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 18 - 10/7/12

10/7/12

Daily update on the Gnarly Bunch:   No eggs.  Not one, darn it.  But, I see much evidence of good nutrition and the loss of the parasitic infestations paying off.  More and smoother feathering, the chests are definitely filling out… even on the skinniest bird, and I noticed several legs with old, damaged scales trying to slough off. 

I have my eye on the Middle Sister, the one White Rock that still looks skinny and pretty scraggly.  She is the one with the swollen joints in her ankles and toes.  I'm going to give her time but I'm wondering if that joint swelling, which is not going away on her new diet and environment, is symptomatic of arthritis and could be causing her to not thrive.  Of all the birds, she has made the least progress.  She is probably almost half of her normal size and weight and, whereas Raggedy Ann is making great strides in recovering, Middle Sister isn't. 

Her poop is good, she is moving and eating good, and she has spunk....but her feet look swollen, though she does not show disability there.  She is not putting on good flesh and feathering like the rest of the White Rocks, who are the same age and genetic make-up.  I'll try to get pics tomorrow of what she looks like now so you can compare with what she looked like at one week. 

If I do a cull before colder weather, it will be this hen.  I know what it feels like to have arthritis pain when cold and damp weather sets in and it isn't fun.  I see no reason to make her suffer through the winter just to prove I can nurse her back to her former self, if I even can... I'm not so sure on this one. 

Last check of the night on the Gnarly Bunch:  Guess who has a perfectly clean butt and perfectly normal poops???   Yes!  You guessed it!  Miss Messy Butt of the infamous butt pictures!!!!        

That does it...I'm buying stock in NuStock. 
 

Clean, pink and no juice, no smell, no runny brown discharge, no swelling.  Watched a normal chicken poop drop as the light was shining directly on it...no signs of ulcers at the corners of the vent. 

Two days from that horrible picture....now, nothing. 

I've decided to call her Ruby Crockett, after my granny. 

Gnarly Bunch - Chapters 19 & 20 - 10/8/12 - 10/9/12

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 16 - 10/5/12

10/5/12

Well... got some gross pics for you all, so here's the warning ~ 

     GRAPHIC PICS ARE ABOUT TO BE POSTED!!!!!!!     

Believe it or not, this looks about 100% better than it did last week when we first found it and treated it.  Last week we didn't get a good wash on it like we did this week, so most of that caked on crust is from last week's drainage that didn't get cleaned off the feathers very well. 

This is crusted gleet drainage and residue on feathers and vent with scabbed ulcers at the corners of the vent.  We clipped those feathers last week and had treated with NuStock.  Last week you couldn't even see the flesh or the rims of the vent due to the brown, gelatinous, caked on mess and the smell was atrocious!!!     Tonight?  No smell!!!! 
 

Here is the same area washed in Dakin's solution and warm, soapy water.  The ulcers have healed tremendously and there was no bleeding when it was washed this time.  If anyone is interested...this is what a vent looks like on a hen that is laying.  Loose, moist, pink, fleshy. 

Happy Vent.....

Mad Vent    

 

Treated Vent...happy once again!  Treated with NuStock and Bag Balm to form a moisture barrier and to keep the NS where it belongs. 

I had help in holding and this is always a help.  We laid her on her back on a clean towel, right outside the coop on top of the feed can. Forty something temps out all the while.  Had my coop light out there for good lighting.  Wrapped the towel over her head and had my mom, AKA The Ol' Bat, to hold her feet and the towel in place.  I just had a basin of the warm Dakin's and a few rags there and just soaked and gently rubbed that caked-on area.  After soaking I just kept rubbing and and rinsing until I started to see skin and healthy feathers under all that gloop.  I also used a large toothed comb to comb some of the moistened crud out of her feathering. 

After the area was clean, I took dry rags and dried the skin and feathers as best I could, sort of sponging it out of her tail feathers.  Then I combed her again....The Bat and I were chuckling over the faces her vent was making and how much she seemed to enjoy all the attention.  We were also laughing at how we never thought we'd ever be soaping up and combing a chicken's butt in all our born days.... guess there is a first time for everything, huh? 

After getting her toweled dry, I took pics of the clean butt and then applied NuStock right up into the vent, as well as all around the vent and any pink and exposed skin and followed that with a generous slathering of bag balm to seal it all in. 

No hair dryer and with a coop that is almost completely open air at the moment (mid to low 40s)... she did fine and was strutting her stuff the next day as usual.  Birds that are well acclimated to the outside temps are pretty tough and it was only her butt that was wet.  She snuggled right up between her flock mates and carried on with her life.  No sissy birds here! 

