm using it once again, as I don't wish to be ill for Christmas (and my sinus' are acting up again).

 

[BlazeJester]

You'll find on here that most people use raw unfiltered (Bragg's) apple cider vinegar in waterers for immunity boost and to keep stuff from growing. However, at $5/500mL bottle, I can't keep that up. And somehow, in the middle of apple country, I cannot find raw unfiltered apple cider to make my own vinegar... so what do I do? Buy 10lbs of apples to throw in the blender, put in a canning pot and toss in my closet with that bottle of Bragg's as starter. And I just read a thread about make-your-own flock block. Geesh, the things we do for these birds!!!

ETA: Birds at an avian rescue would need immune booster. Backyard chickens really don't. It helps to have something like ACV or in your case silver to keep algae, etc from growing in summer, but that's really just a luxury on our part. Chickens will happily drink from a duck pond all day every day.

 

[Mattemma]

I have used the GSE for cleaning.For myself I have used it in water to help clear up a sore throat.Never actually given it to the chickens,but if they could get past the bitterness in the water I bet it would help clear up some illnesses.

 

[BBet]

We use colloidal silver on ourselves for all sorts of infections. We also give it to our dog who suffers ear infection and now one of our chooks appears to have a respirtory infection....very hot and gasping, on the point of collapse so we managed to give her by mouth a strong dose of silver.....hey presto, within a matter of minutes she was standing and within the hour starting to feed again. Quite a spectacular thing to witness; now we have put 5ml into their drinker but will also include a small dose in their daily mash for a while in case of a spreading infection. We use silver both orally and topically to help in healing...and by the way, we feel it does help with reducing the cold symptons.

 

[kadizkidz]

I have used both products in my chickens drinking water with for Great results.