Chicken Scraps Blog

     Pretty much everyone will have to deal with an infection of some sort at some point in their life.  This is especially true if you live on a farm, for you will not only have to watch over yourself and your family, but your animals will also claim your attention.  We have had our fair share of infections, and while prevention is always better than cure, we have found an herbal cure that works almost every time.  In fact, we have not had to apply a topical antibiotic for about eight years now, and rarely have we used an internal antibiotic.      This is because we use an herb called Goldenseal .  Goldenseal is an herb in the buttercup family which has been used for centuries, especially by the American Indians.  It is an effective help or cure for a wide variety of disorders ranging from the common cold to mouthsores; stomach problems to bad cuts/ scrapes.

Sometimes it is tempting to only blog about the good things happening on our farm, but the fact is, that we have problems too.  I have just been reminded that I don't know nearly as much about raising goats as I sometimes think I do.  I am currently dealing with my first (and hopefully only) case of staph mastitis. Shortly after I bought Mabel, she developed a knot in one teat that soon made milking impossible, and that side dried up.  Twice when she has kidded the vet has opened the teat surgically.  It would stay open for a week or two, then gradually close again as that half of her udder dried up. I thought this was scar tissue from an injury received at her former home, as did our vet, but last month I noticed that side of her udder swelling suspiciously.  When I felt it, I knew something was drastically wrong.  It was hard, with round lumps- not at all normal.  It was not hot, so I hoped it wasn't mastitis, but some research and talking...

Announcing a new addition to Chicken Scraps Shop :  Easy Birth Tea Easy Birth Tea is a special blend of herbs to help with pregnancy, birth and recovery.  It is safe for use in humans, horses, goats, sheep and cattle.  (SOLD AS ANIMAL SUPPLEMENT ONLY.)

Have you ever seen a kid with legs so bent that it is walking on it's knuckles?  This is usually a condition known as contracted tendons.  Bent legs in newborns are not uncommon, and are not such a very bad thing.  Usually, this condition caused either by improper nutrition (deficiency in vitamins A & D, or selenium) or by crowding in utero , sometimes by both.  This buckling is one of Nelly's triplets .  He and one of his sisters had badly bent legs, the other one also had slightly bent legs.  Good news:  the legs straightened out in just a few days (3 if I remember correctly).  In the video below, I show the kids legs and the treatment.  I hope this helps someone!

I've mentioned that we had to bottle feed the whole last litter of puppies because Inez got a bad case of mastitis from a severe scratch on her teat, received in a fight with an old feral tom-cat.  (The cat paid for it- we found it laying out in the front of our property.)  Well, it appears that she has successfully injured herself again- this time a different teat. The injury (after being thoroughly cleaned and had aloe vera put on it)

Naturally de-worming animals can be challenging, and some people will say that you are just better off going with the chemicals.  There are several problems with chemical wormers however.  You see, a chemical wormer is actually a poison, which is fed to the animal in large enough doses to kill, or expel the worms, but in small enough amounts that it hopefully will not injure the animal.  Trouble is, worms have an ability to build up resistance to the chemical poisons used in these wormers.  For example:  A few years ago, when I first started with dairy goats, I had major trouble with worms.  In fact, I lost quite a few goats to them.  I tried using the chemical wormers- SafeGuard (at 4 times the dosage for horses, for 3 days straight), and Ivermectin.  The goats' hair remained curly (a sign of a heavy worm load), and their gums and eyelids were pale.  Finally, most of them died- including three beautiful purebred, registrable Nubians.  I...

Several years ago, I began learning about the benefits of copper as a supplement.  I learned that it is actually a necessary mineral for goats, cows and sheep, and is best absorbed in sulphate form.      What prompted the research was a case of foot rot in one of my goats.  I was unaware that it was foot rot until someone diagnosed it for me over the phone.  I had noticed that his foot had been swollen for a couple days, but didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that a bug might have bitten or stung him.  After about three days from the time that I initially noticed the swelling he was limping badly.  I mentioned this to a man who was interested in buying him, and he said that it might be foot rot.  He said to check and see if it smelled bad, and that if so, it was probably foot rot.      I checked, and sure enough there was a strong putrid smell to it.  So I started researching  a natural, and speed...