HELP! What’s wrong with her foot!?

[21hens-incharge]

Thanks! I just did the surgery, and then went to put gauze with silver gel on her foot, and she ate it out of my hand!!!! Will she be ok?!

I truly do not know.
Treat her as if she will be ok.

@azygous are you available? I have zero knowledge on a chicken haven eaten a piece of gauze with silver gel on it.

 

[azygous]

Many years ago when I was still kind of new here, I posted a thread about my chicken eating a bandaid she pulled off the back of my leg. Here's what happened. Nothing.

The gauze part disappeared in the digestive juices, and the plastic part showed up in the poop the next day, wrinkled and barely recognizable. As for the silver, people drink that colloidal silver all the time, and besides turning their skin blue, it doesn't do anything. And I mean nothing. Studies have shown the stuff is pretty worthless as a healing agent.

 

[Traffie Chickens]

She seems to be actually walking/limping today! Yesterday she would just sit and not move at all! So I think she’s improving, but all I did was take the scab off the foot, and then tried to remove as much of the puss sack as I could. Then just wrapped it exactly like the thread said. Is there something else I should do? Thanks for all of your guys help!

 

[21hens-incharge]

She seems to be actually walking/limping today! Yesterday she would just sit and not move at all! So I think she’s improving, but all I did was take the scab off the foot, and then tried to remove as much of the puss sack as I could. Then just wrapped it exactly like the thread said. Is there something else I should do? Thanks for all of your guys help!

Change the bandage every day for a week then you can go to twice a week for 2 weeks. After that she may be healed enough to go barefoot.

Do use triple antibiotic ointment on the gauze. It really does help.

 

[Red Horse]

If there is even a hint of a hole/scab left on her foot, don't un-bandage it. If you do, poop and any other gross stuff she happens to walk through will pack up into the space and cause the same thing to happen again. I went through it last year. It sucks to have to keep bandaging every day even though it looks better but it will suck even worse if you have to do surgery and go thru the whole process again. Keep it covered and clean until the skin looks like nothing ever happened, only then let her go without a bandage.

 

[Traffie Chickens]

Hi! So I am wondering if chickens with bumble foot usually walk on it? Because my hen (Fiddle), won’t hardly put any pressure on it at all. So she just sits in the run all day. And I never see her eat or drink , unless I bring her to it. Also, should I separate her from the rest of the flock?, because all she does is lay on the floor so, she is getting trampled by the others. And I think it’s probably bad that my rooster keeps trying to mount her, since she seems like she’s in a lot of pain. Answers are appreciated!

 

[Red Horse]

Hi! So I am wondering if chickens with bumble foot usually walk on it? Because my hen (Fiddle), won’t hardly put any pressure on it at all. So she just sits in the run all day. And I never see her eat or drink , unless I bring her to it. Also, should I separate her from the rest of the flock?, because all she does is lay on the floor so, she is getting trampled by the others. And I think it’s probably bad that my rooster keeps trying to mount her, since she seems like she’s in a lot of pain. Answers are appreciated!

Is her foot pad still swollen and hard?

 

[azygous]

Injured or sick chickens sometimes do not fare well when left in the midst of the flock to fend for themselves. Many of us have a dedicated corner of our runs fenced off for such chickens. They are still with their flock and this contributes to their emotional comfort, but they are not at the mercy of other chickens that may take advantage of their weakened state to bully them. You might have a large dog kennel you could put her in to protect her.

Chickens have different pain thresholds like people do. But there is also the possibility you've misjudged the seriousness of her injury. Can you post a current photo of the foot?

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

She ate the gauze and everything!

Heh. I had a group of particularly aggressive Rhode Island Reds, and they once tried (and partly succeeded) eating the styrofoam insulation in their coop.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I am wondering if it is perhaps wrapped to tightly.

Yes to segregation during healing.
I too have a section of the coop and run I can separate birds into.