What are the best meds to keep on hand?

[khane9]

What is Blue kote? And what is it used for?

 

[chickens egg me on]

Blue kote is applied to chickens that are getting pecked by other chickens or pecking at themselves...it's blue in color vs the red of blood. In my experience, usually there is a protein deficiency, an injury, or some kind of stress in the birds lives...like rats or overcrowding, that causes them to peck one another. I've never had this problem with my chickens. If one is injured, I bring her in until she's healed. I keep my eyes peeled for any sign of rats and get rid of them asap.

 

[NYREDS]

My medical kit consists of a coccidiostat [usually Corid], louse powder & a hatchet. There's no room in my breeding program for birds that are susceptible to illness.

 

[artsyrobin]

I have a first aid list on my byc page- i'm collecting info from byc and putting it there

 

[chickens egg me on]

NY, wondering what to have on hand if birds get sick is not the same as breeding sick birds. Any living creature gets sick once in a blue moon...just like you and I...

 

[phasian]

Quote:
Pretty much any google search you do will yield the dangers of this chemical-


A couple of sources regarding ethoxyquin: http://www.sojos.com/eatitarticle.html (this one is about unhealthy pet food ingredients in general)

www.woodhavenlabs.com/fishmeal.html (this one shows the regulations concerning fish meal & its required preservation with ethoxyquin)

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1591583 (this is a report on broiler chickens exposed to high levels of ethoxquin- arguably higher than a backyard flock keeper would encounter....but alarming nonetheless)

I know it's frustrating to discover these things. I thought I was doing a great deed by feeding chicken meal. As someone who tries to provide my chickens' optimal nutrition and healthy remedies I have learned I have to be hyper vigilant....phooey!

 

[chickens egg me on]

Hi Pha,

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I googled ethoxyquin and was beset by the amount of potential problems I found. Adding to that, there appear to be conflicting interests involved in the googled version of the conversation so I wanted to see where you were looking for your answers in the hope that it would help me sort the issue through on my own terms. Yes, it can be frustrating but IMHO it's much better to be aware of a potential problem then to go skipping down the trail and end up with unwelcome problems.

Blessings,
Egg