The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[Bulldogma]

Poor birds! I've been following along since the start (lurking, really). I've been reading with fascination and so happy to have this opportunity to learns so much!! Thank you SO much for starting this thread, Bee!

 

[Malibu99]

I just read this entire thread.. I'm so glad you got your chickens back and are able to save them. I bet they're happy now!

 

[galanie]

The fourth picture from the top of that white rock really illustrates to me how skinny the poor things are! I stared at that a long time thinking, "Is that the keel bone she has her hand on? Really?" OMG the poor things. So glad they're already feeling so much better!

 

[garden62]

Thank you for all the great info.
I am using the FF for our week old meat chicks & they love it. I also gave some to the hens & the pan was so completely cleaned that you would not have known it ever had anything in it! I've had to enlarge the holes in my bucket twice because the liquid is not draining well. Also using the AC vinegar for all the chickens. We do not have wood ashes yet (getting 2 wood stoves - 1 nest week for the house & 1 in a few weeks for the garden shed/greenhouse) so I've been using the food grade DE. I sprinkle it on the floor and also in their dust bath box. I have some home-made raw milk yogurt that I was thinking about mixing with some cooked pumpkin for the meat chicks & the hens.
I Have a Cochin rooster who's feet are getting pecked by some of the hens. I've used the Blue Kote & they are starting to heal, but I can still tell he's in pain. Do you think the Nu Stock would help him? He has a large sore on one of his feet.

 

[garden62]

All of this defiantly takes more time than pouring feed from a bag, but like Bee said - "raising livestock is work". My husband tried to tell me that, but I had no idea until I actually did it! - LOL
I guess since I spend more time making breakfast for the GSD than I do for myself - the least I can do for the chickens is some FF ACV & a few little treats like pumpkin & yogurt.

 

[Beekissed]

I see the pictures ......... on page 1. I'm following this thread daily!! Beekissed is a wonderful teacher ........ I have nominated her for an "educator award" and an ovation. I have only owned chickens for 18 weeks now and have a lot to learn ...... I refer to Beekissed threads routinely to see if an answer to one of my concerns is posted and sure enough I can always find some useful info or helpful hint to keep my yard ladies healthy. I want to start the fermented feed method this week. Thanks Bee for being there for us! Hello from NH.

Thank you so much!! I am amazed, really, that anyone at all reads these things....I just throw them out there into the world and hope that someone can use them and posts like yours tells me that maybe someone is actually getting some good out of them! It's encouraging. Now, if a person could do this for a living...maybe a Dear Abby type section in the paper and have a syndicated column!

how about some update photos?

It's raining today but I'll definitely work on it sometime this week. The changes are subtle and if you hadn't seen them up close and personal when they came, you might not realize just how much they have improved in just one short week. I notice the rooster is still limping slightly but he has a deep scar on one leg...has sustained an injury of some kind, somewhere. They've put on weight and grown feathers and the color of their combs have all deepened and gotten a healthier color...all in one week!

Thank you for all the great info.
I am using the FF for our week old meat chicks & they love it. I also gave some to the hens & the pan was so completely cleaned that you would not have known it ever had anything in it! I've had to enlarge the holes in my bucket twice because the liquid is not draining well. Also using the AC vinegar for all the chickens. We do not have wood ashes yet (getting 2 wood stoves - 1 nest week for the house & 1 in a few weeks for the garden shed/greenhouse) so I've been using the food grade DE. I sprinkle it on the floor and also in their dust bath box. I have some home-made raw milk yogurt that I was thinking about mixing with some cooked pumpkin for the meat chicks & the hens.
I Have a Cochin rooster who's feet are getting pecked by some of the hens. I've used the Blue Kote & they are starting to heal, but I can still tell he's in pain. Do you think the Nu Stock would help him? He has a large sore on one of his feet.

Yes, I think it would. I'm pretty convinced that NuStock helps just about any skin malady. Wonder why your hens are pecking at other chickens? You might try a deep litter system to keep them entertained and to improve coop environment overall. It's been proven to decrease episodes of cannibalism...or so the studies say.

