Saving Chickens, Tending my Children

I have to start this post off by saying its not exactly related to essential oils....Ok its not related to essential oils AT ALL actually. But it IS related to my life as a knowledge seeking, sprout eating, garden growing hippie, and I think there's a little bit of that in all of us oil users ;)

About two months ago my sister in law and I decided we really wanted chickens. We love the idea of having our own eggs, produced on our own "land", that contained the vital nutrients that most eggs are missing. We would feed said chickens a diet rich in organic foods, our own table scraps, and no soy. So our husbands rolled their eyes and started building us a chicken coop and run. Then we got chicks. And they were so cute!

See?! Little fuzz balls the kids could play with, we could hold and coddle...


Then they grew up a bit. They were creating so much dust in my house it was undheard of. (See my last post about dust, here). It was time they head outside. So off they went, into the great unknown of the fenced in chicken run in our very own backyard.

They were hesitant to come our, but in the end didn't want to go back into their little box. But they were pretty smart, and once the heat lamp turned back on inside, they were cuddled up under it, getting warm and sleeping soundly after their adventurous day.

Out they went for day two, and this time when I brought them inside they didn't get the heat lamp. Then day three they were out and slept outside, but with a heat lamp...because its still chilly at night and they don't have all their outer feathers yet. Which brings me to day four.

I walked outside after we had some spouts of rain here and there, just making sure the chickens were smart enough to go in their hen house. Of course they werent. They were huddled under the ramp to the hen house, but not in the house. Ugh. Ok, in I go, showing them the way into their new home. One, two, three, four, five. Wait. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Wheres the sixth one? I'm missing a black chick! I looked and looked and she was all the way in the corner, under the house, wet and lifeless. I panicked, got my sister in law, Angie, and proceeded to pick up the little chick. She was breathing, just barely, but when I picked her up she was limp. Eyes shut, head hung, on her death bed. We wrapped her in a microfiber towel (warmest small thing I could find!) and I placed her like a baby in my arms, right under my bosom. Warmest place I could think of for the immediate time. Angie suggested a rice pack and went to do some research. We got all warm (it was already 86 degrees inside and I was sweating...but bring on a hot rice pack!) and I dropped a few drops of water in her mouth. Holding tight, I would rub her every so often. My eldest daughter, Elli, would help, suggesting I place the towel under her wing, on the down feathers which were wet. This helped immensly.

Angie came over and told us there was information online regarding chicks getting wet then coming back to life....there was hope! We kept doing what we were doing and slowly but surely the little chick would move, or stretch her head. She started making small chirping noises without opening her mouth, then opened her eyes here and there. She was exhausted, but alive!

After about two hours of holding her close....and holding my breath....she had made a full comeback. I placed her in a box and she wobbled a bit, so I grabbed her for about twenty more minutes. Then kept her quarantined to make sure there were no other signs of illness, then placed her with her sisters at 11pm, under the warmth of the heat lamp. I still can't get the image of her lifeless body so matted by wet down and her eyes closed and head hanging. That night we brought life into something almost dead.

Go ahead, call me Dr. Jenn if you wish. My eldest is now officially Dr. Elli ;)

This is such an unexpected part of raising chickens...the fact that I feel like a mother hen to these babies, and while I tend my children daily, I now have six new little ones to watch after and care for. Our previously unnamed little miracle chicken now has a name: Angel.

Jenn
www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer

Dust, dust, everywhere...I have an oil for that!

After living in the desert (Las Vegas) for three years, I have acquired a sort of acceptance of dust. Dust is everywhere in the desert, especially where I lived, which was on the outskirts of the city, with lots of empty lots and open dirt. Needless to say, that dirt and dust would gather on the streets, the sidewalks, and in our little cul de sac like shared driveway. And then it would whisp its way into our house every time a door was opened or closed, someone walked in with their shoes on (or adversely, if someone walked out without their shoes on, then back in...), and through the windows. I would dust every other day and there would still be dust. The rain would come once a year and the dust would sort of wash off the sidewalks and what not, but it would never truly go away.

Fast forward to the present, where dust hasn't been a big issue. Minot, ND has a lot of great things about it, one being the minimal dust output ;) Then we got chicks. In the house. They're all cute and fuzzy for about a week and a half, then they start to put real feathers out, and flapping around, and all their cuteness dissipates. Now I still love our chickies...I mean we named them after all, but their dust output is ridiculous. After researching and fumbling around pinterest a bit, I found a great recipe to help with all the dust and grossness of chicken dust!

Dust Buster Spray

sourced from Laura Sue Shaw and adapted by Skeptical Me

1 tsp vinegar

5 drops doTERRA lemon essential oil

1 tsp olive oil

3 oz water

Directions: Place first two ingredients in a glass spray bottle. I used a 4 oz size like she suggested in her blog, then fill with the 3 oz of water (or fill to the top if using a 4 oz bottle). Shake before each use, and spray a few sprays on a microfiber cloth and dust away!

Now here's a few fun tips I wanted to share with you....you don't need a special 4 oz glass bottle to use this spray! Did you know that regular sprayer bottle head will fit onto an old vinegar bottle? Double or tripple this recipe and use an old glass vinegar bottle, top with the sprayer from a dollar store spray bottle and you are set to use your dust spray that cost $0.20 for five drops of oil, a few pennies for the vinegar and olive oil and a free bottle. Cheaper than anything I've seen on the market, and way better for you and your house. Want to know why? Here we go!

