quick substitute for gentian violet?

[kathyd]

Hi

My poor maran who's suffered so much with her moult is now much better - her feathers have started coming through again and she's much happier. But - one of her buddies is now 'helping' by tugging at loose feathers, and some of them are bleeding. Dotty is very long-suffering and only pecks gently and grumbles at her friend when it all gets too much, but has started putting herself to bed over an hour before normal presumably to get some peace and quiet, and this morning I've now seen she's got blood running down one leg, so the pecking has extended from her bum to other areas. I've tried squirting her friend Custard with a spray bottle, but I can't always be there and I only have one of those fine sprays anyway at the moment.

Unfortunately I don't have any gentian violet and haven't been able to find any in the shops here, and it would take days or weeks to arrive from the uk, so I wondered if there's anything I can do in the meantime? I did freeze some wild blackberries and elderberries in the summer - could I make a coloured spray from these? Or would they be too red? Is there anything else anyone can suggest please, to give poor Dotty a break from well-meaning buddies?

Thx

[Suechooks]

Is there a horse type place you can get to? They do the purple sprays for horses. Or something that tastes unpleasant? The berry juice might be too tasty and encourage them to peck her. I used Stockholm tar on one of my ex-batts but that may not be available either en France. Sorry not been much help at all.

[kathyd]

Thx Suechooks - our garden centres here seem to stock things for all animals including horses and farm animals, don't know of any specialist horse places. I've looked in all the most likely places but haven't found anything like gentian violet. Can't think of anything which tastes nasty which wouldn't sting a sore botty!! Lol . I'll just have to keep an eye on things for now, and if necessary move her somewhere quiet for at least part of the day - she managed to avoid attention quite a lot today by herself, until I put them back in their run and her friend wanted to catch up on the gossip whilst plucking a few more feathers... Dotty ended up going to bed at 3:50 in the end (the others usually go from around 5:00 ish).

Is anyone else having problems getting these web pages to load by the way? I couldn't even get the Reply to Message box up properly just now - I must have tried about 10 times unsuccessfully. I finally typed a reply in the Title box and tried to post it, and it wasn't until it told me my message was too short (duh) and offered me the chance for the 11th time that I've got a box to type in.. Well part of a box anyway, I don't have any of the formatting stuff at the top except the smileys . It's been punishingly slow for days, but I've been assuming it's my internet connection? Anyone else having trouble?

[Snadger]

Ebay is your friend!

[Two_Sheds]

" I once used a few squirts of antiseptic kitchen spray - the sort used on kitchen work surfaces � because I didn"t have anything else to hand, and it worked." source

[frias]

Definately wouldn't use any thing fruit based as my lot love blueberries etc. I use an anti peck spray bought at a pet shop and really meant for parrots. No colour or smell but my guess is it taste vile. There's lots of companies sell purple spray on line but not sure about posting to France and anyway you need a quick fix for now.
Re internet probs. None here so might be your provider.

[kathyd]

Hi all

I buy lots on ebay (my mealworms just arrived today for example!), it's just the length of time for delivery when I need a quick solution.

I haven't seen any pet shops as such, but I'll look in the domestic bird section of the animal area instead of the chicken section, thanks. I'll also check out the horse bit and see if I can find anything.

Kitchen spray?? I'm not sure that I'd want to risk a reaction to whatever ingredients they use in them to be honest.. I presume it's the bird's bare bits I'm spraying??

Good thinking about the berries though - I hadn't considered taste, just trying to disguise the colour red...

Thanks for all your ideas and help anyway

[Suechooks]

The horse spray is often just called "Purple spray" - whatever that is in French!

[Nicos]

sorry- no idea for here in France- I have Purple spray we brought over with us.

Hmm...thinking hat on...

I wonder if you put a thick layer of Vaseline ( from a pharmacy) then on top of that a layer of mustard with green/blue food colouring????
It would taste yuk- and the colour is way off blood red. Might do the trick ????

[RichmondHens]

I would be inclined to separate her from the others for a few days until her feathers have grown through a bit more, if you have the means. A small coop/run within the main run so she can still be near the others would be your best solution.

To stop and disguise bleeding you can use flour as a quick fix but it doesn't last long. Send off for that purple spray as soon as you can.

[Hilary B]

The other farm-related possibility that might help would be iodine solution, it's a yellowy brown on the skin, and antiseptic as well as presumably tasting nasty. I suspect any 'farming supply' place would have that, we used to buy it in semi-clear plastic bottles with a pump-action top, it was always a lot cheaper than purple-spray (which was often turquoise coloured). If there is a sheep section, that would be the place to look.

[kathyd]

Thanks all - massively helpful and supportive as usual . I'll get some purple spray ordered asap, and use flour in the meantime. I think I'd have a problem persuading Dotty to sit still while I applied vaseline and mustard, but it's a lovely idea! I'd pay to see Custard's face if she got a beakful of that one .