Do I Need to Dub Now?! Possible Gangrene??

[rodriguezpoultry]

Thanks to the -20 temps, both of my males have swollen combs and wattles. The comb is enlarged and oozing a yellow liquid. No discoloration of the wattles except for they are cold and severely swollen. The wattles are round and engorged to the point they are adding weight to the bottom jaw. The males are approximately 3 years old. All males that were untreated with Vaseline have lost 2/3 of their combs and half of their wattle structure to black frostbite. Do I need to dub the come and wattles onthe males thT are showing this engorgement or leave them and see what happens? I am uploading photos now. If this is gangrene, how long can I wait before dubbing? How does one dub a fully mature cockbird?

 

[CMV]

I was contemplating dubbing my roo after a severe case of frostbite to his wattles. I opted to gather supplies and then "wait and see". He went through the oozing stage, then the black stage and now he is in the sloughing stage. He will have about 1/3 of the wattles he had before, but he is healing up nicely. I collected Procaine G penicillin, syringes, blood-stop powder (hard to find any without lidocaine in it which is toxic to birds) and sharp shears. I found a good link to dubbing which I will include at the bottom of this post. So, feeling prepared to do the deed, I just waited. I figured any infection could be dealt with the penicillin if need be. As it turns out, I didn't need to worry about it. The only thing I did was to use some straight betadine on the wattles when they were at the oozy stage that you are seeing now. It helped to dry out all the fluid that was being produced. I didn't try to drain the fluid off because that fluid is acting like a bandage to the damaged area. I didn't want to allow any access for infection into the frostbite. It will dry up on its own unless an infection sets in. The quickest way to tell if gangrene is setting in is to smell the area. Gangrene stinks terribly like rotting flesh.

I'd try to let it go as long as possible before dubbing. I hate the idea of cutting up living birds and I really hated the idea of destroying my roo's good looks by lopping off his glorious comb and wattles. If you need to dub your roos I'd wrap them completely in a towel and have one person hold the bird while the another person works on him.

http://www.freewebs.com/cajunyankee/dubbing.htm

Good luck.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Any ideas why there is no discoloration? Everything is bright red. He is no longer showable so I would be done with dubbing him and having him strictly as a breeder bird. I was debating on using a cauterizer to cut and seal if I had to dub.

 

[CMV]

The discoloration shows up later. I am pretty sure my roo got frostbite on our worst night (-25 degrees), but he didn't show the discoloration until 3 days later. It was especially disappointing because I thought we were in the clear and then he showed the nasty colors 3 days later.

I have not used a cauterizer. Let us know how it works. Good luck.