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

[neopolitancrazy]

Just a quick question- I recently bought a tube of Nustock, used it on a chicken, and put some on the lamb's ear tags when I applied those, too. When I use all of this tube, I want to make my own, and improve on what I have found. I agree with everyone who mentioned mixing the sulfur with something thicker and more viscous like petroleum jelly so the medication will stay where I put it. I keep tea tree oil on hand and use it for skin irritations, hardly ever keep pine oil. What do y'all think about using tea tree oil with sulfur and petroleum jelly (or bacon grease-we have lots of bacon grease!) for my homemade Nustock?
Thanks,
Angela

 

[galefrances]

I mentioned this on the FF thread but I think it bears mentioning here as well. There is something I've noticed about the eggs since these hens have been on FF, instead of the feed I used to feed. All the yolks, no matter which egg from which hen, are E-normous!

I've eaten thousands of eggs and always look closely at the yolks as they are cracked into the pan. Since I haven't really been eating these eggs until I knew the chickens were back to normal in health, I hadn't gotten a chance to compare their yolks to one another. They are all, each and every egg, huge...no matter the actual egg size itself, the yolk is HUGE.

I'm wondering if this would mean the chicks born to these hens would have much better nutrition from the get go and naturally thrive better, grow faster and larger and just start out as a better bird all around due to this enormous amount of nutrition while incubating.

That's pretty interesting. I raise Saint Bernard dogs from rescue and try to give them that second chance that they so desperately deserve. One of my first was from a backyard breeder and she was the "runt" of the litter. She has overwhelming health problems, which we believed were due to poor genetics. But, my vet had told me of a fairly new study that showed that the "runt" was actually getting decreased nutrition in utero, hence the small size, and that also attributed to her health problems. So, your observation, I would think, is absolutely correct, just reversed.

 

[galanie]

Just a quick question- I recently bought a tube of Nustock, used it on a chicken, and put some on the lamb's ear tags when I applied those, too. When I use all of this tube, I want to make my own, and improve on what I have found. I agree with everyone who mentioned mixing the sulfur with something thicker and more viscous like petroleum jelly so the medication will stay where I put it. I keep tea tree oil on hand and use it for skin irritations, hardly ever keep pine oil. What do y'all think about using tea tree oil with sulfur and petroleum jelly (or bacon grease-we have lots of bacon grease!) for my homemade Nustock?
Thanks,
Angela

I think I read that birds are very sensitive to tee tree oil. Might want to research that one.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think I read that birds are very sensitive to tee tree oil. Might want to research that one.

I have heard the same.

 

[Beekissed]

Hello folks... I thought I d share a couple photos of some hens Im working with... I have been following this post and the FF post and have gained so much knowledge and benefit. I use FF now with many of my critters and have amazing results. I have 2 seperate coops of laying hens. I adopted the one flock of mostly older girls and a Roo in the spring. The Pics of the ones below are ones I have raised from chicks.. They are 18 months old and are going through and finishing their very first Molt.... I have been getting more and more worried about this group because to me they look very different from the other flock... They are smaller, they pick at one another, they are always hungry. I know they are suppose to look worse during a molt but to me I just feel they look to small for their age??? I keep worrying that I am missing something or doing it wrong. So heres what I am doing.

First of all a word about their behavior... They are very chatty friendly girls, They roost very well, they all lay eggs . There are 11 hens and I daily get 8 to 11 eggs.. The shells on the eggs are hard, smooth and look good. My laying flocks are kept in "Summer Pens" from late spring to the rain starts here. They are let out every day to Free Range and we have 20 acres of land that they can scratch around in. They run, flap their wings, role in the garden dirt. work my compost and are generally always busy..
Eyes, Beaks etc are clear.
Poops are formed and color looks normal.
I free feed them a layer Mix with 16% Protien.. they also get Fermented Grains about every other day. It depends on how much produce I have to give them from the garden and kitchen.
They also get BOSS as a treat tossed in their kennel. Usually when I dont have scraps or if I need to put them away before their usual time

Now as for the girls that are pecked and have feather damage.... A friend of mine had 3 hens 2 RR and the little black one in the pic. They are about the same age as mine and she needed a home for them. I took them.. Did everything I was told to Introduce them to the flock gradually over about a months time. I finally put them together and after 3 days. The origanal girls attacked and killed one of the hens.. they badly attacked the other 2. Quite honestly I probably should have culled them after the attack. But I was new to chickens and felt responsible. So i nursed them back... It took a Very Long time... Now before this I had had NO PICKING issues in the flock. After the attack and I had removed the survivors the origanol girls kept picking at each other... The Barred Rocks seemed to be the most aggressive.. This went on for quite awhile and I was ready to give up chicken keeping all together, because they just wouldnt be nice to each other. Thats when my hubby brought home the abandoned flock of 17 birds.... they of course had a seperate pen and house. I noticed over time that the Roo in this group did not allow disorder among his ladies... So after about 2 months of watching I took the 3 worst offending girls and joined them to his flock... It didnt take long and he had them in shape
However I am left with these tailess and featherless girls that dont seem to want to heal. Which leaves me concerned.

