Home Remedies for Sick Chickens

by Meg
(Bullsbrook, WA, Australia)

Julie recently shared with me her considerable wisdom on home remedies for sick chickens. Here is her advice, in a nutshell:

SICK CHOOK REMEDIES

The three of my mainstays for sick chooks are
cinnamon, star anise, and sometimes turmeric, on top of the standard garlic and apple cider vinegar.

Here are links (mostly from Backyard Poultry Info Centre) about each:

Cinnamon - esp good for diarrhea.

http://tiny.cc/cinnamon4runs

Tumeric - disease prevention plus treatment of arthritis and liver disease.

http://tiny.cc/TumericTonic

Star Anise - antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral and good for treating rheumatism.

http://www.digherbs.com/star-anise.html

Garlic - disease prevention e.g. for worms, plus antimicrobial and antifungal.

http://tiny.cc/GarlicTonic

Apple Cider Vinegar - add to water to prevent thrush.

http://tiny.cc/ACVinegar

SICK CHOOK DIET

Feed once a day (in the morning) for three days or until it looks and acts better - up to 3 weeks.

This amount feeds one bird. Each serving consists of:

½ to 1 x cooked egg yolk… crumbled into mixture
1 teaspoon of cod liver oil
1 very small drizzle of honey
2 x tablespoons natural yoghurt - no sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons rolled oats or Baby rice
1 dessertspoon of beef tin cat food…… Not dog food
A few grains of multi vitamin powder
2 tablespoons of grated apple

Mix to make a crumble mixture not runny, if you have to roll into pellets and force feed, and then gently massage the neck in a downward motion to get it down into the crop, then do it, the bird may be too weak to eat or have lost the desire to eat.

If not fully eaten with in 12 hours throw it out... make another one the next morning.. don't add to it.. clean out the dish it was in also before adding the new mixture.

Always have fresh clean water available at all time for the bird and good quality food. Also have her ordinary feed and fresh clean water available at all times.

HEALTHY CHICKEN TREAT

Give this as a weekly treat to keep your birds healthy:

Bring milk to the brink of the boil and then add enough apple cider vinegar, while stirring, to force the milk to separate into white curds and clear whey. Add enough good quality multigrain bread to soak up the whey and cool before feeding out to your poultry.

Thanks Julie!