How to remove a tick from a bird. Part Two Step-by-step removal from a pigeon's face

Part One of this piece on the identification, life-cycle and lifestyle of the tick can be found here:  Trying to play Sherlock Holmes, from the usual demeanour and habits of this young fantail, I  gathered she had picked up this adult female tick, whilst foraging for knot  grass in the muddy farm lane at the front of the house. 

Method

The idea of using Essential oil of Tea Tree is several-fold in that it has the properties of an anaesthetic, antibacterial, antiviral, antiseptic and antimicrobial. The anaesthetic properties, making the tick drowsy, stop it from feeding and therefore aid in helping its release. You can refer to Part One of this article for further explanations.

As the tick will be feeding on your bird as you are treating it, then whatever you use to treat it will pass into the bird. Using an essential oil like tea tree topically on the tick is not dangerous for the bird. In fact Tea Tree is one of the rare essentially oils which in emergency may be used in neat form upon the bird read more

You will in fact see the bird smack its beak as it tastes the tea tree in its mouth. This is quite normal and something you'd also expect to see if you treated the bird itself for an infection transdermally through the soles of the feet. A further reminder that whatever you put on the skin ends up in the body.

I used an organic cotton bud to apply the Tea Tree, placing a couple of drops of pure organic essential oil onto it and then applying it to the body of the tick. I then waited a couple of minutes to allow the tick to become anaesthetised.

I then took a pair of tweezers and held the tick as near to the point of entry into the pigeon as possible, being careful not to trap any of the pigeons feathers! I gently began to pull the tick slowly away from the wound in a direction, which would keep the tick at right angles to the bird. This way, I hoped to avoid twisting the tick and causing it to leave its mouth-parts embedded in the pigeon.

I also held the area around the wound quite firmly with my finger, so as to prevent the pigeon's skin being pulled, rather than the tick. I kept talking reassuringly to the pigeon all the time I was doing this, as it is quite an unpleasant operation, even though the area will be anaesthetised, by both the tick and the Tea Tree! Pigeons are very intelligent birds and they do have quite a good rapport with humans, mine actually walk down the garden and knock on the kitchen window if they have a problem (this is not just me being fanciful, friends with pigeons have told me the same). There is a bond of trust between me and my pigeons, so they need to know that what I am doing is supposed to help.

N.B. (If the tick seems to still be hanging on tightly, then apply the cotton bud with the Tea Tree again.)

After another couple of tugs it came away. Here you can see me holding it so as to show the 'head'. You can see it has left behind quite a wound on the pigeon, which now needed to be cleaned up.

I used a fresh cotton bud dipped in a small bowl of warm water with two drops of Tea Tree dispersed on the surface. If you are worried about infection of any sort then you can use the Tea Tree neat on the cotton bud but do not use more than a couple of drops. Keep the pigeon under observation and treat with Tea Tree again the next day. This wound however, looked clean and indeed the pigeon seemed none the worse for its ordeal. 

 

A Word About Essential Oils

In general terms, when using essential oils I either use them dispersed on the surface of a bowl of water, to create an antiseptic and painkilling wash for wounds read more or diluted in one teaspoon of carrier oil and I never use more than 3 drops per day on a single bird. When using an extremely strong antimicrobial, such as oregano essential oil, I would only use one drop, diluted in one teaspoon of carrier oil and administer it transdermally, through the soles of the feet.

Now if you'd like to sit back and watch the film:

Thanks for dropping by and if you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it and also may be about joining this blog. Please also feel free to ask questions or make comments in the section below.

For anyone wishing for links to any of the material I read when researching ticks, please just ask.

All the very best,

Sue

RELATED POSTS

Scaly Leg Mite Infestations What To Do Part 2

I look at the options both medicinal and nutritional for dealing with this microscopic mite ...read more

Scaly  Face Mite Infestations Treatment Part 3

If you haven't this miraculous substance already in your pantry then I advise you to get some, both for your own and your poultry's health...read more

Stress - When? Why? Whom? Identification, causes and those most at risk

Stress comes for all sorts of reasons to an organic flock and if not treated within 24 hours, if it's a bad attack, it can be fatal...read more

 

Common Poultry Lice  identification, life cycle and major infestation periods

Menacanthus stramineusare ectoparasites, thus living on the skin...with a short life span, which in adult form, is from 2 to 3 weeks read more

Common Poultry Lice - Treatment and Prevention

When you apply any sort of viscous carrier oil to a louse, the spiracles, pores through which it breathes, become blocked, however, read more

Ticks - Identification, life cycle and lifestyle 

I have to say right from the start the more I read about ticks the more confused I get. There is a volume of information floating about...read more

Comprehensive Guide to Red Mite Identification & Assessment Part 1

In the following two part articles I set out the information I used and protocols I created from reading through the available research...read more

Red Mite Part 2 Prevention & 3 Cures: Essential Oil, Fire, Steam

Because I have access to all three Fire, Steam and Essential Oils, I like to use a combination of all three but any one of them used alone ...read more

RETURN TO CONTENTS PAGE 
© 2014 Sue Cross

Treating wounds, cuts and abrasions - first aid for organic poultry

As I had to deal with the aftermath of a cockfight today, I thought I'd share the treatment. In my experience 'the female of the species is more deadlier than the male' and whereas cockerels tend to fight in a non-contact ritualistic manner, hens tend to have quite violent and even bloody battles. There is however, one exception and that is when you have brothers fighting over the same hen.