Quote:
It IS a keel bone! Every single bird except one~big ol' broody mama, Moby Dick Two~had a prominent keel bone and one young mutt hen's was so sharp that I was amazed she was even alive. She looks like a young Dominique cross of some kind and she looked so pale and her comb and wattles so shriveled that I almost culled her right there. But her feathering is nice and she was eating and drinking well, has quick movements, so I am just watching her. She was just ate up with lice and mites. Her comb now is getting a red color and her chest is filling out a little...she is a great forager and has fought for her roosting rights...but I don't think she has ever laid an egg, judging from her vent. She may be culled in the Feb/Mar. culling if she doesn't produce.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Corn starch doesn't actually treat those moist rashes found in the creases of the body, it merely absorbs the moisture that contributes towards the proliferation of the yeast growth. That works fine for new areas of rash on humans and in their skin folds that are just getting that yeasty look.

Go a little further into those types of rashes wherein they are actually raised areas of a deeper redness and the corn starch does little to help...that's when the doctor usually switches the treatment over to Nystatin powder or cream.

One of the treatments that vets prescribe for the gleet is Nystastin to be taken internally. I think gleet is that full-on bad yeast infection that is not merely on the skin surface but in the deeper layers of the derma as well, as described above, as well as throughout the GI tract...sort of like c.difficile or thrush.

The reason the gleet is forming at the vent is because of the moisture caught there from the diarrhea and the diarrheic stools are just loaded with the bad yeast so it only follows that the skin there would be a perfect place for the yeast to grow outside the body as well as inside. If I were going to do anything to treat that outside area and I didn't have the NuStock, I'd use zinc oxide cream as a moisture barrier and an fungal preventative.

Placing corn starch on this area would just cause more caking of the liquid feces when they came out and keep them caked onto the skin and feathers, IMO.

That's right, BK. The external thrush is just a sign of the same thing systemically, at least that is how it is with humans and I see no reason why it would not be the same with chickens. High serum yeast counts in humans are very often associated with poor diet, especially a sugary diet, with diabetes and any depressed immunity disorder, cancers as well. We have a nation of 'yeasty' people and they don't even know it.

The condition in humans can be rocket-launched by over-use of antibiotics and I know that you know all about that. But going after the 'yeast' with nystatin or flouocysteceine or other hard anti-fungals... creates mutations of the yeast and a self-defensive reaction toward the medicine whereby hard-shelled little spores of the yeast bury themselves in organ tissues in order to survive. When conditions get more favorable for them, ie bad carbs, sugar, disease, depressed immunity, even prolonged stress..... they come out in full force.....hyphating all over the place. (Hyphae being the form that the spores change to when they are fed) And yeast depresses the immune system badly. Cancer autopsies on humans always culture out Candida Albicans Yeast. It's a killer. "Just sayin".

Yeast are yeast are yeast methinks. We all have 'em. But their numbers stay in check through good nutrition, good air and good sleep...the things that build up our immunity

So.......that is just you are teaching us to do with our chickens. Food, foraging, and a healthy lice/mite-free coop to reduce their stress and promote their rest.
Sound familiar? a good diet (lots of probiotics to keep yeast numbers down), plenty of exercise and fresh air, and a good night's sleep.

BK you are a Chicken Doc. You should be paid for this you know, but if virtual hugs are worth more than silver dollars...well then I guess you are one rich lady.
Even if the hugs weren't there, well I guess I know you would still be very, very rich.

LOVE YA CYBER-SIS!

PS. A THOUGHT JUST ENTERED THE DANGER ZONE OF MY BRAIN: If internet went away from us in the future..we would have more time to do now wouldn't we? This thought of possibly losing internet makes me think that perhaps I need to work toward building up the relationships with those here around me more. But nobody around here 'gets' my passion for learning about chickens. (but I'm not going to cry about it, Bruce)

 

[Missa Chickabee]

LM, I get it locally at my local feed mill/feed store. It's much cheaper if bought locally vs. online...about half the price. I DO use it on humans! I've given some to my aunt for a fungal patch on her face and it was working until she gave up the treatment...didn't follow through. I think it would work for things like athlete's foot, etc.

I've used it on wounded meaty chicks and when I processed I couldn't tell which birds were wounded...not even a scar left behind and these were pretty deep wounds. The website has a galllion testimonials with pics and I never get tired of reading them and seeing the after pics.

Is this like Ichthommol ointment (tar-smelling ointment in my medicine cabinet that heals cuts really fast...but leave black tarry stains)

 

[Beekissed]

No, it has a chalky, yellow appearance and doesn't really leave any stains. It will make the chicken's feet and legs look slightly chartreuse for awhile.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

No, it has a chalky, yellow appearance and doesn't really leave any stains. It will make the chicken's feet and legs look slightly chartreuse for awhile.

Well, that sounds better. I'll look for it around here.