Raw molasses is no where near to honey. My guess is it might be harder than white cane sugar to digest BUT it does contain some vitamins and nutrients. Honey is just so much better than cane sugars, but adding a little molasses to honey might not hurtI know how you feel, Karen. My american buff gosling which was born with no eyes has begun to show a lot of neurological signs in the past 3 weeks. I hand raised it with a chicken buddy because its parents tried - and still try - to kill it. They'll hang out around its tractor coop which gets moved daily and visit and sleep there a lot but will not tolerate this bird out of its pen. Had planned to permanently house it with a young group of orphingtons but it has begun slamming itself into the wire sides of the coop and if I give it more room I'm pretty sure that it will get up enough speed to break its neck. Doesnt seem to matter whether we or the other geese are nearby. It just starts screaming and runs into everything and falls and has actually knocked itself out twice now. I had planned to love and keep Stevie for its lifetime but I think that the quality of life is rapidly deteriorating. Its so hard sometimes to put good stewardship first. I have an outwardly healthy bird who seems to have no pleasure in its life anymore and is miserable. You have a damaged bird who is fighting against some very stiff odds but not ready to give up. Where is that magic wand when we need it most? Wow. Didn't mean to go off on a tangent. Guess you can tell that I'm not at peace with what I know needs to be done yet. I'm praying for the wisdom and strength to do whats best for Stevie at the right time. Now I remember what I started this to tell you. Sugar works ok but the body can absorb honey without having to convert the sugars to a more digestable form first. If you're wrapping the bumblefoot try packing the debrided area with honey. Bacteria can't grow in it and that form of sugar feeds new tissue as it forms. If you're not wrapping it I've had really good luck packing it with icthammol ointment. If I'm using antibiotics I usually start with oral SMZ-TMP960. What do you use first? I also wonder if raw molasses would do the same thing as honey for force feeding? Has anyone tried it? Thanks to all for letting me vent and being so supportive of us newbies.
I am sorry to hear about your BLRW girl. I hate when birds are injured or sick. In regards to your bumble foot Dorking, are you wrapping it?? I just had a bad bumble foot on one of my Coronation Sussex roosters, what I found really helps was taking gauze, cutting it small enough to make like a plug and then soaking it with and antibiotic to make a pack then using some vetwrap to keep the plug in and the foot clean.
do me a favor and don't eat the "pseudo sfh"... i'll trade him/her at Gilmanor for the SFH you were supposed to get. I've got several I think are pure (but not 100% positive) had one hatch last night (if you're up for a road trip) and leigh said she had some more eggs for me to pick up next Saturday, so they'll be a couple weeks old at Gilmanor (not planning on selling all of them, but i'll have a couple for you at least).
