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

[MyGardenHelper]

When it comes to natural you can't over-do. Unless they have a reaction to a herb or natural remedy. With herbs, it's out of their system in 3 hours if given internally (not conventional allopathic medicine...could cause side-effects for a very long time...or a life-time). If you want it to stay longer, mix in some ginger. If you want it to go to a specific area, mix in a small amount of lobelia (it acts like a lead horse...takes it where it needs to go). Lobelia is known as the 'thinking herb'. If you have an abcess and your system cannot handle going through the normal channels of elimination (digestive and pooping), then it will come out of your skin (oozing). If your immune system is healthy, then the toxins will come out 'with your regularity'. I find it amazing that people always mention chickens 'pooping normally' and a sign of health. This goes for 'us' animals too

Beekissed,

For her feet, you might want to try 3 parts mullein leaves (grows wild here...I also harvest the flowers to make ear infection oil...not needed here, but to sell) and 1 part lobelia for inflammation. Make it like a tea and then let it sit overnight. Soak her feet in it. Great for swelling and abcesses. If you can wrap them with cloths soaked in this and keep them on her...even better.

Oh...I should add that ginger is great for extemities. Cayenne is great for the heart. This is also how you should decide what to add. What is the underlying cause of the symptoms? Cayenne internally will stop a bloody nose. It will also stop a heart attack as it will equalize the blood throughout the body. Cayenne powder will stop blood externally...I prefer yarrow leaves though (tested it)..but in a pinch I would use cayenne powder. I have both powder and tincture in my first aid kit.

 

[JNB]

OK Thanks Bee.... for the input.. I kinda figured the same thing that you said . Just needed another opinion ....... Just curious... i know the pics are not all that great.. But I am curious about the size of the birds... Like I said they are 18 months old and the others I have are more likely 2 or 3 years old but these girls look so much smaller. So it concerns me.. Am I over thinking this? Or expecting something I shouldnt for their age.

Most people tell me to Just worm them.. when I ask.... But other than them looking kinda small I dont see any other signs of worms. When I pick them up they are not boney or frail feeling. Since Im just still a newbie to chickens maybe I worry too much about it??

Oh and just an FYI I noticed some post about TEA TREE OIL.... My naturopath also raises chickens. She gave me a oil mixture to use on Tails... (who also was bare bottomed) The mixture was
Olive Oil for the base, Tea Tree Oil, Vit E oil.

Olive Oil for the moisture base and soothing..... (also Almond oil is good but more costly.)
Tea Tree.. for infection, and skin fungus or bacteria.
Vitamin E oil for the scaring and healing of the area.

Work Wonders.....

 

[Beekissed]

MGH, I think it was a cup of salt to every gallon of water...some folks cook their corn but we never did, just put it right in the barrel or crock raw and on the cob. Cover with a clean pillow case, a plate on top and a stone on top of that to weigh the corn down into the brine. When it's done, it's done...don't remember how long it takes. We just used yellow sweet corn back in the day but found the white sweet corn(Silver Queen) a tad too sweet for good pickled corn.

Good to know someone is still out there making the pickled foods in crocks. My mother gave my big crock to my brother so that he could make some pickled corn~on loan~and he never did...and never would give the crock back. That's the way it goes in this family....

Quote from cowcreekgeek:
Not a bit of it! No need to feel ashamed and I took your suggestion to heart, though I normally do not fool with treating chickens and especially one this old....but I got curious and for the same reason you suggested...to see if I could make this bird well. I guess I feel up to the challenge right now when normally I am working, raising kids and animals, etc., and would not do such a thing.

After all, I'm a nurse...we love to dig into wounds, clean them, try to make them heal and do a little jig when it works!

SO....I had a rare opportunity to catch Middle Sister in the daytime this evening and I did that very thing. I was curious if there was something on her feet I had missed in the last examination. Of course, most of these examinations are at night when they are easily caught off the roost and the lighting isn't always ideal for really seeing all the surfaces of a foot...lots of creases there.

Guess what I found?

