2 sick and injured hens, help *pics*

[Miss Lydia]

hopefully you'll see some good improvement in the next few days, let us know how they are doing..

 

[Ema]

this morning, the hen with the foot infection was standing on her own, kind of limping around. I removed the gauze and it was quite yellow. I soaked her foot some more with warm salty water and then once dry I inspected and found a bubble full of fluid just below the crack of her toe where the cut is. I disinfected a needle and then poked it in very gently. and all this yellow fluid drained out of it. I made sure to use needle tweezers to make the hole a bit larger and then resoaked her foot in salty water,

I dried her foot very well and then applied polysporin again and bandaged it back up. she looks perkier today and is eating and drinking fine. Her poop is back to normal and she is looking better. after her bath last night she stopped picking her feathers out. I am thinking that maybe because she had a hard time moving around some of that fluid that was leaking on her foot must of gotten on her belly feathers as she laid on her foot and it must of dried up and it became a nuisance to her, making her pull off her feathers.

I went out in search for blue kote but the vets had none. I need more polysporin and thought I would pick up betadine or iodine to treat her foot but I was surprised to see that all the stores in this town are having a shortage of all of that. they only had alcohol and I didn't think that would be ok to use on her as it might cause her pain. Gosh the stores didn't even have hydrogen peroxide. SO I will continue to soak her foot and apply polysporin. Once it begins to heal I will try some liquid bandaid to keep the cut sealed or super glue and take it from there.

the other one that was limping seems to be doing alright, still limping but looking good, she was eating on her own and walking to the waterer on her own. She gave us her usual daily egg and seems to be able to to get up on that roost just fine.

Ema

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds encouraging for sure, good that you were able to get that nasty stuff out of there no wonder she's feeling better. Salty water heals very good too. so just keep doing what your doing and I think everything will be okay.. also glad to her the other one is doing good.. keep us updated on how things are going, and stay warm.. you might be able to order bluekote and other meds online.. do ya'll have Tractor Supply up there?

 

[Ema]

no we don't, the nearest co-Op is an hour away :-/

so when I get one of the tires in my van fixed I think I will make the trip and stock up on supplies

 

[Winggedheart]

I don't know what it is, but some of our birds have some trouble with their feet like that---though it's not bad, and doesn't seem like bumblefoot either. I think the cold did it (a bit like frostbite?) any chance that happened to your birds?
I don't know about the poo though...

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am still working on my med kit for mine too, if my dh only knew..

 

[Judy]

Really there is nothing at all wrong with cleaning a wound with a mild soapy water solution, or homemade saline (1 tsp to a quart of water is fine.) Peroxide and Betadine are both rough on tissue, OK for an initial cleaning but if you continue with them, they will kill some of the new healthy cells forming. Soap is mildly disinfecting and usually an antibiotic ointment is used, as you did. That's enough for germ killing.