Frostbite, what to do now?

[kaitnnn1]

I have a rooster that just turned 5 years old. He got frost bite over the winter and now the dead tissue has fallen off. Now a bone is sticking out of the foot and i'm not sure what to do. I don't know whether to clip the bone or what, it sounds painful! It's also pretty swollen. Please give me experienced answers!!!

 

[chooks4life]

That may be a vet job, and quickly. Infection that gets into bones can go systematic rapidly and kill rapidly too. If you can't afford a vet, you may want to consider amputating it yourself. Or pulling out that bone. It cannot be left sticking out and keeping the infected site open to more infection, and preventing the healing.

I'm Australian, we don't have frostbite issues here, but I did have a hen who received a severe toe injury that left the bone exposed, but thankfully this one cut the bone as well, so all I had to do was keep it disinfected and protected and the stump covered over nicely. I used Stockholm tar. But that's a lot of bone sticking out your roo has there. You may want to start feeding him raw garlic daily for natural antibiotics, or give him artificial antibiotics, to deal with the swelling in his foot.

Best wishes.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

I had the same thing happen to a roo if mine once.
His look infected. The first thing to do is address that. Wash his feet in antibacterial soap and rinse well. Then soak his feet in epsom salts every day. After soaking pat them dry and apply antibacterial ointment. Make sure it does not have lanacaine it is toxic to birds. Then wrap them in gauze and cover them to keep them clean. I used cheap baby socks. It would be best to keep him in a pen or crate to keep his feet clean and dry.

You can give him Pen-G injections IM too, that may be a good idea in his case. How long ago did his feet freeze?

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Here is a link to another thread about this.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...d-portions-of-the-bone-separate#post_13059377

 

[kaitnnn1]

@VioletBlueIvy@chooks4life thank you very much! I'll be getting in touch with a vet soon and clean it in the mean time. I think it needs to be surgically removed and i could do it but i'd rather have a professional just in case since he's an old bird. I have to vet's i can ask about it so hopefully at least one will be able to do it!

 

[kaitnnn1]

Two*

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

Awesome, he is a lucky bird He has alot of foot left he should be fine once you get him sorted out Good Luck!

 

[CTChickenMom]

I have a roo with 2 toes damaged, one has bone exposed and the other has skin coming off. Time to get antibiotics going. He's the one in my profile pic.

 

[chooks4life]

Best wishes to everyone with their frostbitten birds, glad I don't have to worry about that!