gangrene and amputation

[City Chicken]

my 11 day old cornish X chick has gangrene on the last bit of his wing. some sort of injury (i actually did put ointment on it yesterday, but today it' is GREEN).
should i amputate???
otherwise a very healthy chick so i don't want to just let it die.

edited to add:
i made my choice after reading some of the posts about amputation. who knew this was so controversial!!
thanks.

 

[Yazzo]

I just had a hen a few days ago with the same symptoms after she broke a wing. Believe it or not, gangrene is almost never actually...well, green. It's usually a blue-ish purple, and is caused by the flesh actually dieing, usually from being frozen. Green, at least in my hen's case, signified a bad bacterial infection, which is treatable, as the flesh is still alive (although even true gangrene in the beginning stages is treatable).

So how did I treat it? Garlic. Yep, several cloves of raw garlic, soaked in vinegar, and fed whole to her twice a day (two or three cloves per day), for just a couple of days totally cured it. I was...completely amazed. I knew garlic was a powerful antibiotic, but not that powerful!

It may be a bit hard to feed an 11 day old chick garlic (you could feed him/her a very, very small clove, or a piece of a clove), but it's certainly something to think about. It's certainly cheaper, and safer, as you can't really OD, than conventional antibiotics. Think it may be more effective too, judging by the way it worked...I'll have to experiment more. However, amputation would be my very last resort.

 

[City Chicken]

i did amputate because i have seen this spread fast before and it was under the skin- so it would have taken IV antibiotics.
but i will give him garlic as post op care. he is doing well. began eating and drinking within minutes of being bandaged up.

 

[casportpony]

i did amputate because i have seen this spread fast before and it was under the skin- so it would have taken IV antibiotics.
but i will give him garlic as post op care. he is doing well. began eating and drinking within minutes of being bandaged up.

I amputated one at the shoulder, but a little betadine and neosporin on it and she was fine. I didn't even try to bandage it. Sounds like you did the right stuff.

 

[City Chicken]

how did you stop the bleeding with no bandage? and how did you stop her from picking at herself?

 

[tomhoogstra]

how did you stop the bleeding with no bandage? and how did you stop her from picking at herself?

Put one of those things they put around dogs on her.
So they dont bite there stitches, im not sure what theyre called though.

Its like a bowl collar.

 

[casportpony]

​

how did you stop the bleeding with no bandage? and how did you stop her from picking at herself?

There was more blood when it irst happened because it was an open fracture. I tried to set it and wrap it, but the wing died, so not much blood when I chopped it off. She never tried to peck at it.

 

[City Chicken]

so i examined him today to see how the healing was going. there is a small pocket a green!!!
very small, so i pricked it, alcoholed it and added a prescription strength anitbiotic ointment. i also force fed him a clove of garlic.
man, i hope this works. this is just ridiclous.

 

[City Chicken]

just wanted to update and attest to the effectiveness of the treatment plan. i administered 3 total garlic doses, 1 each day. i had to chop it up and force feed, but oh well.
i cleaned it a second time and it has healed to nice clean PINK flesh!!! all is well!
thanks for the input! Lefty is going to be just fine.

 

[casportpony]

just wanted to update and attest to the effectiveness of the treatment plan. i administered 3 total garlic doses, 1 each day. i had to chop it up and force feed, but oh well. 
i cleaned it a second time and it has healed to nice clean PINK flesh!!! all is well!
thanks for the input! Lefty is going to be just fine.

That's great news! You cal yours Lefty, lol, I call mine UNO.