Infected leg on Hen

ChickenGirl2010

Chirping
8 Years
Jan 14, 2012
22
3
77
I went outside the other day to feed my little feathered friends and as they were running towards me I noticed that my 1 year old Lakenvelder hen had a very bad limp. So naturally I scooped her up to check her leg out and turned out that something had tried to drag her by her leg but she had gotten away from it. It didn't appear to be infected when I first had found her and she didn't seem to be have much trouble getting around so I decided that I would just check up on her every day unless it got worse. This morning she came up on to my back porch looking for a little cat food treat and I was checking her leg and it was very hot and seemed a little oozy in places and now I'm going to set up something inside for her to stay in but I'm not sure how to make the swelling go down and I was looking for some help I will post a few pictures of her leg. Please help
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Posting pictures will definitely help.

Separate the hen. Bring her somewhere warm and quiet. You need to clean the area carefully and determine the exact nature of the injury. Is it a puncture wound? Is the skin torn? Is anything dislocated or broken? Remove all dirt and debri from the wound, and pluck any feathers in the immediate vicinity as they can get into the wound and dirty it. Do a complete physical exam in case she has any other injuries. If she does, fully clean them and pluck nearby feathers. Apply neosporin without pain medication (never give anything ending in -Caine as it is toxic to poultry) and spray some Vetricyn on the wound. You should start her on antibiotic like Gallimycin or Duramycin.
 



Okay so first pic is of both her legs but keep in mind that the injured leg is closer to the camera by a little bit
The second picture is of the side of her leg where the most damage seems to have been done.
The third picture is of both of her feet in comparison to each other the right being the injured and seems to be slightly swollen hot as the rest of her leg

I have her inside now in a nice quite corner with food and water and as you can see her leg had been torn at and a bit of flesh seems to be missing and I already did an exam on her the first day that I noticed her limp and I am looking for some Neosporin at the moment if we don't have any I will ask me dad to get some at the store tomorrow and as far as the antibiotics go I'm not sure if he will want to be buying any "just for a chicken" but I will try and thank you for the help!
 
Ok, it's in the scaled part of the leg. That's way better than in the thigh or lower leg.

You're really going to need proper antibiotics for this. You won't find them at a regular store; many feed stores carry them. They're essential to fighting infections and all poultry owners should really have some on hand at all times.
 
okay I will try and get my hands on some but depend on how expensive that are I don't know and we've had birds get nasty infections before (not on the leg) and have just cleaned it daily with hydrogen peroxide and then covering it with Vaseline and Neosporin and they were just fine but I don't know
 
okay I will try and get my hands on some but depend on how expensive that are I don't know and we've had birds get nasty infections before (not on the leg) and have just cleaned it daily with hydrogen peroxide and then covering it with Vaseline and Neosporin and they were just fine but I don't know


It's about $10 for a pack. A pack can last a small flock years. Dosage is low.

Cleaning daily with hydrogen peroxide is a bad idea. It kills healthy tissue and can slow healing. It should only be used for the first 1-2 cleanings on any wound.
 

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