Health and Healing

Hens

Prolapse

From Toucanlady:
Try opening a capsule of white oak bark, and mixing it with a small amount of olive oil and applying to the area, then push the tissue back inside. This usually works very well.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Linda

From Susanne:
Some hens will malabsorb calcium and D3. Out of several hundred hens I have Trouble and Stacy that have had this problem. The ONLY thing that corrected it was being outside and having some type of direct access to sunlight (NOT through glass), even if it is a few hours a day, or two three times a week. If she can be outside daily that would be better initially.

Types of Calcium shots make a difference. You'd have better success with
Calphosan which is calcium and phosphorus.

 Your MAIN danger is a prolapsed uterus. You will see a mass of tissues protruding from the vent. In the event that this happens keep the tissues moist by either misting or under the faucet until you can get to a vet. If the tissues dry this makes it harder for the vet to fix or save the hen. In the event that you can't immediately get to the vet you can rinse the prolapsed tissues under warm running water, blot dry, then sprinkle generously with Sugar, and leave it on 10-15 min., then rinse off. The sugar helps shrink and tighten the tissues. Use a Qtip dipped in mineral oil and reinsert the tissues into the body. This will save the hen till you can get to your vet.

From my own experiences access to sunlight is VITAL with this type of problem so that the body can naturally absorb the D3

Susanne

From Carole Bryant
Vitamin C with bioflavinoids (give vitamin C at the rate of 50 mg per kg
bodyweight per day - less if it causes diarrhea), and the tissue salt
Calc. fluor. 6x  (which can be crushed and given in the water) will help
strengthen weak tissue.

The tissue salt will probably need to be given over a long period - maybe a
couple of months.  As the condition improves, decrease the frequency of the
tissue salt (i.e. daily initially, then every second day, every third day, etc.)

Carole Bryant

Reproductive Stimulant

Someone had once asked about herbs that stimulate reproduction.  I just
happened across the list of herbs that a breeder once shared with me.
She sells it to other breeders who hare pleased with the results. These
people use it on parakeets/cockatiels/finches etc.  I would not use
these herbs on birds where male aggression is ever an issue.  She also
didn't give me the proportions, but here's a list of ingredients:

alfalfa, dandelion root, Echinacea root, garlic, black cohosh, butcher's
broom, dong quoi root, gotu kola, and a pinch of goldenseal. Sprinkle on
the food.  She says that once birds get a taste of this they become very eager for it.

gloria

Antifertility?

From Jean Carper's book "The Food Pharmacy": 

In recent years, much time, energy, and money have gone into trying to
make pea chemicals into phrmaceutical contraceptives. "The population of
Tibet has remained stationary for the last 200 years and the staple diet
of the Tibetans consists of barley and peas." This observation was made
by Indian scientist Dr. S.N. Sanyal of the Calcutta Bacteriological
Institute and sent him on a lifelong mission to identify the
contraceptive chemical in peas and turn it into an antifertility drug to
be used in India and throughout the world. This became one of the
highest priorities of the Indian government. It was observed that both
male and female laboratory rats which ate only peas were sterile. At 20%
of the diet, litters were reduced. At 30% of the diet, they were
non-existent.

The antifertility pea chemical is m-xylohydroquinone. He synthesized it,
concentrated it in capsules, and gave it to women; their pregnancy rate
went down by 50-60%. When men took the antifertility pea capsule, their
sperm count dropped by half. Somehow pea compounds meddled with the
reproductive hormones progesterone and estrogen.

However, the pea chemicals never gained a place as a contraceptive
because their performance could not match that of the 'pill'.

Could it affect birds similarly? It's possible.  Got any chronic egg-layers you want to stop? Feed peas. This may create a problem of excess protein in the diet, though.

gloria

Chronic Egg Laying

Dr. McCluggage has a supplement he sent me, he calls it TKGin Combo, it is
Chinese Medicine. It definitely turns off the egg laying. My budgie was
producing eggs too large (happened twice) & becoming egg-bound. I had my
budgie on it for 7 or 8 months, but have just taken her off because I
suspect an ovarian cyst/tumor (or maybe kidney), because of the symptom of
one leg going partially lame. Also, her cere turned almost white & on top
of that I just had a gut feeling to discontinue it.

She's been off it for a few weeks & is, as of today, offering to mate with
me, again. Soooo... I am just going with Dr. McCluggage's other
suggestion: unsettle the bird. Move her to a different room in the house,
change her cage around, etc. You don't want to scare her, but you want to
unsettle her.

I also had to remove all mirrors and metal (including tiny cage clips) from
her cage cuz if she can see even part of herself in a mirror, she gets going
on the mating thing.

Also, since you have soft-shelled eggs, supplement calcium in an easily
digestible form. I just started using Calciboost from Malcolm's company, it
can be used in the water or on soft food. Wouldn't egg shells work?

Dr. McCluggage is very much into educating other vets, so there's a possibility that if your vet called him, he might share with her what all of the ingredients are or at least sell her some or allow her to order it for you without you having to consult him. I think it was around $10 & about 3 oz or so, since I give 2 drops twice daily to a 60 gram bird - it lasts a very long time.

His book mentions giving Sepia (homeopathic) to stop egg laying.
Plus other remedies for being egg-bound, etc.

His phone # is , he's in Longmont, Colorado. If you get an
answering machine, leave a message - they WILL call you back, but it may be
a couple days.
Leanne