--

The improvement made in just one week is nothing short of miraculous on this hen....last week the smell and sight would make you gag.  This week it shows vast improvement, no smell, healing is going on.  I really didn't know the extent of the power of this NuStock but I am on a real quick learning curve.... good stuff X10. 

Here's some pics of the progress of scale mite treatment...once again, NuStock to the rescue!  Two weeks after the initial application of NS, the old, damaged scales are starting to lift off and slough.  When these finally come off, there will be supple, new scales underneath...yay!  The rest of the flock are showing varying degrees of sloughing of scales.     

Toby's leg with scales starting to lift towards sloughing.... they chopped off his beautiful 3 inch spurs!   I figured I'd get questions about that big, ugly knob on his leg so that is what it is... the stump of his spur. 

Almost forgot to add another thing we did tonight... the black star hen is no more.  I won't go into details (in this post), but during the cull several things were noted that only reinforced the choice to eliminate this bird.  Good cull. 

I know it's hard to understand for most folks. Intensive flock management holds so many aspects and I feel it's important for people to understand the long term effects of the choices we make.  By eliminating the poor characteristics of one bird from the flock, it can mean so much to the other flock members.  It also helps me to keep my flock goals in line.  I cull for certain traits that I have found gives me the ultimate yard flock... peaceful, calm, no picking of feathers or excessive fighting, good socialization within the flock, good laying, good mothering, good health, thrifty on feed, good survival and foraging instincts. 

*

Mad Vent Is Watching You!

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 17 - 10/6/12

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

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 13 - 10/1/12

10/1/12

Update on the Gnarly Bunch: Toby gaining ground every day and the girls are looking sleeker as well. 

The hen treated for the nasty gleet the other night is showing signs of improvement...small signs but still improvement.  Vent area is dryer and less odor already... a good sign!  

  

I'll tell you something I found out about this NuStock....I've been battling fleas on the dog for the first time ever this year.  My dogs have never really had enough fleas that a flea collar couldn't fix.  This year we got a visit from a stray dog that played and wrestled with my dog before I could get my hands on him.  When I did, I found the poor dog was just crawling with very large fleas and was miserable from digging at them.  Maybe why someone dumped him off.  

Well, I've tried everything I could think of in the natural side... garlic (yes, my dogs have eaten it for years and they didn't die) in the food, garlic dusting on the body.  Cedar shavings in his bed. Lemon juice spray... nothing. 

Then I went to flea powder. No results.  Gave him a bath in Dawn with a little kerosene in the water...that worked for awhile but they came back.  Finally went to the chemicals.  Flea and tick spray did nothing.  Even bought some Sevin dust...nothing.  More garlic and I thought we had kicked them.  

Then we had another wet week of weather and they are back with a vengeance.  For the first time ever, my dog scratched himself until he was bleeding on his stomach and under one leg.

Everyone I spoke with who had used the expensive Frontline and Advantix and such said it did no good this year… the fleas were that bad, so I didn't want to spend all that money and still have no results.  

When I saw Jake had dug a hole in himself and had hundreds of flea bites on his belly, I just rubbed some Nustock into the wounds and all over all the bites.  I put NuStock on any place that had thin hair and even placed some at the base of his tail and behind his ears.  Instant relief!

I haven't seen the dog itching since and that was 3 days ago.  

I might be onto something here... so I looked up pine tar.

http://magnoliazz.hubpages.com/hub/All-Natural-Flea-And-Tick-Repellent 

http://www.ehow.com/how_6758327_kill-fleas-pine_o_pine.html

Update on the Gnarly Bunch:  Three eggs today!  All medium to large, huge and very orange yolks, two were fertile, very strong shells.  Ranging further from the coop today... went down about an acre away from the coop for a little bit.  Getting comfy in their surroundings, I'd say. 

They are looking so much cleaner, smoother, more feathered each day... I even saw one of the BA's (Black Australorp) feathers had the start of a sheen of green in the sun this morning.  Both of those gals looked pretty dull when they arrived, though the one Black Star had a good sheen on her feathers.

This same BA, whom I dubbed as Ruby, acts a little like she wants to hang around me... if for nothing more than in curiosity.  I've had quite a few BAs over the years that were very friendly and moochy, even when not handled.  I like that in a bird, though I also admire the independent ones as well. 

I don't enjoy the lonely hearts and loners much... they do not adapt to socialization in the flock, they don't seem to get bred as much by the rooster, they don't fight for their food rights and they often get separated from the flock, making them a target for predators.  They don't seem to keep a good weight and they don't seem to lay as well.  I have two of those right now, a Speckled Sussex and a Partridge Rock and the PR currently won't roost in the coop but roosts underneath an old truck we have.  Not good...  and I expect she won't be here for roll call one morning.    

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 14 - 10/2/12