Essential Oil Treatment - Wound on a Pigeon Including Pierced Crop Part 2

In this second part of the article, having calmed down our pigeon and 're-booted' him with our home-made electrolyte in Part One, I will share what I did next and why. Here I'm using Essential Oils in a home-made anti-microbial and painkilling wound wash but that isn't the limit of their properties as we will discuss below. I'll also comment on the use of organic products in injury and health care.

Above you can see what I was dealing with and here I have already started the treatment because as you can understand this was a real as-it-happened event so Andy was filming as I was dealing with it. Usually I do not have time to photograph these situations but as I have had so many comments on my other pigeon wound video, including one that bizarrely accused me of lying about the nature of the wound, I decided this time it was apposite to show the whole thing in all its gory detail. So,  having checked over my bird, I'd already ascertained that although the wound looked ghastly the pigeon was responding well and looked alert and was able to receive treatment. Even so I knew that the wound being open and raw must be giving pain, so my first idea was to pat on some of my home-made organic wound wash.

Why Organic?

One of my first ideas when starting with poultry in 2000 was that my birds should be treated in the same way as we were when it came to food and health and that as we are 100% organic there was no reason why they shouldn't be. To this end I equipped our First Aid Kit with organically certified products including bandages made from old organic Tee-shirts! Global cotton farming uses 25% of the World's pesticides, that is without consideration of the chemicals used in creating the fabric itself. As the skin is the largest organ in the body and is porous it is actually just as important to consider what you put on the body as it is to be aware of what you are putting into it. This is ever more crucial when you consider open wounds!

Home-made Organic Wound Wash & Immune System Support

This home-made wound treatment has a dual role, in that it is an antiseptic and anaesthetic wash. It's a treatment I use for all wounds, cuts and abrasions on ourselves and our birds. I found it in the excellent book that was recommended to me by my sister, who taught the subject in colleges, Valerie Ann Worwood's: Complete Book of Aromatherapy. If you are new to the use of essential oils, then it is well worth investing in a copy.

This wash comprises a warm bowl of water containing the following essential oils:
5 drops of True Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
2 drops of Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia).

Lavender Essential Oil
- a powerful skin healer and regenerator,
- a painkiller,
- relieves anxiety
- an antiseptic.

Tea Tree Essential Oil
- a very strong broad spectrum antibacterial
- a great support for the immune system
- an anaesthetic.

I buy my oils from a local organic shop, which sources from aromatherapy laboratories in France, where we live. I would always look for organically certified oils and it is sometimes more economical to buy them in sets as the one below which contains both of the above as well as other oils I use on my birds and ourselves and which you will find discussed within my written articles.

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

The cotton buds also work well for washing damaged combs and ear lobes on sparring cockerels/roosters but in this case I needed to dab the wash on so used a ball of cotton wool.

Now our wound is cleaned and our bird has received support for his immune system and to control any pain. I am now going to move on in Part Three of this article to the clay treatment I used to seal and heal the wound, I will also include the post-treatment photos with a time-scale. I believe this of great importance as it helps to know what to look for and when. It also means that if you already have a wounded bird, it will give you an idea of what the wound should look like at key points and for reassurance that there is no infection. Even if the latter is the case, I do have another article, linked at the end of this one on how to deal with a very badly infected wound. 

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 channel or even supporting us on Patreon or

It all helps to keep me going!

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

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