Blueberries
I've tried blueberries for pain relief at times when for some unknown reason, one or more of my birds were found to be limping and their legs felt hot to touch. I could find no wound on the exterior of the leg itself and moving the legs in natural directions revealed no injury of joints. Moving them slightly in directions that are not natural just to see if there were over-extension injuries proved unfruitful as well. In addition, there have not been any swellings that I could find.
Blueberries work wonders! They are reportedly high in natural aspirin. Getting my birds to try them was the biggest obstacle. They are dark in color and my chickens don't generally eat things that are dark - unless they are accustomed to free ranging and can get at beetles and the large wood ants that we have on our property here. Anyway, force feeding only one or two berries was required. I made sure the berry was squished in their mouth so that they could taste it and after that, all I had to do was offer them.
The effect seemed good for 24 hours. I only gave a tablespoon or two, depending on the size of the bird, in the evening before they would go to bed for the night. If I skipped a night when they were still needed, by morning the bird would be limping again.
Black Cohosh
Black Cohosh is a well known herb that is used to correct female reproductive problems in humans.
I have a hen that is about 2 years old now who has developed a problem in her reproductive tract. She has become what is known as a "false layer" or an "internal layer." She visits the nest daily but when she leaves, there is no egg left behind. Her back end has become swollen and hard, hot to the touch and distended. She has begun to stand in a penguin-like stance. Another name for this is "Yolk Salpingitis." It is a problem with the natural peristaltic motion of the egg tract. Normally, these motions move the egg through the egg tract to form the white around the yolk and then later to form a shell around it. Instead, her body is forcing the yolk out of the egg tract and into her abdominal cavity causing inflamation and what looks like extreme discomfort. Well, I've read about women who have a similar problem called "endometriosis" where her uterus reverses its peristaltic action to force the menses up through the fallopian tubes to be deposited in the abdominal cavity.
I call that a female reproductive problem.
My hens are females and the problem sounds similar to me. I don't know if Black Cohosh is used to treat this problem in human females but it is the only thing available over the counter that has an established reputation.
In reading up on this problem in chickens, I found that there is no cure, the hen will die within 6 months. So, rather than just let that happen, I decided to experiment. I started adding Black Cohosh powder to her feed daily. I'm guessing that the amount being sprinkled over her food is approximately 1/2 teaspoon of the powder per day. After two weeks, there was a noticeable difference in her "abdomen." It was no longer hot and it was much softer than before. Another week went by and I see further improvement. On the droppings board beneath her perch I am also finding yolk every morning. I am surmising that her body is expelling the accumulated yolk from her system. I will be continuing the treatment in the hope that she will improve further and eventually be capable of laying eggs once again.
As a side note, in the same pen as this hen is a pullet that for some reason, I suspect a hormone imbalance, had begun crowing! It was rather strangled sounding but definitely a crow nonetheless and she had committed the crime for several days. She was also acting more aggressive and dropping her wing at me when I would enter her coop. She too has been obtaining this Black Cohosh powder in her diet. In the past several weeks, I do not recall hearing her crow, nor has she persisted in behaving like a rooster. I will keep my ears open for her strangulation and hope she has been cured.
One other of my girls crowed a couple of times on only one morning but since then I have decided to mix a small amount of Black Cohosh in the daily feed for all my girls as a preventive. I mixed in about 1/6 of a cup to 20 pounds of feed which lasts almost 2 weeks, so you can see the dosage on prevention is quite low. I will be monitoring my girls' health and behavior and keep you posted.
For you who are not squeamish, you can click on the "Proof" button to see the yolk that is also on the droppings board. Viewer beware.
This is Dolly, the beautiful girl that is having this problem. Note how she is standing pigeon-toed and her back end hangs low. It used to be worse.
But also note that her color is good, her eyes are bright, her tail is nicely fanned and she is alert and active not droopy and huddled.
I think it's just a matter of time.
Update: After several weeks of the above success, she stopped expelling yolks so I took her off the Black Cohosh. Her abdomen had shrunken quite a bit and she was no longer HOT to touch. However, after only a couple days of not using the Black Cohosh, she swelled up again and is again hot in her abdomen. Upon resuming the herbal treatment and even for a couple weeks after that, the herbs were no longer beneficial. I should have continued them in the first place until she was laying again. She was getting heavier each day and could no longer get onto her perch from the floor - a height of only about 36". She seemed to be suffering and so to spare her the apparently extreme discomfort and agony, she was culled.