Alternative to Blu-Kote

Does anyone know of a staining anti-bacterial ointment for wound care?

There are plenty of all natural ointments, BUT, none of them that I can find stain the area so as to discourage pecking from curious chickens.

What about adding food coloring to an ointment?

What have you tried?

We have had several discussions regarding "Gentian Violet".  I do not know of an alternative.  This is something that people have used for a long time.  I learned about gentian violet treating horse wounds.

Is there a reason you do not want to use it?

https://permies.com/t/158962/needed-Hen-partial-prolapse-vent#1245827

Anne Miller wrote:We have had several discussions regarding "Gentian Violet".  I do not know of an alternative.  This is something that people have used for a long time.  I learned about gentian violet treating horse wounds.

Is there a reason you do not want to use it?

I came across the MSDS for Blu-Kote from Coburn (https://coburn.com/documents/pdf/MSDS/228_DrNaylorBluKoteAerosol_MSDS.2017.10.26.pdf).

In part it says this:

SECTION 2 - HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION..
HEALTH HAZARDS: May cause serious eye irritation. May cause drowsiness or dizziness. Contains a component which is a suspected carcinogen.

Anything is a "potential carcinogen".  KALE has nitrates in it, which under the wrong conditions can convert to nitrosamines in your body and cause cancer.  

The MSDS for Blu-Kote says that the route of exposure for "potential carcinogen" is oral.  This is correct.  Don't DRINK isopropyl alcohol, kids.

I can only say that I love Blu-Kote, or wound dust, or whatever you call it. Sulpha powder and charcoal dust in puffer bottle is hard to beat for basic wound care. If it was good enough for our soldiers, it's good enough for my chickens.
It's blue, chickens leave it alone, and it works well.

I also have ordinary sulpha in a yellow powder that I picked up somewhere. It's a yellow dust, in a puffer bottle. It doesn't stay yellow, but it tastes bad enough the dog I used it on wouldn't lick the wound which was a plus.

The problem with coloring ointments is the reaction of the color with air and wounds. Tincture of iodine stains, but it's not the color you're looking for. If you really wanted to experiment with some salves and food coloring, I'd suggest using the powdered pigments used for "natural dying" of fabrics as anything else would probably be too light in color to make a difference. Try making up a hand cream salve using the basic stuff you'd want to use as a wound treatment, and add different amount of the pigments. Some of them are used in herbalism (not many and nothing jumps to mind), but I'm sure you could find something. Then try it on your hands/arms and see if it gives the kind of coverage and effect you want. Experiment. Maybe you'll find something you can market and sell to the rest of us.

About the carcinogen thing? Oxygen is carcinogenic. Everything is eventually carcinogenic. LIFE is carcinogenic - the longer you live, the more errors end up in your cellular structure and the shorter the replicating DNA strands for your cells. Eventually you'd become an odd looking lump, just from living long enough to get there. Don't be afraid of living. Make your choices based on what's important to you and move on.  

Has anyone found alternative but similar products to Blu-Kote?

I have and utilize Blu-Kote, but wondering if anything has come out that is deemed similar or better than when this thread was first posted.

I'd like to know too...I still use Blu-Kote on chickens but I am concerned about the safety of gentian. I stopped using it on my hair (such an easy way to counteract mineral buildup brassiness) and hope mothers are considering it's safety for treating babies with thrush. If it were a mammal, I'd probably treat with a homemade salve, saint john's wort oild, calendula  or honey but that's not helpful with keeping chickens from pecking.