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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Chicken Tonic

On Monday morning our Pekin rooster, Oliver, was a little poorly. The day before he was fine. On Monday he didn't crow to start the day, he didn't want to eat andd was a bit watery around the beak. Thankfully Tim was home to handle him because although I love having all manner of poultry, I don't like to touch birds. His crop was a little distended so we (Tim) massaged it gently and it seemed to relieve the problem somewhat.

I prepared a tonic of nettles, garlic, wormwood, tansy and water on the stove and administered it with a syringe when it was cool. Oliver didn't mind it and swallowed it just fine. The left over tonic was mixed with the other chickens rations. A little turmeric or chilli can also be added to the tonic and is especially good in winter.

I was really expecting to find a dead rooster on Tuesday morning but no. Oliver welcomed the day and was as healthy as ever. I guess he was just having an off day like we all do sometimes.
Tracy

1 comment:

Tania said...

That must be some tonic Tracy. I am so glad it seemed to work. Usually when our chooks look poorly it isn't long and we find them dead.

xTania