Dorking roo with ulcerated 5th toe - suggestions? **updated with pic**

[ki4got]

my senior roo's 5th toe on one foot had a ding in it a while back but then appeared to heal. i noticed yesterday when i picked him up it's horribly swollen and looks like it's ulcerated. i squeezed on it a bit and he didn't show any pain response, and only a little bit of ooze came out.

I can't afford a vet visit for him, but at the same time don't want to cull him either, since he's my only mature roo right now. the cockerel is just over 4 months old. any suggestions what i can do for him? +

i'm going to bring him in and clean it up and put him in a hospital cage for now, and will get a pic or 2 of it later to post.

 

[ki4got]

ok well, i did some more research and found using DMSO with pennecillin should help. the dmso is anti-inflammatory and mild pain relief, and pulls other drugs with it since it's so easily absorbed thru the skin.

here's a pic of his toe after soaking in hot soapy water to wash the dirt off the rest of his foot, and then epsom salts loosened up the worst of the scabbed area...

**warning. the pic is kinda gross.**

but i'm posting in the hopes that someone else has worked with something like this before and can give some tips or insights. in the mean time i'm hatching everything i can from him 'just in case'... he hasn't been able to breed anyone for a few days so i don't anticipate fertility is going to last in the eggs much longer.

 

[Uniontown Poultry]

Wow, that is gross! Sorry to hear about your roo. I think the DMSO + penicillin should work well. I would probably do sulfur powder or neosporin topically and oral penicillin, but I'm no expert & it sounds like your remedy may even be better. Put his hospital cage somewhere warm & treat him to watery fruit to stimulate appetite and keep him hydrated, and I bet he'll make a speedy recovery.

And if, when he's up and about, you've got hatching eggs to sell, PM me, as I have been looking for Dorkings for forever! You don't happen to be the Karen I met at Seven Springs, PA last year, representing the Dorking Breeders Club, do you? Just curious.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:

Wow, that is gross! Sorry to hear about your roo. I think the DMSO + penicillin should work well. I would probably do sulfur powder or neosporin topically and oral penicillin, but I'm no expert & it sounds like your remedy may even be better. Put his hospital cage somewhere warm & treat him to watery fruit to stimulate appetite and keep him hydrated, and I bet he'll make a speedy recovery.

And if, when he's up and about, you've got hatching eggs to sell, PM me, as I have been looking for Dorkings for forever! You don't happen to be the Karen I met at Seven Springs, PA last year, representing the Dorking Breeders Club, do you? Just curious.

no, i'm not that karen... and i do have eggs available right now, if you're interested. PM me. i do have another roo with them, he's just younger and not quite as experienced.

I think i need a bigger hospital cage for him, he's kinda cramped in this cage, and since i work from home can't stay inside during the day for all the crowing he's doing. at the moment he's in the back of the pickup truck in his cage, with a cover over it to keep the rain off at least. and with the raised wire floor, he's nice and dry and can yell all he wants at everyone else. LOL my oegb roo keeps harrassing him and asking for a battle. tho the little bugger's lost every time, he still won't give up.

 

[rbaker0345]

I would definitely use the sulphur powder there is a very good product called Wonder Dust which is made for horses, but you can use it on most livestock including chickens. You should be able to get all of these things at a tractor supply or feed store and a CVS. Leave it open unless you see him picking at it. If you have to wrap it, use some roll gauze, maybe like 1/2" and some vetrap or prorap and unwrap it at least once a day to allow oxygen in. The goal is to get it to dry out.

 

[ki4got]

I would definitely use the sulphur powder there is a very good product called Wonder Dust which is made for horses, but you can use it on most livestock including chickens. You should be able to get all of these things at a tractor supply or feed store and a CVS. Leave it open unless you see him picking at it. If you have to wrap it, use some roll gauze, maybe like 1/2" and some vetrap or prorap and unwrap it at least once a day to allow oxygen in. The goal is to get it to dry out.

thanks for the comments. i think the biggest plus was the scab coming off when i soaked him. it had a lot of necrotic tissue under it that i snipped off because it was sticking out at odd angles. as for drying, it is pretty dry now, though he has worked it open a bit today and it's bleeding some. but that's not necessarily a bad thing either, as fresh blood flow will help speed up the healing too.

i plan to soak him again in epsom salts this evening, and treat with the penn/dmso mix again. the swelling was down and the skin looked a more normal shade today, not so red. but it's still huge and ugly compared to his other 5th toe.