Treating Sickness
It's nearly my ten year anniversary of keeping poultry and it;s been quite a decade, numerous things have cropped up so here's how I dealt with it; it may help you someday!!
My Number 1 piece of advice is: If you have a sick bird, it is not worth the money taking it to a ‘normal’ small animal vet. To get a much better survival rate, go to either a specialist poultry vet (ideal), an avian vet, or at the very least a large animal/livestock vet. Poultry are quite different to cats and dogs and most vets don’t have enough experience or specialist training to deal with them and often resort to very generalised treatments. I’ll build up a list of avian and poultry vets later when I’ve done some more research, but for now I can’t recommend the Retford Poultry Partnership (Nottinghamshire) highly enough. Libby (the vet) REALLY knows her stuff and saved one of my most valuable birds from death’s door!
My first aid cupboard - here’s a list of things I have kicking around in the cupboards on hand to treat all kinds of emergencies. Most of these remedies can also be used on other small animals and could help you save a tidy amount on vets fees! However, if you cannot confidently diagnose your animal yourself, please do take it to a vet to avoid unnecessary suffering.
Colloidal silver. You name it, this cures it. I can’t begin to name all the serious infections this has cured amongst my animals - it’s natures antibiotic. Ever wondered why rich people in times gone by had silver jugs for their water? Because bugs can’t live in the presence of silver, it kills ‘em stone dead. This can be taken internally or externally (e.g wipe it on an infected wound or give with drinking water) and is safe for people, animals and even works on plants! it’s also pretty difficult to overdo it, you’d have to drink gallons of the stuff to die. There a few cases of people having side effects (like turning grey/silver!) but they drank LOTS every day and the silver just built up in their bodies. You can drink a small measure everyday to keep bugs at bay but personally, I don’t recommend that because your natural immune system should be able to handle things generally and when it isn’t, you medicate.
Nelson’s Hypercal cream - it’s a herbal cream with calendula in it; smear it on a cut or a sore/scratch/graze after cleaning the area and this will speed up the healing process. Be aware that when you first put it on, it STINGS (I’ve put it on myself) and the animal will be uncomfortable for about 20 seconds but after that it is soothing and helps the healing process along very well. Make sure they can’t lick this off - external use only
Arnica - arnica is for bruising (not to be used on broken skin though) it is absolutely astonishing how well it works. You can really whack yourself, stick some of this on, and never get a mark! It also works well on sprains and sore muscles. External use only - don’t let them lick it off.
Rescue Remedy - for shock. Birds get shocked and die very easily (poor lil’ mites) but I have seen them make very good turnarounds when given a few drops of this regularly. People can use it too, it evens out extremes of emotion, calms you down making you less angry/anxious. Got a trip to the vet? A long journey? Fireworks night? A show? Try this!
Comfrey ointment - it’s good for sprains and bruises like arnica, but I find it less effective than arnica. I use Comfrey mostly to soothe skin irritations and itchy insect bites or dry skin.
Ivermectin Horse wormer - I use this to treat small animals with mites. Most mite treatments you see work as an external spray/wash, but this is no good because mites are embedded in the skin. Ivermectin will treat them and a £5 tube of horse wormer (check the active ingredient is ivermectin, a good clue is if the brand name has ectin in it like Bimectin) will do the job. It’s a safe bet for home treatment because it was developed for large livestock which cannot easily be accurately weighed so the dosage needs to be flexible. The side effects are very minimal, you may get some dry skin if you use way too much. A guinea pig/chicken/rabbit will only need a brush of it on a Q-tip/cotton wool bud (like what you clean your ears with!) on the roof of their mouths. The dose will need to be repeated every 7 - 10 days until they are clear and you should see a difference within a week.
Nizoral shampoo - for human scalp problems - this is effective against fungal skin infections. The active ingredient is ketoconazole which works by breaking up the cell membrane of the fungus. Any shampoo with the same active ingredient will do the same thing so read the labels…non brand will be much cheaper!
Echinacea - naturally boosts the immune system helping you fight off infection like colds and sniffles. You can get in pill or liquid form, in your local health-food place.
Garlic - a natural wormer; crushing some into bird’s drinking water or adding odourless garlic oil to the food of animals with better scenting powers on a regular basis (every month maybe? Must admit I don’t remember every month but have still never had worms to contend with) should keep you worm free! (Yup, works for people too)
Coxoid - For birds with coccidiosis which is a nasty bug they can pick up from the soil (its everywhere) and kills them pretty quick, symptoms are general lethargy, blood in droppings and sudden death! Young poultry chicks are particularly susceptible. A dose of coxoid for pigeons will sort them out if you catch it in time. Be careful though - some feeds are medicated in which case the birds would be getting a double dose which might kill them. Read your feed labels. Other animals do get cocci but treat birds only with coxoid! Available from most petshops for about a fiver.
Comfrey tea - If you ever have an animal seriously debilitated through disease try comfrey tea. A good handful of comfrey leaves chopped finely and steeped in hot water will suffice. You can also add honey for its health benefits and sugar content = energy and lemon for its antiseptic qualities and vitamins. The comfrey is packed with beneficial nutrients which is good for an animal that isn’t eating. Get them to drink a little and it’s a great pick-me-up. it’s worked on some very sick birds of mine.