She had identical holes deep in the same crease of both feet between the first and second toe....I wouldn't have seen them if I didn't spread the foot wide and examine every little crease. She had no sores or scabs or obvious places that one would notice....just these holes. The holes were impacted with dirt, hay, grasses and more dirt. Now, I've cleaned a lot of chicken feet and peeled them for cooking and I've never seen a gland or any such on a chicken's foot but these holes were identical in nature and placement, so I don't think they were wounds. I'm thinking they are tiny glands in the foot that we never really see as they are deep in a crevice. I'm thinking these glands were impacted and enlarged due to poor sanitation in their former coop, that led to infection and just became impacted with material. Sort of like a sebaceous cyst.

The holes were shaped identical and were indeed like a gland in nature, once cleaned out for inspection. The area around the gland site on top of the foot was red and swollen, which is what brought my attention to that area and when I looked closely, I found them! See, Cowcreek? You were right...there WAS something in her feet that might be causing this swelling!

It took well over 50 Q-tips to get the holes cleaned out...and the holes were big enough to take the whole head of a Q-tip inserted them. I mean the whole length and width of the head of the Q-tip!

The dirt kept coming and coming, I dug with QTs and tweezers and just kept at it. I dipped QTs in peroxide to see if I could boil out any stray debris and this worked great. There was no pus, no core, no real bad smell...just a faint smell of staph infection(believe me, my nose knows different smells of different bacteria after all these years...ya just don't wanna know

) and lots and lots of black dirt and debris.

I finally reached the bottom and the last of the filth, cleaned it once more with peroxide and placed ATB ointment down into the holes and then packed them with tiny cotton balls off the tips of the Qs. Then sealed those with ATB oint. and finished it all with a good slathering of NuStock, worked into all areas of the feet and legs. I'll remove those cotton balls in a week and place more ATB in the holes and let them heal from there. Now that she is on clean bedding and soils, and her feet are washed in the morning dew each day, she shouldn't be getting debris packed up in that area again.

The ol' gal just lay there, swaddled in a towel, and let me dig and prod her feet like she was enjoying it. I hurt her one time and it made her kick and poop...luckily, the poop had no smell because she is on FF!

She was really a good patient and I know she will feel a little wooled around tomorrow but I bet she will start to feel better soon....

Who wants to bet this just might work?

Yes...you can all point and laugh at me now that I treated a chicken!

Don't get comfortable...it was only because I know this old bird and I know she has good genetics or I wouldn't have bothered. She may still be in the pot come spring and she doesn't lay, but at least her meat will be worth the eatin' if she recovers from all this.

 

[Beekissed]

OK Thanks Bee.... for the input.. I kinda figured the same thing that you said . Just needed another opinion ....... Just curious... i know the pics are not all that great.. But I am curious about the size of the birds... Like I said they are 18 months old and the others I have are more likely 2 or 3 years old but these girls look so much smaller. So it concerns me.. Am I over thinking this? Or expecting something I shouldnt for their age.

Most people tell me to Just worm them.. when I ask.... But other than them looking kinda small I dont see any other signs of worms. When I pick them up they are not boney or frail feeling. Since Im just still a newbie to chickens maybe I worry too much about it??

Oh and just an FYI I noticed some post about TEA TREE OIL.... My naturopath also raises chickens. She gave me a oil mixture to use on Tails... (who also was bare bottomed) The mixture was
Olive Oil for the base, Tea Tree Oil, Vit E oil.

Olive Oil for the moisture base and soothing..... (also Almond oil is good but more costly.)
Tea Tree.. for infection, and skin fungus or bacteria.
Vitamin E oil for the scaring and healing of the area.

Work Wonders.....

Maybe the small size is due to their breeding? I wouldn't worm either and they look fine to me, though it's really hard to judge their size from the picks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm wondering the same thing. I would like to get it going while we are having an Indian Summer and would like to feed all year long. Wondering if I should set up a green house that has just 4 shelves with a plastic covering (at most nurseries) and then just take the shelves off.