Lemon essential oil is an antiseptic, antifungal, antiviral oil. In one study on bread, lemon essential oil was actually effective against two kinds of mold! So all those gross chicken dusties which likely contained their droppings and what have you, are disinfected :) Yay! On top of the sanitizing aspects, a component of lemon essential oil (citral) has been proven as an antidepressant in its study with rats and stress levels (Modern Essentials, 2012). Say, what?! Not just a theory on maybe helping stress levels...there are tests and study's that have been conducted. I love this oil. And its one of the most least expensive oils. I love this oil.

Before I peace out for the night, I wanted to share with you my reasons for altering this recipe ever so slightly. Mostly, I have read several things over the years stating how olive oil can help to polish wood furniture, and since I'm super paranoid about the effects of vinegar on my wood, I decided the olive oil would be a nice touch...and it is! It leaves things smooth and it collects dust less which is huge for our house!

So until the chicks are full time outside birds, I will be dusting often and disinfecting at the same time ;) Why not save some money yourself and try it out. Let me know how it goes for you!

Jenn
www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer

Oh doTERRA you've done it again...Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex

New Products!

So every spring doTERRA tends to bring out a few new products to keep us oil obsessers happy.

Ok maybe its more for the world to benefit from the amazingness of essential oils...but I'm pretty sure it would be detrimental to doTERRA if they didn't introduce a new product every now and then, because they'd have a lot of angry oilers knocking on their door.

First, I had my doubts. Why change something up when there is so much good already? But then I saw the Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex. Oh my. A pill form of antioxidants that contain frankincense, curcumin (from turmeric), ginger root extract, green tea leaf extract (caffeine free), pomegranate fruit extract, and grape seed extract. On top of those amazing ingredients, doTERRA has a "tummy tamer" blend which helps aid in the distribution of the ingredients without upsetting your stomach. That blend includes ginger, peppermint, and caraway.

So right now, you're probably thinking "great...what does it all mean?!". I've totally been there. And I have found that the more research you do, the more you know...and the more you know, the happier you will be with doTERRA ;) So the Deep Blue line of products from doTERRA is geared towards muscle help. Relieving soar or hurt muscles after exercise, a poor nights sleep, or even after injury, deep blue has been there for me! So when this new "pill form" came out, I was super excited! I read up on the ingredients and I read doTERRA's little "cheat sheet" on it, here, and this is what I found...if you don't want to read it all yourself....cause we all know my blog is more entertaining! ;)

Boswellia seratta extract (Indian Frankinsense) is actually not an essentail oil, but rather an extract like it states. It has been used in Indian culture Ayurvedic medicine and has an established reign on soothing properties. I actually took this one step further and looked up Ayurvedic medicine and discovered that Ayurvedic was recorded over 5,000 years ago in Sanskrit not one, but four sacred texts (University of Minnesota, 2015). If something has been working for 5,000 years...who am I to turn my nose up at it?!

Secondly I want to give a little personal story about turmeric. When I was sick this winter, my friend suggested I start taking "golden honey". I raised my eyebrows and asked what the heck that was. Isn't honey always golden? She explained to me that you add turmeric into honey and take a teaspoon every hour for the first day, taper off the second, and complete the honey until its done on the third. I thought it was gross but totally willing to give it a try...because I'm crazy now. And it was amazing! I was feeling better, and better yet? This was something safe I could give to my kids! Win, win!

I wanted to share this little excerpt from the www.whfoods.org on why turmeric is also good for muscles and inflammation!

"The volatile oil fraction of turmeric has demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity in a variety of experimental models. Even more potent than its volatile oil is the yellow or orange pigment of turmeric, which is called curcumin. Curcumin is thought to be the primary pharmacological agent in turmeric. In numerous studies, curcumin's anti-inflammatory effects have been shown to be comparable to the potent drugs hydrocortisone and phenylbutazone as well as over-the-counter anti-inflammatory agents such as Motrin. Unlike the drugs, which are associated with significant toxic effects (ulcer formation, decreased white blood cell count, intestinal bleeding), curcumin produces no toxicity."

Now I could go on and talk about all the qualities of this polyphenol complex, but I think the first two ingredients along with the tummy tamer blend is enough to go on! And on top of the science, I have a real story to put behind this new vitamin. I hurt my wrist a few weeks ago, but don't ask how because I have no idea! I just know that when I would turn the doorknob or push our backyard gate open, my wrist would shoot a little pain up my arm, reminding me to back off and let it rest! So I started taking the deep blue polyphenol complex and within a week my wrist was back to normal! I can't even give credit to anything else, as I've been trying to cut back on any NSAIDS and over the counter pain relievers, the only thing I started doing was taking the complex! I just added it in once a day (even though the bottle suggests twice a day, I wanted to start small and see what would happen), and voila! Here I am, typing away without pain :)

The moral of this story, is doTERRA introduces new products for all the right reasons. Its not to make a quick buck, but rather to deliver the best possible quality ingredients to the world without the side effects of over the counter medications. Cause those, my friends, are a real pain. Just as my dad who had bleeding ulcers in his intestines...likely due to overuse of NSAIDS. That's a whole other story! Next time :) For now, I will leave you with my happy story of overcoming a sad wrist, and my ever growing love for my oils and their companions :)

Jenn
www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer
jennifergraves.doterra@gmail.com

If you want to find out more about essential oils and holistic pain management skills, (and happen to live in the Minot, ND area!), join me June 11th, at 6:30pm in the Minot Public Library's South Meeting Room! Lots of great information and way more than I could write in a single blog post :)