The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Kassaundra - can you give us specific amounts of iodine to sugar, please?



Quote:

My EE's honk. My BRs "whine". Every noise my BRs make sounds like "poor me" sounds.

 

[armorfirelady]

I have soaked in warm Epsom salts water softening and removing the scab, the make a paste of iodine and sugar secure in place w/ bandaid then secure the band aid w/ duct tape, leave in place of a couple of days and repeat.  It is what finally cleared my girls bumble foot, and that is definitely bumble foot.





Before that I had tried the surgery, expressing the white crap, Epsom salts soak, triple antibiotic ointment never made any headway on it until the sugar / iodine paste.

Thanks kassaundra. For some reason I thought bumble foot had a hard center and she doesn't have that. I'll try the Epsom soak tomorrow, tho who knows if it will soak the blu kote off lol

Kassaundra - can you give us specific amounts of iodine to sugar, please?

Yes I would like the amounts also. I've read about this treatment for humans before for hard to heal wounds.

Originally Posted by armorfirelady



And completely unrelated but those of you that have BRs do they make a honking sound? Stella honks,when she talks. It reminds me of a sound a goose makes

My EE's honk.  My BRs "whine".  Every noise my BRs make sounds like "poor me" sounds. 

 

[Kassaundra]

Well I subscribe the the Bekissed method of measuring lol lol lol I put a squeeze of iodine in a glass bowl then added enough sugar to make it thick enough to be a paste. Applied as much as I could fit in the hole and hold w/ the bandage and tape.

Since I had attempted to correct this w/ the surgical method first I don't know if the iodine and sugar would work w/o a larger hole, I had been descabbing it and expressing the cheesy gunk for a while before I came across the sugar iodine method.

 

[armorfirelady]

Well I subscribe the the  Bekissed method of measuring  lol lol lol     I put a squeeze of iodine in a glass bowl then added enough sugar to make it thick enough to be a paste.  Applied as much as I could fit in the hole and hold w/ the bandage and tape.

Since I had attempted to correct this w/ the surgical method first I don't know if the iodine and sugar would work w/o a larger hole, I had been descabbing it and expressing the cheesy gunk for a while before I came across the sugar iodine method.

I just researched the you tube videos Leah's mom posted end of march. They take all the black stuff out then fill it with I assume is antibiotic cream. I would use the iodine/sugar paste tho.

So I am guessing I need to remove all the black stuff so there is hole to pack the paste in?

Ugh I am going to see if I can find a friend to help me by holding her. I don't think if I even wrapped her in a towel she would stay still enough. And I work afternoons tomorrow so my mom can't help she will be at work in the am

 

[Kassaundra]

I just researched the you tube videos Leah's mom posted end of march. They take all the black stuff out then fill it with I assume is antibiotic cream. I would use the iodine/sugar paste tho.

So I am guessing I need to remove all the black stuff so there is hole to pack the paste in?

Ugh I am going to see if I can find a friend to help me by holding her. I don't think if I even wrapped her in a towel she would stay still enough. And I work afternoons tomorrow so my mom can't help she will be at work in the am

It helps if your helper holds her like a baby, cradled in her arms. It allows for easier restraint and seems to calm them more, but be advised mine pooped more then once in this position, w/ this treatment. I think it was on purpose as a protest personally.

 

[starlingdaly]

It helps if your helper holds her like a baby, cradled in her arms.  It allows for easier restraint and seems to calm them more, but be advised mine pooped more then once in this position, w/ this treatment.  I think it was on purpose as a protest personally.

I get pooped on only when the chooks are upset about something. Whether I didn't let them out early enough or am poking them too much (while inspecting for external parasites)
They know it is a sure fire way to get put down and let go.

 

[lalaland]

My girlfriend saw how frightened the chicks were this morning, and decided she would spend the day helping me make a way for them to get out to the pen and back to their portion of the coop! Rivers were too high for us to kayak...so, perfect day for a project.

what we thought would be relatively simple took about 5 hours.

It is kind of the chunnel idea Bulldogma suggested, but I didn't see that post til now. Basically made a tube of chicken wire (lord that stuff is a pain to work with!) that was 18 feet long, fastened on one end to the temporary pen, and including a wood ramp up to the deck that is off the coop trailer. Then, figured out a door barrier, with netting on the top and a wood bottom half of the door with a hole cut through it to the tunnel. So the exterior door to the trailer coop stays bungeed open all day, with the netting keeping the chicks in except for the tunnel, and the wild birds out.

Don't worry, the coop is inside a big run, which is pretty safe (electric fence which isn't always on, wire fence, fence on the ground to keep from digging under - so nothing should be able to get to the door except possibly a hawk or owl, but the netting should deter them. The temporary chick pen is under the hawk pavilion ( a 12x12 area covered wtih wire fencing for a roof, and chicken wire down the sides.

The chicks during this long afternoon were pretty much hiding in one corner of the coop, chirping hysterically.

I opened up their smaller brooder area on the floor to include the whole half of the trailer so they would have access to the doorway with the tunnel - and they were so freaked out, we figured they wouldn't come out. Left it out, went in, ate supper ----came out....and they had figured it out!

It was so cool to see them - they were coming up the ramp but getting a little confused and going back - needed a little herding to get all the way up and in, but I think they would have done it on their own.

Unfortunately, it will be 50 or colder tonight, I leave for work at 3:30 am so I won't leave the door open that many hours while it is so cold. Justine, I know you said your chicks were fine, but I have 3 that are still not feathered out, just wing feathers.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions - if I had read the idea about the wire/plastic pipe herding method I might have tried that instead!

 

[Mumsy]

90 degrees here for a few days. Fun with Grand sons. Three year old calling the flock. They come running from everywhere. One of my fire place pits with ash bucket.


Even the twelve year old was loving the Catdance Silkies.


The HRIR chicks are twelve weeks old. They don't look like chicks. They go through a lot of groceries. Those are mostly cockerels at the trough and there is very little fighting. Silkies usually wait their turn.



The three year old had those Silkies following him all over the place. All sixty birds except turkeys have the run of the barn yard in the orchard. Compost pile and shrubbery way in the back where they go forage, shade, and hide from hawks.

 

[graybeard]

Amazing barnyard. Looks awesome!

 

[countrygirl74]

I just researched the you tube videos Leah's mom posted end of march. They take all the black stuff out then fill it with I assume is antibiotic cream. I would use the iodine/sugar paste tho.

So I am guessing I need to remove all the black stuff so there is hole to pack the paste in?

Ugh I am going to see if I can find a friend to help me by holding her. I don't think if I even wrapped her in a towel she would stay still enough. And I work afternoons tomorrow so my mom can't help she will be at work in the am

I got rid of bumblefoot on my ducks by soaking in epsom salts for a couple days, then applying nustock to them every day for a week, then every other day. Never had to do any "surgery" or removing of scabs, etc. - just applied the ointment. A friend did the same thing by using tea tree oil on the bumblefoot and it was gone even faster than mine...