The feathered femme fatale in question - Sugar Plum creating havoc in the Hen House.

Fortunately this doesn't happen very often, in fact the last time was almost a year ago and it was also two Cochin brothers albeit over a different hen. 

First Aid - Shock

First things first, remove either one or both cockerels from the field of tourney. Psychologically, it is better to make a very positive intervention, as in this way neither of them will feel they have either lost or won. The next step is to ascertain if either or both of the combatants are suffering from shock. In an extreme case symptoms will include, a loss of balance or an inability to stand, heavy breathing and/or shivering. It will do no harm to give both of them a home-made electrolyte, which you can find here. Without this essential 're-boot', a bad stress attack can be serious and the bird may die within 24 hours of onset. You may need to remove your bird into a quiet place to assess if he/she is suffering from stress. Most birds, like humans, are affected in the aftermath of the situation, whereas during its progression they often appear to be coping.

Déjà vu, this is Hastings after a fight with his brother Cuckoo in October last year...

..and this is Brandy Snaps today feeling sorry for himself after a bust up with Snowball.

First Aid - Cleaning Wounds

The whole area is firstly cleaned with pure warm water using a piece of organic cotton wool. In the case of Brandy Snaps his one eye is stuck closed so I open it by carefully applying a pad of cotton wool soaked in water.

Treating wounds with essential oils 

The treatment I use for all wounds, cuts and abrasions is a warm bowl of water containing the following essential oils: five drops of True Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia) two drops of Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia). Lavender oil has properties which include being a powerful skin healer and regenerator, relieving anxiety and is also an antiseptic. Tea tree's properties include being a very strong broad spectrum antibacterial as well as a great support for the immune system and it is also an anaesthetic.

As these are oils they naturally float on the top of water but I use my cotton bud to break up the drops and spread them across the surface.

I then gently pat the solution on to the affected areas, making sure to keep away from the eyes and ears. You will find that your bird should now be relaxed and probably close the eyes automatically. My birds are very tame, although Brandy Snaps is usually not this domesticated but he's in need of TLC and reacts accordingly.

Follow-up treatment

Organic pure virgin coconut oil is a magical substance, which contains lauric, capric and caprylic acids, these have wide ranging properties, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial and soothing qualities. It is a great support for the immune system and has both healing properties for the skin and promotes the regrowth of feathers/hair. We use it in cooking as well as in making cosmetics and I always give it to the birds when they are off-colour or stressed. 

Brandy Snaps gets some to eat....

..and he gets some smoothed into his injuries.

...and a big hug! 

Now if you'd like to, sit back and watch how Hastings coped with his treatment.


If you enjoyed this post and found it useful then think about sharing it using the icons below and please feel free to ask questions, comment or share your own experiences of treating your flock.
Thanks for dropping by and all the best,
Sue

RETURN TO CONTENTS PAGE
© 2013 Sue Cross

Using Green Clay, Organic GSE & Essential Oil to Successfully Treat an Infected Wound

This is a beautiful female sparrow hawk, which I had just disentangled from the hedge after she had taken a low flight path to escape from me, when I caught her pinning down one of my fantails.

Sparrow hawks - damage limitation

It is the distinctively coloured female of the species, who preys on much larger birds than her name suggests. The male lives up to his name, preying on sparrows and smaller birds. I have witnessed the way the male attacks, launching himself at groups of sparrows perched in the bay tree in our garden.  It's a strange tactic, he slams into the tree scattering the poor sparrows in all directions. The female uses the same approach on my fantails, she waits until there is a group displaying on the roof and then swoops in scattering them and knocking one to the ground.

The Female of the Species 

'deadlier than the male'

Birds of prey are protected, here but I wouldn't want to harm them anyway. By the time this second picture was taken, I'd managed to get my gloves on. As the bird was in shock, I'd given her a little organic sugar in water. She repaid me by coming round and squeezing my fingers with her claws, ouch! We then took her in the car to a beautiful wood away from human habitation and let her go.

 

Birds of prey, like rats and other predators of poultry are opportunists and my fantails parading up and down the roof ridge are invitation enough. The whole of our garden has been planned to give our birds as much protection as possible to free range. My strategy has always been to plant up our garden in such a way as to prevent easy access by fly-through and thereby also give my fantails, if ever attacked, the chance to escape. Knowing my birds as I do, I am well aware of that avian memory retention is better than that of most humans. A sparrowhawk, may return after I have scared her off, alerted by my hens and cockerels, to see if she can get the abandoned prey but she rarely makes a third mistake with the hens and I on duty.

