Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[LozzyR]

@Kris5902 - Bob is the expert on antibiotics but I have a fair bit of experience with wounds and tissue care (admittedly in mammals who are different).

... should have read ahead....

 

[RoyalChick]

RC, do you have a medical background? You might have enrolled in ‘Chicken Breeds 101’ but your discourse on medications sounds quite knowledgeable.

Long story but I do have a fair bit of experience dealing with chronic infected wounds including infected bone) in mammals (people).
My knowledge is all a bit dated, and wound treatment technology has come a long way since my day, but as long as I am aware of the differences between mammalian and avian physiology it is still very relevant.
Open festering wounds are more my thing than walled off abscesses (though draining those in mammals is very satisfying!). Believe it or not I even have experience using honey and leeches (though not at the same time) on wounds!
Does any of that qualify me as a witch?

 

[MaryJanet]

Long story but I do have a fair bit of experience dealing with chronic infected wounds including infected bone) in mammals (people).
My knowledge is all a bit dated, and wound treatment technology has come a long way since my day, but as long as I am aware of the differences between mammalian and avian physiology it is still very relevant.
Open festering wounds are more my thing than walled off abscesses (though draining those in mammals is very satisfying!). Believe it or not I even have experience using honey and leeches (though not at the same time) on wounds!
Does any of that qualify me as a witch?

Yes, you're a witch for sure!

 

[drstratton]

You know, she could have had cream legbar. .

Sorry...she! I think she might!

 

[LozzyR]

That can’t possibly be comfortable!

 

[Kris5902]

@Kris5902 - Bob is the expert on antibiotics but I have a fair bit of experience with wounds and tissue care (admittedly in mammals who are different).
Looking at the picture closely, it looks like the swelling is mainly in the foot and less 'up the leg' than it was previously. This is both good and bad. It suggests that the infection is deep and walled in - maybe in tissue, but possibly in bone. That means anaerobic bacteria is more likely (go with Bob's recommendation on antibiotic) but it also means it will be tough for the antibiotic to reach the infection as it may not have much blood flow.
Birds tend to wall off infection and it becomes a sort of solid mass - so it is possible it is mainly already inactive - though the redness suggests it is still going. Does the swollen part of the foot feel 'tense' or hard? Is it hot? Or does it just feel like regular foot?
Anyway, because of what is likely going on I think you need to try drawing out the infection physically in parallel to using the antibiotics. Particularly as chicken pus (unlike mammalian pus) tends to be more solid and will eventually actually need scraping out.
Ref (worth reading on avian abscesses): https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79136_79608_85016-26357--,00.html
I know you thought soaking was impossible because of the cold - but I would really encourage you to try if you can figure out how. The goal is to soften the skin so that any infection can make its way out and allow you to pull or scrape out any plugs. Making the soaking solution 'hyper osmolar' (which means more concentrated than his tissues also helps pull fluid out and reduce swelling which will make him more comfortable at least temporarily.
The drawing salve does something similar which is soften the skin so infected material bursts through on its own - again you will end up needing to physically pull/scrape the solid stuff out.
I have marked in green where I think you might try the drawing salve.
View attachment 2501371

That was where I was thinking of applying the ointment in the circle. I’ve never used it before. I’m hoping the Tylosin will help as well. If I can get it to the surface I can debride it and hopefully get it all out this time. I’m thinking it will probably look like this. Morning medication, 20 minute warm soak if it’s not freezing outside, dry and apply the ointment. Then evening medication. I may not be able to soak each day, depending on time constraints, but I will do my best to. I want to reserve some of the drawing salve as well for his other foot, which also has a massive bumble I’ve been not treating until he isn’t so lame.

 

[RoyalChick]

That was where I was thinking of applying the ointment in the circle. I’ve never used it before. I’m hoping the Tylosin will help as well. If I can get it to the surface I can debride it and hopefully get it all out this time. I’m thinking it will probably look like this. Morning medication, 20 minute warm soak if it’s not freezing outside, dry and apply the ointment. Then evening medication. I may not be able to soak each day, depending on time constraints, but I will do my best to. I want to reserve some of the drawing salve as well for his other foot, which also has a massive bumble I’ve been not treating until he isn’t so lame.

Yes the other foot may benefit from the ring approach that Shad is using assuming you can see it in the base of his foot. But that really is a lot for you to cope with at once. Could you soak both feet at once?

 

[Kris5902]

White. Thick, No smell by the time I get to it.

No smell and no yellow chunks is very good. Stringy looking white strands is not though. That was something I saw in Roostie that I hadn’t seen in any other bumbles before. I’ve only had to treat a few, and never any as severe as these before. The smell from his draining bumble was absolutely awful... so I think you’re fairly well off so far.

OK that is good! That is pus before it gets solid so you want to keep letting it out. Soaking, some massage while the scab is off to get more of it out.
In theory you should probably irrigate the wound (water would be fine) to flush more of it out and then pack it with some gauze (change daily) which will wick it out and help it heal in with healthy tissue. But I can only begin to imagine how hard that would be on a rooster and single handed.

Yes, yes it is... even with a very docile and tolerant boy! I agree, but a sterile saline or betadine or chlorhexadine solution would be even better. The preservative free contact lens solution in a spray can is good if you can find one (my body piercer actually recommends it for similar purposes, I don’t have a ton of piercings, but went to a really good shop for all of them) the slightly pressurized stream makes it much more doable as a single person. The location of the area you’re treating makes it really, really awkward on your own.

 

[Scrambles83]

That can’t possibly be comfortable!

View attachment 2501669

I see your ‘questioning comfort’ and raise you ‘how are you laying like that?’

 

[Kris5902]

Believe it or not I even have experience using honey and leeches (though not at the same time) on wounds!
Does any of that qualify me as a witch?

We will have to check @Shadrach’s opinion, maybe he could ask his local one about it? But I would say that certainly does seem to qualify you!

Yes the other foot may benefit from the ring approach that Shad is using assuming you can see it in the base of his foot. But that really is a lot for you to cope with at once. Could you soak both feet at once?

I can, and I initially was soaking both feet, but I’m a little wary of having the other one start draining as well. Mostly, if he will still be mobile enough to keep near his Little tribe. When the now swollen foot was draining he mostly just sat in one place all day, and while the weather wasn’t awful it wasn’t too bad, but a few days I had to rush out and rescue him from sudden drenching rain storms. It was clearly paining him so much he wouldn’t put it down, so I decided to leave him the one functional foot, and stopped treating it. The scab was starting to lift and leak, but I wanted to focus on the worst foot first. And let him keep some of his mobility.