Frostbite on both legs! Help!

[centrarchid]

Weight determination can be done simply by feeling breast area. Underweight birds will feel bony. The underweight issue, whatever its cause may have played a role in the initial frost bite. I would look closely for signs of worms and if signs found, then treat accordingly. Blood in feces is indicative more than frost bite is at play.

 

[lauranickerson]

Am I just looking for worms in the poo? I've already got safeguard for goats that I bought for chickens that I thought had them when I adopted them. Should I just try that anyways?

 

[centrarchid]

Confer with those that deworm regularly. I deworm only as a part of the culling process. Look up dawg53.

 

[lauranickerson]

So what the heck is happening with her feet? This is a video I took last night. Just started happening. Notice how her foot is curled under. Can't tell if it's dead or not. And her feet smell absolutely awful. Like rot. Especially the regular looking foot. Also, she's wet from after her short Epsom soak.

 

[centrarchid]

Infection appears to be taking all of the left foot. Tendons broke causing toes to curl. Aggressive use of antibiotics will increase odds she survives.

 

[lauranickerson]

Is there anything else I should be doing? My boyfriend has lost hope and thinks I should cull her but I don't think that's necassary yet. I wouldn't feel very comfortable amputating but I suppose I would try if it was her last hope. I will be more aggressive with antibiotic ointment. Is that what antibiotic you're talking about?

 

[centrarchid]

Antibiotic needs to be ingested. Look into what you have available and labelled for poultry at your local feed store. Vet intervention can be considered for a pet. Quality of life will degrade if infection not stopped immediately. I would cull.

 

[Blooie]

I just watched your video. Her feet, especially that one, are far worse than Scout's were after his frostbite. His at least maintained normal coloration and although they are curled they aren't curled completely under. I'm assuming that she has naturally slate colored legs and feet, whereas Scout's were yellow, so it's hard to say if she's that badly discolored or if she had naturally dark feet to start with.

This is a tough call. She looks alert and aware of what's going on around her, and she's certainly still interested in eating. I almost culled Scout one night early into his problem, but decided to sleep on it before making a final decision. The next morning I caught him up on top of Mama Heating Pad, looking adorable (even though the little stinker couldn't figure out how to get back down) so I didn't cull. I figured if he wasn't ready to give up then neither was I. Now he's out in the coop and run with the girls and although his feet are still deformed, he gets around fine and roosts well. He can still outrun me, but then I'm old so it's not much of a challenge.

Whatever you decide to do, you can do it knowing that you are doing what you think is best for her.

You might try rubbing some castor oil into her feet and legs. Sounds silly, but it really did help Scout tremendously - it relieved his pain almost immediately and increased circulation to the damaged parts. Once his pain was relieved, he wasn't favoring the feet as much and didn't pull them up when he walked, which helped with his flexibility. Couldn't hurt, and knowing I was doing something to at least relieve his pain helped on the rough days!!

I don't know if you've been to Scout's page yet, but at the very bottom there is a video of him out in the yard with the girls, and you can see that his curled feet don't seem to impact him at all. I'm praying that it works out that way for your girl, too. The only thing I question is whether antibiotics at this stage of the damage will help that much, but I'll leave advice on that to people far more knowledgeable than I am. I wish you and your lady all the best, and I'm following this closely.

 

[lauranickerson]

I will see what Tractor Supply has tomorrow.

Tonight's update:

I fed her and gave her water and she ate and drank like normal again. She makes her normal cooing noises. Poos are normal looking. I picked her up to rub the castor oil and I see that two of her three toes are now straightened out! Yay! I rubbed castor oil up her whole leg and on her toes, too, though I'm not sure that would help much except maybe soften the dead tissue to make falling off a little easier.

So I will see what they have tomorrow. I know they have antibiotics for things like respiratory problems, could I use that? I'm not sure what it is called now but they replaced their Duramyacin with it.

 

[lauranickerson]

Also, on the curled foot, I can see it's swollen on the top part of the pad area like it has been for a while now, though it's gone down, and is warm to the touch. It is even a little bit down her toes. Hopefully that's a sign that it is still alive?