Severe Frostbite Complications

Delaneygraces · Feb 20, 2021

I have a modern game hen who’s feet where completely frozen solid about 4-ish days ago. She had bubbles/blisters of liquid filling on her feet/between her toes. They ended up popping on their own while I was thawing them (simply holding them in my hand so they wouldn’t heat up too fast and cause more damage). She has been moved inside since, in a large tubberware box that we use for chicks, with water and food, bedding and a small perch. She was doing really well, eating and drinking, chirping away, but today she has declined heavily. She won’t use her right foot at all (this one had the biggest fluid bubble) isn’t walking good, and no longer is perching, instead is lying on the ground, leaning/falling over onto that right foot. Her left seems ok, she will curl the toes and scratch with it.
Today she has developed a slight dry rattle and will not touch her food.
I cannot get any picture right now, but she is an older hen, so poor circulation was probably a key factor to them freezing so badly.
My main concern is that she doesn’t have a great chance of recovery, and that she will continue to decline and suffer. Has anyone dealt with the aftermath of completely frozen feet? What resulted?
Any commentary/advice is appreciated.

lbgreenfield · Feb 20, 2021

Hi, sorry to hear about your hen. Photos will help if you can get them. Bumping for more responses and tagging a few others than may be able to help:
@azygous
@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock

azygous · Feb 20, 2021

Severely frostbitten feet will eventually fall off. A chicken with one foot and a stump on the other leg can still function. Two missing feet is the real challenge. Just as some humans have more fortitude and determination to deal with physical limitations than others, this is also true for chickens. As a rule, though, if both of your hen's feet fall off, she will be very vulnerable to predators and will find it hard to compete with other chickens for food.

The immediate problems are pain and infection. It's hard to say if your hen is declining due to pain or infection. Both produce the symptoms you describe. Infection may cause her body temp to spike and you will know this if you see her comb turn bright cherry red instead of the dusky red combs normally are. She would need an oral antibiotic.

Pain can be managed by giving her one 81 grain chewable aspirin twice a day.

The normal progression of frostbitten tissue is it goes from frozen (white) to thawing and blistering( yellow), and then swelling occurs between the damaged tissue and the normal tissue. This effectively creates a "dam" so infection doesn't travel to the healthy parts. Then the tissue that was damaged dies from lack of blood supply, turns black, and eventually falls off.

Touching or rubbing the frostbitten tissue, besides being painful, damages it further. The best way to treat frostbite is to spray Vetericyn on it, but do not let the wetness freeze! In fact a frostbite victim should be cared for indoors so refreezing doesn't occur and cause even more damage and suffering.

Wyorp Rock · Feb 20, 2021

Delaneygraces said:
I have a modern game hen who’s feet where completely frozen solid about 4-ish days ago. She had bubbles/blisters of liquid filling on her feet/between her toes. They ended up popping on their own while I was thawing them (simply holding them in my hand so they wouldn’t heat up too fast and cause more damage). She has been moved inside since, in a large tubberware box that we use for chicks, with water and food, bedding and a small perch. She was doing really well, eating and drinking, chirping away, but today she has declined heavily. She won’t use her right foot at all (this one had the biggest fluid bubble) isn’t walking good, and no longer is perching, instead is lying on the ground, leaning/falling over onto that right foot. Her left seems ok, she will curl the toes and scratch with it.
Today she has developed a slight dry rattle and will not touch her food.
I cannot get any picture right now, but she is an older hen, so poor circulation was probably a key factor to them freezing so badly.
My main concern is that she doesn’t have a great chance of recovery, and that she will continue to decline and suffer. Has anyone dealt with the aftermath of completely frozen feet? What resulted?
Any commentary/advice is appreciated.

See about midway down of this article to help tend to the frostbite. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/frostbitten-feet-the-adventures-of-scout.67277/

A dry rattle is concerning. Have you ever had respiratory illness in your flock?
What's her crop like? Did the rattle by chance start after you syringed any fluids into her?
For the rattle you can try an antibiotic like Tylosin to see if that makes a difference. While it's mainly used for respiratory infection, it *might* help with the frostbite if it's getting infection. If you have other antibiotics on hand let us know what you have.

Delaneygraces · Feb 21, 2021

Thank you for the responses. I have attached photos from tonight. I woke up this morning and she will no longer walk. Her appetite has returned, and I have been moving her near the food and water throughout the day, which she has been eating and drinking just fine. Included a picture of droppings as well.
It might be noteworthy that she did not at all joy being flipped for these pictures, and flapped/struggled as she normally does.
The worst of the two feet is her right foot, which has the yellow band on it. Her feet/leg color are naturally that darker color, and have not yet darken since being frozen.

Wyorp Rock said:
A dry rattle is concerning. Have you ever had respiratory illness in your flock?
What's her crop like? Did the rattle by chance start after you syringed any fluids into her?
For the rattle you can try an antibiotic like Tylosin to see if that makes a difference. While it's mainly used for respiratory infection, it *might* help with the frostbite if it's getting infection. If you have other antibiotics on hand let us know what you have.

No, I have not had any respiratory issues. Although I’m not too sure this is a rattle. She is not making the noise all the time, only when she chirps/clucks, which seems a little deep/croaky. I’ll check which antibiotics I have. I know it’s a low supply, i threw out some older stuff a while ago and haven’t had a need to go buy specifics beyond electrolytes and probiotics.