Chicken Head Cold Remedy for Chicken with Croaking Noises

Two days ago our sweet Barred Rock hen May had a bad head cold.  Her beak was crusty, and she was making strange croaking noises.  I think she picked up a cold from a wild game bird who was carrying something that May hadn't previously been exposed to.

Moira with our Barred Rock May with the late Arucana Teri (RIP)

I found this youtube video of a sick croaking chicken.  May sounded exactly like this:



She also wasn't eating and just wanted to stand or sit still.  She felt very hot and feverish to the touch.

I checked in Juliette de Bairacli Levy's book The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable for a natural remedy for May.  This is the second time I have used her book for a chicken health issue.

I used 2 recipes from her book.  The first was a beak wash.  I used 2 teaspoons of water, 2 drops of Eucalyptus globulus essential oil, and a pinch of fine sea salt.  We cleaned her beak outside with q-tips, and then inside with fresh q-tips.  (The type of Eucalyptus oil was not specified, so probably other species of Eucalyptus would be just fine also, for example Eucalyptus smithii).

photo by Marja Flick-Buijs

The second recipe was for a garlic vinegar paste.  This was made up easily with 2 teaspoons of ground fresh garlic with 1 teaspoon of vinegar.  I used Juliette's recommended dosage which was 1/2 teaspoon, 2 times per day. We checked on May the morning after 1 day of this treatment.  She was more active, her croaking sounds were not as loud, she still felt warm, but not terribly hot or feverish.  We fed her one more dose of garlic and washed the outside of her beak, but she was strong enough that she would not allow us to wash the inside of her beak.  So she only received the one dose on the second day.  Today is day 3 and we are very happy that  she is back to her normal self.

Mugwort remedy for Sprained or Strained Ankles

Do you have Mugwort in your garden that you would like to do something productive with? Mugwort or Artemesia vulgaris or A. argyi is an easily grown herb which has many uses in Traditional Western and Chinese Herbal Medicine. The Chinese name for dried Artemesia vulgaris is Ai Ye.   

This herb can be dried and stored for emergency use with strained or sprained elbows or ankles. It keeps very well. In fact this herb is aged for 2-3 years after being processed into moxa for it's primary use which is the moxibustion.  Moxa is used in warming external moxabustion treatments by Acupuncturists  for various injuries to move blood stagnation and speed healing. I prefer to dry my Mugwort and keep some stashed to use in case of ankle sprains or strains.  I will share with you how I do that, but first you need to know when to harvest it.

I collect my Mugwort in March in Central Florida, but the time of year will vary from region to region. You should harvest Mugwort when it is in full flower. On a dry late morning or afternoon cut back the stalk and hang it to dry in a well ventilated dry place on. The Mugwort I use is a variagated variety that I got a start of from one of my favorite gardens, the Bastyr University medicinal herb garden in Seattle, Washington. Here it is up close under our digital microscope.

When your Mugwort dried to a crisp you can store it in a glass jar away from the sunlight.  You can add a clay desiccant pack to the jar for good measure.

If you need it later for yourself or a friend, you can simply take up a few large handfuls and add it to a big stock pot with lots of boiling water.  Let the water boil and then simmer for about 30-45 minutes. 

The next step is to let the water cool just to the point that the hot water will not burn the skin. Then dip a towel into the hot water. Wring out the towel and wrap it around the sprained ankle. Let the towel sit on the ankle until it starts to cool, then dip it again in the hot brew and wrap again one or more times. When the brew cools it can be stored in the refrigerator and used again the following day by reheating on the stove top. 

Don't have mugwort? You can also try this with Comfrey root or Comfrey leaf.   

The Easiest Sore Throat Remedy for Colds

I recently posted this simple sore throat remedy for colds at the Kanelstrand Simple Living blog, and I am happy to reshare it with you all.

There are many sore throat cold remedies that can be made up in the kitchen. The easiest and most accessible is a simple salt water gargle.  A salt water gargle helps reduce painful swelling and may fight infection as well.  It is a great option especially if you are home bound, and not feeling able or up to going  out to the store for cough drops or other remedies and ingredients. Just two ingredients are needed, fine salt and water.

Salt Water Gargle

8-10 oz very warm water 

1/2 - 2/3 teaspoon of fine salt, sea salt is preferable

Notice there is some flexibility with the recipe.  You can dissolve the salt in water and taste it to make sure it doesn't taste overly strong to you.  Swish and gargle with the solution about 4-5 times in a row.  For best results, repeat this every few hours as needed. Older children as well as adults can benefit from a salt water gargle, but it cannot done safely by smaller children. It is dangerous for a salt water solution like this to be swallowed, so make sure your children know how to gargle plain unsalted water before you offer them a salt water solution to gargle.

If you are desperate for a remedy for a young child who can't gargle, here are a few ideas you can try and they are great for adults too in case you have any of these ingredients, or remedies to work with:

Hot water together with Honey and Lemon

Hot water together with Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey

Garlic Honey 

Sage Pastilles: this is a simple recipe from Learning Herbs that you could actually make up with only sage and honey.  

Green Tea with Honey

Elderberry Syrup or Elderberry Tincture

If I have an ear ache together with a sore throat I like to use the salt water gargle together with this Aromatherapy Ear Drop Recipe.

Perilla - A Garden Favorite for Tummy Trouble

A photo of Perilla that I took at Bastyr University in Seattle. 

Perilla is one herb that I always have growing in the garden.  It is simple to grow from seed and once it gets started is self sows easily.  It doesn't need any special attention.  The scientific name is Perilla frutesces, but other names include Beef Steak Plant and Shiso.  The Chinese name for the plant is Zi Su, or purple fish-smell.  It does have an odd smell and mild pungent flavor.  Different parts of the plant are used in Chinese Medicine, the leaves Zi Su Ye, the seeds Zi Su Zi and the stems Zi Su Geng.  It is used traditionally to relieve nausea and vomiting, for morning sickess, and seafood poisoning.  I use the leaves exclusively.  

Perilla leaf up close under the microscope.

The first time I used fresh perilla leaf was when my daughter Moira was a baby or toddler.    I forget exactly how old she was, but she had been vomiting.  It is so sad to see little kids sick like that when they are so young.  What I did was just take a new leaf of Perilla and chew it up a bit first and then give it to her.  It really cleared up the vomiting right away.  I know that there was at least one other occasion to use it.  The perilla is very safe for pregnant women with vomiting also.  I have also tinctured perilla to have on hand to use in the winter when no fresh herb is available.  

Here we were on a day when she was feeling her normal happy self.  This picture is from our old house on Palmetto Ave in Daytona.

It had been a while since I had needed to use any Perilla, but this week Tessa had an upset stomach too.  She threw up before bed, then again in the morning.  I was so glad that I have always let this 'weed' go to seed.  Tessa is an avid gardener and always happy to try new vegetables or edible weeds in the garden.  She even likes tasting my herbal tinctures by the drop.   Her she is watering my Rosemary bush that she likes to take little bites of.

Tessa watering the plants.

But after being so sick and throwing up, Tessa was not her usual self.  She was scared to try a new leaf or a new tincture.  Luckily for me I was able to reason with her.  She is such a smart little girl.  I told her that when her sister Moira was a baby, I gave her the Perilla leaf to eat when she was sick and it made her feel better.  Tessa looked at me very seriously and took 3 very small bite of a quarter-sized new Perilla leaf.  After that there was no more vomiting, so I was very happy.  I put 3-5 drops of tincture in her milk the rest of the day just to be cautious.

Perilla is such a common herb.  I found seeds easily for my Perilla on a Garden Swap Forum.