Fowl Cholera Epidemic! Homeopathy averts a catastrophe in the flock by JOETTE CALABRESE, HMC
When our family moved to the country some years
ago, it seemed a natural decision to to raise chickens. chickens. So we purchased purchased 30 chicks from a farmer near our western New York home. Up to that point I’d never treated an animal with homeopathy before. Then, one afternoon afternoon at about about 1:00, 1:00, our sons noticed noticed that one of the chickens chickens was “walking “walki ng funny. funny.” I guess I would have have described descri bed it as a “rigid “rigid gait.” She soon developed violent diarrhea and vomiting, and we observed that she was taking frequent que nt sips sips of wat water er from from the the trough. trough. By 3:00 p.m. p.m. she was lying lying on the ground ground trembling tremb ling and salivating salivating.. By 4:00 p.m. p.m. she was dead.
Rat poison? My first thought was accidental poisoning since our free ranging chickens have been known to go off off our property property to a neighneighbor’s barn. As this appeared to be an isolated incident, we buried our chicken and kept the flock closer to home. Two day dayss late laterr, ho howe weve verr, an anot othe herr chicken began to show the same symptoms. This one appeared appeared cold cold and tremtrembling from the the onset. onset. Still assum assuming ing it might have been poisoned poisoned,, perhaps by arsenic put out by our neighbor to get rid of rats rats,, I gav gavee the the chick chicken en the the home homeoopathic remedy Arsenicum remedy Arsenicum album 30c—but with no response. She died so quickly (less than three hours) that I didn’t have time to repertorize to find a better remedy choice.
The flock threatened Joette Calabrese’s son, Peter, with one of his favorite chickens, Gloria.
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Homeopathy
TODAY
September/October 2005
I phoned a veterinarian friend who said it sounded like fowl fowl cholera. Realizing that I needed to take quick action to protect our flock,, I looked flock looked up fowl fowl cholera cholera in my Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damero Dam erow w, and sur suree enough enough,, the symp symp--
toms matched. matched. The book said that that it is a contagious disease caused by the bacteria Pasteurella Pasteu rella multocida , and that that one should should expect a 45–55% mortality rate from fowl cholera chole ra in a flock, flock, even with with the use use of the recommended antibiotics. antibiotics. It also said that the surviving birds would often be left with debilitating chronic cholera that would result in the inability to lay eggs. I pride prided d myse myself lf on the the heal health th of of our chickens, giving them homemade organic mash including flaxseeds and plenty of worms. wor ms. I certa certainl inlyy didn didn’t ’t wan wantt half half the flock to die and the others to be chronically ill. ill. Mor Moreove eover, r, our hens were not only our egg source but much loved pets. By the time time I got got off the phone, phone, our 1111and 6-year-old sons came into the house with two more sick hens … their favorites, Gloria and Gladys! Gloria was lying on her side, saliv salivating, ating, with slight slight tremors. tremors. I knew that meant she could have less than an hour left. left. Glad Gladys ys was still still at the thirsty thirsty stage with diarrhea and vomiting.
Race against time Quickly I looked under “Rectum, cholera” in my homeopathic repertory, repertory, hoping that fowl cholera was enough like human cholera to require the same remedies.* Cuprum metallicum, metallicum, Veratrum album, album, an and d weree the leadin leadingg remedi remedies. es. I Camphor wer didn’t bother to read about these different possibi poss ibilit lities ies at that that point, point, as I knew Cuprum metallicum’s indications metallicum’s indications included stiffness stiff ness of the extre extremiti mities, es, which would explain the odd gait the chickens all displayed. play ed. I ran to my my remedy remedy stock, stock, found opened ned Gloria Gloria’’s little little beak, beak, and Cuprum,, ope Cuprum inserted two pellets. Gladys got the same. After Aft er administ administering ering the the remedie remedies, s, I relaxed slightly and began to research these remedy remedy possibilitie possibilitiess further. further. Then, out of the corne cornerr of my eye, I notice noticed d that that Gloria was sitting up—just three minutes after she’d gotten the Cuprum Cuprum.. Also, Gladys had stopped vomiting and no longer had diarrhea, so the boys and I just
watched and waited. Whe watched When n Gloria began to tremble again and go down on her side, I gave her a second dose of Cuprum Cuprum.. Within Wit hin five five minutes minutes,, she was walking walking!! Gladys’ Glady s’ secon second d dose revived revived her so that that she was soon pecking the floor—a good sign for chickens. chickens. Gloria received received a third dose approximately two hours later when she again appeared appeared to be weakening. This revived her to full chicken activity by the end of of the day! day! Later I gave Cuprum metallicum 30c to the entire flock as a prophylactic measure, in keeping with Hahnemann’s method of giving the “genu “genuss epidemicus epidemicus”” remedy during epidemics. Because fowl cholera is epidemic, I viewed each chicken chicken as part of the whole community and assumed that they had all contracte contracted d cholera, cholera, since we have only only one watering watering trough. My sons brought the chickens to me one by one, and I administered the pellets of Cuprum of Cuprum.. In hindsight I realize I could have just as easily put one dose into their water and they all would have have ingested it, but at the time, it felt good to treat each one. We watched our chickens carefully for the next two days but there were no relapses rela pses or or new victim victims. s. In scrubbi scrubbing ng down the coop, coop, we found found the probabl probablee A B O U T
T H E
sourcee of the infec sourc infectio tion: n: a dead wild wild bird bird under the hay pile. pile. Fowl cholera cholera usually usually strikes chickens that have come into contact with an infected wild bird.
Happily laying eggs It’s been seven years since this incident. We have lost many chickens since then, but not one from disease—only from possums su ms,, do dogs gs,, ra racccoo oons ns,, an and d fo foxxes es.. Ou Ourr chickens chick ens are healthy healthy and contented. contented. The typical lifespan for the breed we raise (Domique) (Domi que) is 4–9 years, years, so our chickens chickens are doing doing quite well. well. Gloria and and Gladys Gladys each happily lay a daily egg nearly year round, rou nd, as does does the the entir entiree flock. flock. Wh What at a powerful reminder of homeopathy’s sterling reputation in an epidemic! * While human cholera and fowl cholera may have similar similar symptoms, they are different diseases. Human cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibria cholerae and is typically acquired from ingesting contaminated food or water (rather than from personperson-to-p to-perso erson n contact). contact). It infects infects the intest int estine ines, s, cau causin singg dia diarrhe rrhea, a, vom vomiti iting, ng, and leg cramps. cramps. Whil Whilee many human human choler cholera a cases are mild, severe cases can lead to dehydehydration and death.
A U T H O R
Joette Calabrese, HMC, has been a homeopathic consultant and educator in western New York since 1996. She offers lectures and classes regionally, consults worldwide, and is on staff at Daemon College in Buffalo, NY. You can subscribe to her free e-mail newsletter “Homeopathyworks” by sending an email to
[email protected].
Homeopathy
TODAY
September/October 2005
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