Have you considered using something else than antibiotics? Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) at 35%, 1 oz, mixed with 11 oz of distilled water makes a 3% peroxide without any chemical stabilizers. Peroxide is awesome for killing the germs. Another option is Sovereign Silver liquid and Sovereign Silver Gel. You can use the liquid after you are done cleaning out the kernels and yukky stuff and then before you put the bandage on it, put the Gel in the hole. It's tons, tons, tons better than putting a petro chemical like neosporin on it. Remember, anything you put on or in your chicken, you are eating from the eggs and meat. Both of the options I have just mentioned are natural, have no drug Resistance for and are non-toxic and work EXCELLENT!She got it back last week. I was checking her over to make sure she was okay because I had a fair idea I hadn't got it all because her foot was still an odd shape and sure enough, this time there was a black scab and I removed it and there was another kernel. I know it's going to be a long process with Bumble, as it was a bad case and I can tell there are areas that I cannot get into. I'm pretty sure that because of the extent of the infection she has limited use of her toes. There seems to be tendon damage but she can still feel them because I tested all toes with a blunt object and she retracted her foot, but did not clench her toes.
She does not seem to be in any pain though and is still laying happily.
On the subject of antibiotics, I haven't given her any this time because of the high risk of re-infection. I don't want any staph to build up an immunity to the antibiotics and she has no heat in her foot so I'm going with this game plan at the moment.
Sadly I also found one of the new girls had a black scab on her foot and removed it to find not the usual yellowy kernel but a stringy clear jelly like substance, which was a pain to remove with tweezers. Not sure if the difference in gunk is because it's fresh infection and I've caught it before the kernel stage, or whether it's to do with the breed. Looking at pics on the net, it seems if you have a meat type bird they have yellowy chunks and if you have a rangier skinny bird (this one is a wyandotte hybrid) it seems to be opaque like a jellyfish!
As for doping them before surgery, Bumble appears to be the only bird I've seen on here that likes to actively watch me digging away in her own foot! I don't cover her (in fact, I didn't cover the wyandotte to be honest, I just stuck her head in the crook of my arm). Bumble happily sits in a propped up position, taking an extremely active interest and occasionally will tell me she wants more treats. For her it's like eating popcorn whist watching E.R. lol. Sometimes she holds the cotton wool buds for me
I hope this helps,
LibertyChick
