Donna

by donna martinez
(oregon)

My 1 yr old Rhode Island Red hen became ill about April 24th - listless, sleeping a lot, not eating, comb turned almost bluish/black within a few days.

I thought she wasn't going to make it but after I used a home remedy found here for apple cider vinegar & grated garlic I fed it to her 2x daily for a week and her condition improved.

She is now recovered & her once black comb is almost back to normal. Her legs are still not strong & she walks funny, almost in an upright position like a penguin, but her appetite is again normal.

So thankful to have found this site!
Thanks so much!

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You are very welcome, and so glad that your Rhodie is back in the land of the living!

It is always difficult to diagnose chicken illness offline without seeing pictures etc. however, from what I can gather your chicken could have had a bacterial infection.

Using modern medicine, it would have responded to a dose of antibiotics, if that was the case. However, in this case you managed to provide your chicken with nature's own antibiotic, in garlic.

By giving your chicken cider vinegar you provided her with a tonic to help her fight the disease that was trying to take over.

It is so good to hear success stories!

Don't just feed her garlic and cider vinegar when she gets sick again. This should be part of her regular diet along with meat scraps for good egg laying, and plain live yogurt for her gut.

I have moved this post from the Guest Book to How to Raise Chickens.

Regards
Kathryn
Countryfarm Lifestyles