This happened last night. She was on the kitchen floor and flew up to the hot stove, and landed on a hot burner! I screamed, she screamed. I pulled her off as quick as I could, but the bottom of her foot was charred. (the smell was awful). I ran with her to the bathtub and stuck her foot under cold running water for about 5 minutes, then wrapped her feet in wet towels for another 20 minutes. Afterwards I checked her foot, there were several charred spots, but no exposed flesh or blood. I pressed on her foot and she didn't flinch and she was walking around okay. So, I made a weak bentadine solution and had her stand in that for a couple minutes, then dried her off and gave her some scrambled egg and put her back into the coop. The reason I had her inside, in the first place, is because she's molting and I just discovered she's not eating much and her crop isn't filled at night. So, I actually had her inside the house so I could give her some extra food. She roosted all night and was fine this morning because I checked her. But a couple hours ago while she was free-ranging I saw her limping and holding up her foot, so I checked her foot and there are small cracks in the skin in 2 places where she was burned. At this point I've treated her foot again with a strong bentadine solution, put antibiotic cream on those cracks, covered it with gauze and wrapped with strips of Vet Wrap. She seems able to walk and went back to the coop (after eating another protein snack). I plan to check her foot & change her bandage, daily, at this point. Does anyone else have experience and tips for healing burns on a chicken? Anything else I should be doing? Also, do you have molters who aren't eating as much? She has been in a pullet-molt for a month and her appetite is WAY down (even from before the burn). Otherwise, she's been very healthy.
IMO, you are doing the right thing. I wouldn't expect the bottom of the foot to bleed, as it is mainly just a thicker skin like just about all animal feet. I would keep applying the bentadine or something similar to promote healing and prevent infection for at least a few more days. The only other thing that comes to my mind is that you could pen her up for a day or two in a smaller area or cage to prevent too much walking or scratching. It should get better soon though
Thanks, Silkie Man, for your reply. I did say to myself last night that she had feet made from hippopotamus skin! I guess any of us would, too, if we always walked barefoot. Do you think keeping the foot bottom wrapped is fine - or should it be exposed to the air? You said keep apply bentadine. I've been using a bentadine wash, then drying the foot, then followed by triple antibiotic cream and a bandage. Should I stop with the cream & bandage? I'll put her into a separate cage, if I see her moving too much. Right now she's in the run with the other birds and is mainly sitting on a roost in there. Thanks again!
I would use an antibiotic cream and bandage her for a few days to watch her so she eats well and keep her in a cage with old clean towels on the bottom so she can't scratch at dirt and get the burn infected. Hope she is better soon!
A high quality aloe vera gel and wrap it. It will take a few applications over a period of 10-30 minutes depending on the absorption rate. Wrap it after 2-3 applications. Nature's Sunshine makes a product called "Aloe Vera Gel" that I have used when badly burned. Burns that are deep tissue and very damaging and would also require strong pain killers have been addressed successfully in a very short time with multiple applications of the gel (Minor-major tissue damage avoided and not even blistered when otherwise skin and tissue would have been lost.) It works amazingly almost as good as the natural gel freshly cut out of the plant itself. Few gels are this effective and I have tried several. This one is a keeper. I recommend all have one bottle in the cupboard because it is the next best thing to the actual aloe plant I have ever experienced. For future reference, time is of the essence. Application almost immediately after the incident is best. But I have used actual fresh plant aloe vera on a person with steam burns where the damage penetrated to the bone 7 hours after the accident. They had kept the hand in cold water all that time. Immediately upon removal, the pain was excruciating and normally have required a trip to the ER. We cut the actual plant leaves lengthwise, laid them on the surfaces of the hand and wrapped it. Pain diminished quickly. He slept the night fine. In the morning, there was no pain but the blisters on the hand/fingers were a full 1 inch in height. But the recovery went smooth. Normally, this type of steam burn would have required a trip to the hospital.
Thanks everyone for your responses and confirmations. (I FORGOT about aloe vera!) Anyway, I changed her bandage early this a.m. Her foot looks pretty good - I could barely see the skin cracks so they must be healing pretty quickly. With her new bandage on, she went back into the run and immediately started scratching through a stack of greens I threw in. I have a difficult time keeping her separated in a kennel, because she got diarrhea when I tried it. I don't understand, except it seems to be tied to separation from her flock. She's definitely not very tame, one of my "wilder" birds. I'm hoping her burns will be healed in a day or two and she can go back to pretending she doesn't know me! LOL.