The brave little pigeon who got away

There's not much comparison really when you think of the fighting capabilities of fantail versus sparrow hawk. I hadn't associated this young female seemingly sitting on eggs under the workbench with the drops of blood and few feathers on the stone path in front of the workshop. Unfortunately I just presumed this was evidence a new sparrowhawk had carried off one of my birds and so I left her alone for a couple of days. By the third day however, as I hadn't seen her come out to eat, I thought I should remove her from the nest. Young birds can become fixated on sitting and forget to look after themselves. It was then that I found that she had been badly injured under her wing and this left untreated had become infected. Perhaps if she had been out and about instead of cowering under the bench the wound would have begun to dry and heal, even though deep, but now it needed intervention. This is what I did and I hope if this ever happens to one of your birds it will be of help. 

Interestingly enough she had obviously not been affected by stress, although a previous attack had left a fantail flat out on the ground and completely unable to stand purely from stress. In this case I had administered emergency stress treatment, you can find that HERE It can be used on all sorts of poultry and I have also used it with great success on rescued wild birds.

Step-by-step treatment

Montmorillonite - Illite or (French Green) clay is one of the most amazing natural minerals, its primary use is as a detox for the body. Always choose a good quality sun-dried, powdered clay from a reputable source, it is not expensive.

 

It can remove bacteria from wounds and also pull heavy metals and even radiation from the body, with both internal and external application. I have also used it to great effect on sprains and a friend has used it to successfully set her dog's broken leg!  

In the case of my pigeon, she was in such a bad state that I didn't consider how I would remove the clay. Normally a clay compress is only left on until dry. I just knew I needed to pack the wound in her side. This was both to seal it from further infection and remove that which already was within the wounded tissue.

Clay is always mixed by putting the powder into the recipient first and then adding water, this is the easiest way to gauge exactly how much water to use. Due to the clays ability to remove toxins, only stable substances such as glass or porcelain should be used to mix the clay, above all do not use plastic.  You should also use good quality water too!

Update - I have since found, that the metal spoon will have an ionic reaction on the clay that is in direct contact with it - a tiny amount but even so in future I will use a wooden, glass or ceramic spoon.

In this case of an infected wound I would also add a few of drops of organic grapefruit seed extract to the clay and mineral water mix. This is a powerful relatively recently-discovered naturally occurring antibiotic, it is one of the few things which can control MRSA. Mix this in well to your clay mix so it is evenly distributed.

Just a word about this pigeon, I knew from the start, despite the gravity of her wound that she was OK  because she was eating and drinking and responding to  me in a normal manner.

There are essential oils which can be used as an initial cleanser for wounds, these are Lavender (lavandula angustifolia)  and Tea tree, which I will deal with in another post, these also have the ability to anaesthetise and deaden pain. For the post on cleansing wounds follow this: LINK

I wasn't sure, as the wound was so deep and infected, if it would clear just with the one treatment. On the next day after treatment, I could still smell the wound, therefore, I decided to follow up with Essential Oil of Tea Tree. This is a powerful broad spectrum antibacterial agent and a good one to have in your first aid kit. Always get a good quality pure oil, mine is organic from a local company. It is worth paying a little extra and remember you are only using so few drops for each treatment, a small 10ml bottle will contain approximately 200 plus drops.

Following advice from my sister, who has used Tea Tree on her cattle I fed it directly into the wound, a couple of drops on the clay and one down the side. Tea Tree is one of the few E.Os that can be used neat in an emergency. Personally, I would never use more than three drops of E.O. on a bird per day. Most of my birds are bantams thus with low body weights. Also and as with human adults I would not treat for longer than five days at a time without a break. I have never in my experience had to treat after the five days.

My next problem, when after three days of treatment with Tea Tree the wound was clear of infection, was how to remove the clay. Luckily the problem was solved for me as the pigeon cleaned it off herself! She was left with a scab a fraction of the size of the wound surrounded by healthy looking pink skin. I was so pleased that something so terrible and deep had healed so well and that she could still and does fly.  I did notice however, that she was quite careful about bathing for some time even after the wound had healed.

Here she is at the pigeon lido wondering whether to go for a dip!

If you'd like to watch the film.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube, Odysee  or BitChute Channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

It all helps to keep me going!

Until next time, all the very best from sunny Normandie! 

Sue
RETURN TO CONTENTS PAGE
© 2013 Sue Cross

RELATED POSTS

Treating inflammation and infection with cabbage poultices

Recently I had occasion to use this poultice on two cases simultaneously, my quail and my neighbour's hen's suspected bumblefoot.. ...read more

Treating a nasty head wound and shock

Our poor quail, Nuggets with a horrible injury to her head and eyes (Happy ending!) ...read more

Using therapeutic clay & essential oils on a serious cockerel-inflicted wound

Every year we look after our neighbours' animals and birds when they go on holiday. As most of these are not used to being handled...read more

Treating wounds, cuts and abrasions - first aid for organic poultry

As I had to deal with the aftermath of a cock fight today, I thought I'd share the treatment...read more

 

Treating an injured quail Part 1 - Nutritional support for sprains, strains and nerve damage

Here's Drusilla she is one of my coturnix quail and over the past few days she has started to limp, holding up her foot and hopping...read more

RETURN TO CONTENTS PAGE 

©  Sue Cross 2016