Injured Foot

[MrsLeF]

My 1.5 year old SLW hen is limping and not putting much weight in that foot while on the roost bar. We’ve brought her in and soaked it in Epsom salts 2 nights in a row. Tonight she did not want to put that foot into the water. We’ve also used gauze to put chlorohexidine on it to clean. The pads look swollen and almost bruised? This is our first injury in the flock so looking for any advice on what it could be and how to treat! Thank you!!!

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

It looks like she's injured her foot pad and is heading toward bumblefoot. Can you see any cut or broken skin? Sometimes it's from something as small as a splinter from a roost bar or a thorn when free ranging. I would inspect her foot as closely as possibly in case she still has something in her foot. Other possible foot wounds are ammonia burns from a wet, poopy coop or frostbite if it's been cold where you are. I would guess the redness around the spot on the foot is inflammation and the start of infection (bruises look greenish on yellow-skinned birds). I would put plain (no pain relief) neosporin on the pad and then wrap as shown in this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-correctly-wrap-a-chickens-foot.77028/

The most important thing is not to wrap too tight or you'll cut off circulation. You can expect her to peck at the wrapping at first but you can try to distract her with some treats and she'll hopefully learn to ignore it quickly. My worst bumblefoot patient took three days to accept the wrapping (kept having to take it off because she would not leave it alone), but eventually she realized it was a lot less painful to walk when her feet were wrapped.

If you do wrap I would check it and rewrap daily at this stage since you're not sure of the cause or where the injury is headed. She may need oral antibiotics if the swelling and redness get worse, or she may heal up just fine on her own, or she may end up with a bumblefoot scab and a core of pus in her foot that you need to remove.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you open her foot and provide more photos?
Thank You!