Heres what Ive done... I did treat everyone for mites over the summer because I was told the picking could be due to them having bugs.
If they had open wounds I removed them and treated them until healed over.. then I used Blu Cote and No Peck by Rooster Booster to cover them.. Most have healed and are regrowing feathers.
Except for the last 2 in the pics.. Thats "Tails" ( the one with no tail) and "Baby".... the worst hurt of the bunch. I treat her every couple days with Aloe, Vitamin E oil, and I keep BluCote on her. She has only been allowed back with the flock for about 2 months... She has gained weight since then is seems happier, But Im worried about her healing. She is the one that I probably should have culled after the attack.. See the entire exsposed area you see in the picture was one big open wound and I could see and touch her bones... like her skin had been peeled off... She was in shock and her comb was white and eyes a mess when I found her... I actually thought she was dead until I picked her limp body up. Needless to say I spent A LOT of time cleaning and tending to her wounds and feeding her and supplementing her back to look like a chicken.

So Ok that should give you some information and idea of what I am doing and have done. Like I said I still just feel like Im doing something wrong with these girls.. Mostly because they look so much smaller than the older ones I have in my other flock. Im kinda at the end of my knowledge as to what to do.. I have been told to worm them every 6 months. I really dont want to use medications etc... if its not needed. The farm I live on is 3rd generation to my family.. and my Mother often points out to me that in all the years she has been on this farm "They NEVER had to fuss so much with the animals or give medications. She adds.. "And they were all healthy critters and us kids and you kids were healthy and lived just fine!!"

So you wont hurt my feelings. I posted here because I want to learn and know what I am doing wrong and how I can improve

Cull the one with the bare bottom. Plain and simple. You'll be glad you finally did it. The other may recover well, she looks well feathered otherwise, so just put some NuStock on that area and see what happens. The other one is too damaged and may have too much scarring to ever grow feathers there...poor feathering is a cull issue.

Bee I don't know why your hen has swollen legs and feet but I was reading about Sulphur and came upon this talking about using it for RA thought you might like to see the article, course you probably already know this.. http://www.chiff.com/vitamins/sulfur.htm

Excellent link and I have bookmarked it for future reference! Thank you! I'll sock some more NuStock on this ol' gal's feet a few more times to see if it helps her at all.

(When I ordered the NuStock my original thought was that I'd use it in our people first aid kit...and already have!)

Us too....the Ol' Bat has some on a few skin tears as we speak. It sure does draw infection!! That's the pine tar...good drawing salve.

Just a quick question- I recently bought a tube of Nustock, used it on a chicken, and put some on the lamb's ear tags when I applied those, too. When I use all of this tube, I want to make my own, and improve on what I have found. I agree with everyone who mentioned mixing the sulfur with something thicker and more viscous like petroleum jelly so the medication will stay where I put it. I keep tea tree oil on hand and use it for skin irritations, hardly ever keep pine oil. What do y'all think about using tea tree oil with sulfur and petroleum jelly (or bacon grease-we have lots of bacon grease!) for my homemade Nustock?
Thanks,
Angela

I wouldn't unless it was in very tiny amounts...it can be a skin irritant, though so can the pine tar if using too much in the mix. It is a great antifungal but I think folks get into trouble with applying it full strength. Dilute might not be a problem.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Bee would you look at post 782 and give honest opinion? thanks.

 

[Beekissed]

Okay ya'll here she is now I have to say this butt looks maybe 20% better than it did when I got her in June but today I will take a pic again after she has had the Nustock on her for 24 hrs. the white gunky stuff isn't running continually like it was.
My friend I got this hen from got her from a sale and whoever had her had literally plucked her tail featherless there was nothing but the stump there, all those feathers have grown back, now if I can just get her through this.

It definitely looks like gleet and she looks so tender from it...I can't wait to see what the NuStock will do for this chicken! I'd apply it to all areas of bare skin as well. I have no doubt at all that you will start to see some good results, particularly if you can get some of the NS inside the vent a little ways. Poor thing...can you imagine having a butt hole like that on yourself? That's all I could think of when I saw Ruby Crockett's butt for the first time...mine own drew up in sheer horror at how painful and uncomfortable it all looked.

 

[Nomibear]

Wow, finally cought up!
I have a question for you'll. How does the Rooster Booster compare to the Nu Stock? Is it the same thing? I used Rooster Booster when one of my chicks was 2 weeks old and had been picked on pretty badly. It was the only one I could find at my local TS.

 

[Beekissed]

Wow, finally cought up!
I have a question for you'll. How does the Rooster Booster compare to the Nu Stock? Is it the same thing? I used Rooster Booster when one of my chicks was 2 weeks old and had been picked on pretty badly. It was the only one I could find at my local TS.

I don't know...never tried it. Maybe you could try it and tell us how it does?

Did it work well when you used it?

Ingredients of Rooster Booster: Aloe Vera Gel, Calendula (Marigold), Cresylic Acid, Coal Tar Distillate, and Tea Tree Oil. <<<<Interesting ingredient that we were just discussing!

 

[neopolitancrazy]

Thanks for the input. if my memory serves me correctly, the original recipe called for 2% pine oil- which sounds pretty dilute to me. I was planning on putting one part tea tree oil to 49 parts everything else (should be 2% tea tree oil then).
Angela