This is neither a recipe nor a condom post. It is actually a post about drug smuggling. Yes, we are drug smugglers now.
Jack, our mammoth donkey has a foot abscess and has been prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication. It is an apple and molasses flavored white powder. It can be sprinkled on his oats and he gobbles it down. Jack is NOT the problem.
She is.
They have separate buckets for their oats, but she bullies him, eats his oats, then hers. She has eaten her oats and is now heading for Jack’s.
He is too much of a gentleman to kick her ass. I can say that because they are donkeys.
So we had to stop putting his medication in the oats because she was getting an overdose of his medication and he was still in pain. I decided that I needed to find another route for delivering the medication to Jack alone. We tried feeding him a hand-full of oats with medication on them but she would rear her head and knock the oats out of my hand.
I had to outsmart a little 350 pound donkey. I came up with a diabolical plan.
They both love carrots and we give them each two carrot halves, twice a day. Perfect. Jack’s medication is prescribed for twice a day. The carrots would serve as a trojan horse for delivering the drug.
I started by cutting a section of the carrot down to the core. Then I slid the knife along the groove tilting it up. When I got to the bottom, the cut piece popped right off.
I filled the groove with half a scoop of powder.
Then I replaced the “lids.” After a minute or so enough of the powder dissolves to help keep it together.
I put the carrots in the bucket with the oats and headed down to the pasture.
One.
Two.
Final Score: Jack 2 – Diana 0. Me laughing all the way home, proud of how smart I am until I stepped in fresh turkey poop with flip-flops on. They call them flip-flops for a reason. Why is every miracle followed so closely by mayhem?
Joan @ The Chicken Mama says
Oh, this made me smile. I’ve been wanting a mini-donkey FOREVER. Your non-mini-donkeys are wonderful! I’m a new follower!
biobabbler says
Excellent! I had to force feed my hens some nasty de-worming medication (mixed w/food) which I think forever turned one hen against pine nuts. Messy, & I don’t think they got all of it, ’cause some was on ME, etc. NOW I have a different medicine for same purpose, and it’s a tube of paste that, miracle of all miracles, you just put a pea sized blob of it in their beaks, and that’s IT.
It’s amazing how much better I feel when I know they are getting what they need for THEM to feel better. So, NICE WORK! =)
Mary says
Thanks! I have too many chickens to pick each one up and medicate individually. If we have to do that, I give the meds then Michael tosses them into the coop, or out of it depending on time of day to be sure we got everyone. I prefer meds that can be put in food or water. I am glad you found a solution to your problem. You give your chickens pine nuts? Hmmmmmmm. I hope mine don’t find out!