Frostbite on both legs! Help!

[lauranickerson]

Also, a little update:

Her legs keep getting a little more swollen every day. Today, since it was sunny out, and not too chilly or windy, I took her outside just so she could hear and see her friends. That ended when they started fighting (should have expected that, being that she's fallen out of the pecking order). I took her to the front yard where she was alone, and gave her a scoop of food. She ate a lot of it, all while standing alright.

What freaked me right out is when I initially set her down in the front yard, something fell off of her. First thought was a couple feathers, but no - it was her whole wing tip!! I picked it up and sat there, staring at it, dumbfounded for quite a few minutes. The night I found her, there was what looked like a little bit of bruising on the joint, but I didn't think much of it. Yeah, well big mistake. The tip had a bit of yellow ooze (sorry, gross), but when I looked at the chicken, the joint didn't look too bad, besides a little blood as if a scab got picked off.

Within minutes she was splayed out in the sun like a happy chicken does, and it made me happy to see that. Even though almost everyone I tell about her tells me to put her out of her misery, I just can't give up when she doesn't seem unhappy. She still coos and seems completely alert. If I couldn't obviously see the wounds, I would have no idea she was even hurt. She acts totally fine.

Hopefully this medicine will have her healing faster in no time.

 

[justplainbatty]

Also, a little update:

Her legs keep getting a little more swollen every day. Today, since it was sunny out, and not too chilly or windy, I took her outside just so she could hear and see her friends. That ended when they started fighting (should have expected that, being that she's fallen out of the pecking order). I took her to the front yard where she was alone, and gave her a scoop of food. She ate a lot of it, all while standing alright.

What freaked me right out is when I initially set her down in the front yard, something fell off of her. First thought was a couple feathers, but no - it was her whole wing tip!! I picked it up and sat there, staring at it, dumbfounded for quite a few minutes. The night I found her, there was what looked like a little bit of bruising on the joint, but I didn't think much of it. Yeah, well big mistake. The tip had a bit of yellow ooze (sorry, gross), but when I looked at the chicken, the joint didn't look too bad, besides a little blood as if a scab got picked off.

Within minutes she was splayed out in the sun like a happy chicken does, and it make me happy to see that. Even though almost everyone I tell about her tells me to put her out of her misery, I just can't give up when she doesn't seem unhappy. She still coos and seems completely alert. If I couldn't obviously see the wounds, I would have no idea she was even hurt. She acts totally fine.

Hopefully this medicine will have her healing faster in no time.

Can you give us a pic of this wing injury? there's things you might want to do for that too. Poor girl.

 

[lauranickerson]

Can you give us a pic of this wing injury? there's things you might want to do for that too. Poor girl.

Yeah. Here are the pictures of everything a few minutes ago.


This is her right leg. I think she may keep almost half of each toe. But her hock is pretty swollen, Not really squishy, either.



This was the foot that was curled under. I think it is all pretty much dead until it turns light, which is also swelling.



Here's where I gave her the injection. Now there is a tiny red spot on the skin, and the dark spot looks like a tiny bit of blood in the muscle. You can see the little bit of penicillin in-between the muscle and skin. There was no blood when I pulled back which doing the injection. I didn't do it in a vein, did I? And if I did, will that hurt her?



Here is her wing. The skin is all pink and nice with no swelling that I can see. Just that scab looking thing where there was a little blood after the wing tip fell off.



Here it is again. Not sure what even happened to the wing to injure it like that. I thought maybe just a little bruise from trying to catch herself with her wings...

 

[lauranickerson]

Also, is she going to start acting any worse because of the shots? I've read a few threads on here that say they get really lethargic and sleepy after starting penicillin.

 

[silky smooth]

first things first

HEY EVERYBODY Lauran missed the vein on her first try! Congratulations Lauran!

down to business, shall we

wing tip:
I would debride the wound. clear away all of the existing debris and scab from it. in the process you might be able to identify the cause. then sterilize the wound and dress with ointment or salve. and then let it scab back up on its own and heal from there.

perhaps a sliver or something caused it.or maybe just banged it on something or repeated contact with the floor from using as a crutch caused skin tears.

right leg:
left leg:
they have a blood stripe in their nails like dogs. she will most likely keep any toes that have blood to the nails, as long as the flow isn't interrupted she should. if you fear the health of the one foot a way to test is to use guillotine clippers on the deadest looking of nails, have clotting agent on hand. she might surprise you.

shots: don't worry about the little bit you spilled between the skin and muscle. it too will be absorbed. if it had been much more it might have been a wasted dose( one that doesn't count).
see the purple spot? the goal is to avoid those. and you did!

They should not get lethargic, or act weird. if they do the dose is too high. by dividing the dose (yes it's more work) you can lessen the effects of the tapering. rise/taper up --plateau--drop\taper down

please if anyone has anything to add or offer please do.

 

[lauranickerson]

Thank you!!

About the feet. I only think she will lose the whole left foot and partial toes on the other foot because they are crispy and lifeless. The black foot won't bend at all, and the other toes will only bend about halfway up.

 

[justplainbatty]

first things first

HEY EVERYBODY Lauran missed the vein on her first try! Congratulations Lauran!

down to business, shall we

wing tip:
I would debride the wound. clear away all of the existing debris and scab from it. in the process you might be able to identify the cause. then sterilize the wound and dress with ointment or salve. and then let it scab back up on its own and heal from there.

perhaps a sliver or something caused it.or maybe just banged it on something or repeated contact with the floor from using as a crutch caused skin tears.

right leg:
left leg:
they have a blood stripe in their nails like dogs. she will most likely keep any toes that have blood to the nails, as long as the flow isn't interrupted she should. if you fear the health of the one foot a way to test is to use guillotine clippers on the deadest looking of nails, have clotting agent on hand. she might surprise you.

shots: don't worry about the little bit you spilled between the skin and muscle. it too will be absorbed. if it had been much more it might have been a wasted dose( one that doesn't count).
see the purple spot? the goal is to avoid those. and you did!

They should not get lethargic, or act weird. if they do the dose is too high. by dividing the dose (yes it's more work) you can lessen the effects of the tapering. rise/taper up --plateau--drop\taper down

please if anyone has anything to add or offer please do.

I second everything stated here!

 

[lauranickerson]

So here is a short update. Last night was penicillin shot #4. She seems to trying to move around a lot more. Still clumsy because she's got a useless, lifeless foot that she isn't used to, but I can see an improvement in her mobility. She still knocks over her food dish every time I set it in there because she's trying to get as close as possible, then tips it with her dead foot, not realizing how close it really is.

She's still cooing and chirping like a happy chicken. She seems to still be eating and drinking fine...maybe eating a tad less than she would if nothing happened.

Her legs are still really swollen and warm, but I'm hoping they will get better soon. It appears to me that her dead foot is starting its journey of separating from the leg. It is a little bloody around the rim of the dead skin, and the scales are peeling back a little bit.

Should I do the full week of penicillin? I've read not to go past 7 days.

Here are a few photos from last night. She's a little dirty because she laid in her water and got all wet.

 

[silky smooth]

Always, Always finish a full round of antibiotics.

 

[lauranickerson]

I knew that about antibiotics but the problem is I'm not sure how long this is supposed to go. I've seen 4 -6 days on here, and the bottle days don't use more than 7 days. Should I go 7 days then?

Update: the dead foot is coming loose. Yuck! Still can't tell if the other foot is going to be okay. It's not hard and dried up on the pad up to the first knuckle like the other foot, but still just seems lifeless. It's still soft like flesh should be, but yeah.