Gangrenous chicken comb due to frostbite

[Freckledbear]

We had a few severely cold days last week. Went to the coop three days ago and found one hen with a bloody comb and acting listless.

Here is what I know and current symptoms:
Age: 9 months
Breed: Buff Warington
Symptoms:
-acting listless
-poor coordination
-Black comb and beak
-loss of appetite
-closed eyelids
-blood in stool this morning


What I’ve done since I found her five days ago:

Day one: Brought her inside to my “sick ward”. Cleaned the wound with soapy water. Gave her food and water. Applied MicrocynAH wound care spray.

Day two: improvement. Not a lot of movement. Ate a little. Drank a little. Blood had dried. No smell coming from it. Eyes started to open slightly. Continued wound spray.

Day three: she seemed to be on the upside. Was absolutely ravenous and ate a ton. Drank a ton. (On her own) previous days I had to help her. Was moving around her area. Eyes fully open and she was alert. Continued wound spray.

Day four: smell started to set it. Listless. Ate some tomato with me prompting her. I put some oregano oil on her wound and in her mouth. (Supposed to be a natural antibiotic). By the end of the day her eyes were fully closed and she would only take little sips of water from the tomato.

Day five (today) : she’s in rough shape. She took one poop and there seems to be blood in it. She’s hardly moving or reacting.

All in all, I’m 99% sure her wound has become gangrenous and she wasn’t able to fight off the infection. I’m almost certain she isn’t going to make it but is there anything y’all recommend?


Side note: i have my dogs running around and do have her in the home. They’re awesome and she’s in calm environment. I do let them go by her because from what I’ve read I don’t think she’s contagious.

Can anyone tell me if I’m way off base with my diagnosis and letting my dogs and myself be near her?

 

[TesoroSena]

Pictures?

 

[Freckledbear]

Photos are in chronological order.

Yes, I had her upstairs during the day so she receives sunlight.

She gets locked up, in the basement, under a heat lamp when I can’t keep an eye on her.

I can try for better photos but I’m having trouble uploading them

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Here is what I know and current symptoms:
Age: 9 months
Breed: Buff Warington
Symptoms:
-acting listless
-poor coordination
-Black comb and beak
-loss of appetite
-closed eyelids
-blood in stool this morning

Day four: smell started to set it. Listless. Ate some tomato with me prompting her. I put some oregano oil on her wound and in her mouth. (Supposed to be a natural antibiotic). By the end of the day her eyes were fully closed and she would only take little sips of water from the tomato.

She took one poop and there seems to be blood in it. She’s hardly moving or reacting.

All in all, I’m 99% sure her wound has become gangrenous

Better photos would be helpful.

Can you please get photos of her poop?

Is her vent damaged in any way or does she have a prolapse?

You had a cold spell - do you have photos of her comb when you found her? Did she suffer Frostbite or do you think she was attacked?

Black Beak? Please, post photos.

Any other injuries on her body?

Hard to know which way to go, but if there's an odor, (I assume it's from the comb??) Then treat as a wound instead of Frostbite.

You can find Hibiclens (Chlorhexidine) at Walmart, CVS. Use this to swab and clean the wound. Apply Triple antibiotic ointment to the wound after you have cleaned it.

Work on hydration, electrolytes or sugar water. Once she's drinking, offer her a wet mash of her normal feed, bits of egg, fish, meat, etc. to see if you can get her to eat.

Did you dilute the Oregan Oil at all? I would stop using it for now.

Do you have any antibiotics on hand? If you do, what do you have -photos?
If you don't, is vet care an option?

The blood in the poop is concerning. Not sure what would be causing that unless she has some internal injuries....?

 

[Eggcessive]

Good advice from Wyorp Rock. How cold and what were the temps during the nights or days during the cold spell? Did anyone else have frostbite? Do you have a rooster? Do you think that her comb might have been injured by the other chickens or a rooster instead of being frostbitten? Usually, frostbitten combs become black and may be painful, but it usually doesn’t cause all of the other problems she is having. Hens’ comb don’t usually get frostbitten down to the base of the skull, unless they are huge and it was very very cold. Can you post pictures of her bloody poop? Is she having trouble walking or standing? Hopefully, she doesn’t have something else going on that might have caused the other chickens to attack her comb. It takes weeks to months, but most combs will heal, and frostbite can cause smaller or rounded off combs.