Your Disabled Chicken, Part 5: Turmeric The Miracle Spice

Normally, I do not pass on information about disabled animals unless I've tried it, but I don't currently have turmeric, and when I get some, I will let everyone know what happened. But I wanted to share this, as soon as possible, so that others could help their chickens. 

I have a disabled chicken, Antonia (who sometimes crows, or rather roars, so I suspect "she" is actually a trans-rooster), whose feet are crippled up, but who is very active, nonetheless. He lives in his own house at night, and is out in our front during the day (unless it is cold, in which case he does not want to go out). I find him everywhere in the yard: Under the front deck, in the shade of the butterfly bushes, even on our sidewalk (which is about five inches high; it's quite a feat for her to get up there, but she does it!).
I have done a series on how to take care of a disabled chicken here, here, here, and here, And I recently discovered something else which I hope will help my chicken, especially with her/his feet. Maybe it won't cure her, but I hope it will help. And when I can get the stuff, I will try it.

I was reading a blog today by a nice lesbian couple in South Africa, who write about minimalism. They are also vegan, and like to write about that. Apparently, the best natural anti-inflammatory is ground black pepper and turmeric mixed with water. I got excited, wondering if I could feed turmeric to a chicken, for her joints. Apparently, you can, and it's very good for them in treating joint inflammation, bumblefoot infection (where their feet get swollen; Antonia had this once, and it went away almost by itself, before I knew what it was and started treating it with iodine; I suspect it was her good diet), and a host of other ailments, including a paralyzed neck (wry neck, which I suspect another, "paralyzed" chicken that I had, had gotten somehow; perhaps he would not have had to live in a box in my room for a few weeks until his death, if I had known about turmeric!).

I can't go to the store and get turmeric, right away, and I could not find it in my house, even though I thought I had it. The pepper gave me pause, though, because I was afraid it was spicy, and I don't want to cause my chickens pain. But I had ground black pepper on hand, so I decided to try the pepper part out on myself first.
If it makes a difference, the pepper I had was not freshly ground; it came already ground, and the expiration date is October 22, 2017. So it is not stale, but it's not fresh, either.
I mixed up a little in a small glass of water. I didn't measure it, though I suspect it was about the right (human) dosage according to Angela Horn's blog, half a teaspoon.
My mom says that the best way to get drunk without tasting the beer is to take a deep breath right before drinking, drink as much as possible, then let out your breath after swallowing. (This was from her partying days when she was younger.) So I did that. And yes, there was some spiciness in the back of my throat. So I don't know if I will feed my chicken pepper. I suspect that turmeric might be a little spicy, but I can't imagine it being as spicy as the pepper.
I did not notice any anti-inflammatory effects right away, from the pepper alone. I guess the pepper is mostly there to help one absorb the nutrients in the turmeric. The pepper did make my face a little flush, for a second, though not nearly as much as taking niacin supplements does.
(I take a lot of niacin for menstrual cramps, and it works wonders! If your face is flush, you're doing it right. I suspect that it pulls the excess water out of my system, so I'm not retaining it.)

I also saw this story about the wonders of turmeric, in treating a chicken with a paralyzed neck, and I thought I would share it. And I wanted to share it before I forgot to.
I'll let everyone know if there are any dramatic effects for my disabled chicken. I don't expect that it will cure her (it might have if I had known about it when her feet first started giving her trouble--who knows?), but hopefully it will help her. I don't know how long it will need to take full effect, though. I plan to put some on her food, about half a teaspoon a day (since s/he is a big chicken), as per the instructions on this natural chicken care blog. And even if I don't notice a change, maybe it will make her feel better, at least, even if I can't see it. In any case, it doesn't seem like it will hurt her, so I will throw everything I can at the problem, like I always do. :)