Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 25 - 10/14/12

10/14/12

Gnarly Bunch Update:  Two very large eggs today.  I'm not real satisfied with what I saw on Ruby Crockett's butt last night and am thinking this is still a gleet issue.  She is mildly prolapsed... her cloaca is swollen, red and protrudes a little when she is under stress.  Just a little.  I put Preparation H on her last night again and also dosed her with some Olive Leaf Extract, which I hadn't gotten around to doing on an individual basis with this hen.  I'll be dosing her again this evening with the OLE and looking at the vent for any progress. 

I must be getting soft, going to all this trouble for one hen and ordinarily I guess I would not.  But that is the nature of an experiment... try things to see if they work.  Can't really see if they work unless you try them first and then can report on if they worked.  So far, the Nustock was great and did wonderful things but this hen, of all the rest, seems to need a little extra booster to kick this gleet/thrush out of her system.  Not being one of my original flock, I have no way of knowing her immune system development or genetics, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants on this one.  

It would be a shame to cull such a pretty hen...who is still laying huge eggs when her butt looks and feels this way, and she is fighting an infection.  What a trooper!  

Middle Sister, whom we have nicknamed Stumpy, due to her swollen ankles, is looking better each day.  I'll be looking at her feet this night as well, to see how that gland looks and to smell it.  Yes, I said, to smell it.  Now, I don't often smell chicken feet but it behooves one to smell any areas that are suspicious looking and may have harbored infection.  As a nurse I've got a pretty good nose for infection and can often tell when someone has a sinus infection or allergies just by talking to them.  I can actually smell it on their breath.  Yeah... not my favorite gift, but I have it all the same.   

Yes, I even smelled Ruby's butt the last time we examined it... that's another reason I know the gleet is diminished a great deal.  When we first discovered it, her butt smelled like a real rotten deer that had been out in the sun for three days.  Very bad.  Now, I can not detect that rotten odor and she doesn't have any drainage but she still has this edema inside her vent, so I don't want to get lax on this infection.  Getting out the OLE and going to see if it works miracles like it did in my family.  I've dissolved 3 capsules in water and olive oil and am giving her 1/3 of this mix each night for 3 nights and will see if that helps at all. 

Evening Update:

The Prep-H really worked!  She is not so swollen and red inside her vent and I cannot see her cloaca tonight.  I just hope it stays that way.  It doesn't help that she lays such large eggs.  Went ahead and applied more Prep-H for good measure and also some NS on the rim and corners of the vent, just for kicks and giggles.  Gave her OLE dose and put her back on the roost... I bet she is getting pretty fed up with people touching her butt! 

I crushed the contents of 3 OLE capsules and dissolved them in water and a little olive oil and gave her one third dose the last two nights.  Tonight will be her last dose and then I'll wait to see if it is having any positive affect on her. 

Soaked Stumpy's (AKA MS) feet in Epsom salts tonight and massaged that gland, removed a little debris and reapplied NS.  Her legs now show no evidence of scale mites and are nice and yellow...no more pale legs!  

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 26 - 10/15/12

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 14 - 10/2/12

10/2/12

Pics of the Gnarly Bunch, 2 weeks into their reconditioning:

 This is a Barred Rock foraging in the white dutch clover planted over my garden bed rows...they hit this area several times a day but especially in the evening.

Today...I threw down some Boss (black oil sunflower seeds) to get them all in one area...not the greatest pic but shows them getting some sheen and fullness back to their feathering...just a little. 

Toby..gettin' his strut on! 

He's getting there.... his cock feathers are gone and he is about 3-5 lbs underweight.  When he gets his bulk back and his full plumage he is a sight to behold.  You can see even in this pic where his chest muscles are wasted and his neck is scrawny.  Wait until you see him at full recovery.... he is a beautiful, regal beast.  

These pics don't do them justice and I can't get them to hold still long enough to take good, broadside and close up pics. They are wary as any free range flock should be and so getting pics of them in good light and in a good position is proving difficult for me.  Raggedy Ann is getting so much feathering now and is so smooth and clean!  Little Red is filling out and her feathering is healthier looking.  They all are starting to show more sheen and smoothness to feathering and scale, more alertness in the eyes...combs are still pale and dry but I expect this will take time. 

Even Turkey, that little mutt chicken with a keel as sharp as a knife, is showing some more weight on her chest...it's subtle but the feathers there are showing less of a ridge. 

I'm impressed with their progress as well and can only credit the wood ashes for ridding them of lice and mites, the NuStock for ridding them of the scale mites, the FF for better health and absorption of nutrients, and an outside life for all the other improvements.  It doesn't take much to get and keep a flock healthy, does it? 

I still have one problem child with gleet.  I check her every night when I can get a good visual on her vent and it is looking drier, I see less wet and stinking feathering but she will need additional treatment.  She really smells bad and her vent is still oozing brown stench...but other than that she is very healthy, glossy and acting well.  I don't see how but she is. 

As soon as I get all my NS (NuStock), we are going to tackle this hen once again.  I'm going to soak all the crusted residue of drainage (I'll try to get good pics before we start and then an after) and do a wash of iodine solution.  Then I'm going to protect the skin below her vent with a mix of NS and bag balm as a more thick moisture barrier to this skin.  I'm thinking I will also place some NS directly inside the vent. 

While I have this hen, I may also syringe a dose of olive leaf extract (OLE) into her.  Can't hurt and it will insure that this low totem flock member actually getsthe OLE instead of hoping she will get it when I place it on top of the feed.  By the time she gets to eat, the choice bits of food off the top are already gone and I doubt she is getting an adequate amount of the OLE. 

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 15 - 10/4/12