Also, I used to buy organic soy-free mash for 'gulp' $34 per 50 pound bag. Now I piggy-back on the farm I work at and they have their organic feed delivered and dumped into silos. I now buy for $17 per 50# of the same type of feed (different brand), but in pellet form. I also buy through them (all organic), alfalfa pellets, oyster shell, whole grains, kelp, redmond's salt, redmond's conditioner, peas, corn, etc. Also for 1/2 the cost. I buy 3 months worth at a time...easier on their bookkeeping. No mash though and I'm not about to pay the higher cost for it elsewhere. How is fermenting with pellets?

I ferment with pellets/ Whole oats/ wheat/ and 7way scratch. works great.

 

[Beekissed]

Sorry to jump in I have been reading and reading but You have something about "it being too late in the season to use the fermenting" does that mean you can only feed that in the warmer months? I thought maybe in the winter you just made it in the house to keep it warm. Thanks for this thread I am going to change everything I thought I had learned from reading book on raising poultry.

We are all mulling that over on the FF thread and I had almost decided to not fool with it during the winter because of it getting cold before they could eat it all and then their core temps being affected by eating the cold food. I'm still mulling that over and I still want to feed the FF through the winter...I think I'm just going to insulate my bucket and feed anyway and see how it all goes down.

So i have already over done, I hope she'll be okay since I have treated 2X in less than 24 hrs. You used the dakins to wash her right?

You don't have to use Dakins...just washing her with soap and water should be fine or even an iodine wash, but it doesn't really matter as long as you get that yellow/white scurf off her vent so that the NS will get to the right areas.

When it comes to natural you can't over-do. Unless they have a reaction to a herb or natural remedy. With herbs, it's out of their system in 3 hours if given internally (not conventional allopathic medicine...could cause side-effects for a very long time...or a life-time). If you want it to stay longer, mix in some ginger. If you want it to go to a specific area, mix in a small amount of lobelia (it acts like a lead horse...takes it where it needs to go). Lobelia is known as the 'thinking herb'. If you have an abcess and your system cannot handle going through the normal channels of elimination (digestive and pooping), then it will come out of your skin (oozing). If your immune system is healthy, then the toxins will come out 'with your regularity'. I find it amazing that people always mention chickens 'pooping normally' and a sign of health. This goes for 'us' animals too

Beekissed,

For her feet, you might want to try 3 parts mullein leaves (grows wild here...I also harvest the flowers to make ear infection oil...not needed here, but to sell) and 1 part lobelia for inflammation. Make it like a tea and then let it sit overnight. Soak her feet in it. Great for swelling and abcesses. If you can wrap them with cloths soaked in this and keep them on her...even better.

Treated her feet today but thanks for the wonderful herbal insights! You are right about the natural remedies...can't really put too much of those on.

 

[aggiemae]

What a huge undertaking! I am going to read this entire thread from start to finish before I comment again...

 

[Miss Lydia]

I didn't take a picture tonight since it was too late and she had already gone to roost but I brought her out in the light so I could make sure she hadn't had any kind of reaction to me dosing her 2X and i swear her bottom looked better already, not near as red as this morning. So tomorrow will be pic day.

Bee what is ATB? and I hope your hen makes a full recovery now.

 

[Beekissed]

It's just generic antibiotic ointment. I didn't know how the NS would do on a possible staph infection so I used the ointment. Couldn't hurt, I say!

After reviewing treatment options for staph, sulfur was one of the suggested treatments....should have just used the NS! The ATB has bacitracin zinc, neomycin sulfate, and polymyxin b sulfate. Plenty of sulfur in those meds, so it should do just as well.

 

[Attila the Hen]

Bee
I was gazing at my hens tonight and wondering if I was seeing what I should see. For example, after reading this thread, I wondered if they had swollen feet and I didn't know it. I realized that in many ways I am in the dark. I take my other pets to the vet at least once a year and the vet would catch what I might not (hasn't actually happened but could)

I found myself wishing you lived nearby and could visit and assess my birds. Then I thought gee-- I would pay you to evaluate my birds and if I would be willing to then others would. Then I thought you could go on a speaking circuit and teach people all over the States what you know. There are lots of meet ups for chicken owners. You'd be a hit I am sure.