HELP!!! What is this??

[mrskenmore]

Thanks! Yes, there is so much great advise and info on here, and I'm so glad there are so many out there with more knowledge than me willing to help out. I feel so much better at least trying to do something to the best of my ability than just sitting around twiddling my thumbs and hoping for the best. Way better instruction and advise than I got when I went to a local "avian" vet for another bird who was not very helpful at all whom I think stressed out my baby chick even more and caused her to die quicker.

Haven't always had a success story, but definitely have had more successes than not.

You are doing great you got this! What is your cutie named? She's a trooper too!

 

[daisyag13]

You are doing great you got this! What is your cutie named? She's a trooper too!

Her name is Poppy, named after the flower.

 

[mrskenmore]

Her name is Poppy, named after the flower.

Awwww! Sending lots of positive vibes and chicken snuggles to Poppy! She's in the best care! Continue to keep us updated on her progress. It takes a lot of determination to nurse a sick chicken and you are doing great. Lots of great advice on this thread already!

 

[coach723]

Day 3 picture of the breast blister looks good, Day 5 looks like it may have regenerated some pus. If there is pus, then it may need to be cleaned out again. Your call, based on how it's looking. Your concerns on hitting organs.... I've put a picture of a skeleton below, so you can see the keel bone, tried to find a good image including organs, but couldn't find a good one, lesser good one also attached.... most of the organs are inside that keel bone, which in a live chicken is also covered in a pretty good layer of breast muscle. Below the keel (closer to the vent) and less protected it's mostly intestines and oviduct (not that you want to hit those either). So when the sore is on the breast, it's unlikely, unless you are just stabbing around and not being remotely careful, that you will hit anything other than muscle.
If you are brave enough to try, someday when you lose a bird, do an informal necropsy yourself. It's much easier to picture where things are and how it all goes together when you've actually seen for yourself. Sometimes it makes things make much more sense. And often will tell you why a bird might have died. Kind of the same learning if you ever process any birds yourself to eat, though that is a different subject.

 

[daisyag13]

Day 7 update:
Removed the pus looking scab from her breast blister last night and a few small pockets of pus that I could see. Sprayed, treated, and wrapped. I FINALLY discovered a way to wrap her without her being able to get to it and pull the nonstick gauze pad off! YEA! I did one wrap going through and around each of her legs and then another wrap just straight across her belly and back. Seems to finally hold it on well.

This morning, decided to go ahead and try to remove some of the pus looking scab from her foot as well since it hasn't really been coming off with her soaks. I plan to remove just the layer of pus scab off the surface of her foot sections at a time so it doesn't cause too much stress on her. We monitor how's she's doing by watching her breathing and if she's still active and alert as well as how much shaking she's doing. She shakes every time we treat her foot, probably because it hurts so much. I'm thinking that if we're able to help remove some of the pus scab quicker without causing too much extra stress, then it'll be a quicker recovery time for her and less pain in the long run. So, I managed to remove about 1/4inch thick pus scab layer on the bottom of her foot today. There was even a spot that was oozing clear liquid which I thought odd. There's still some scab in areas on her foot pad, but I did as much as I thought she could handle. It did bleed some where it was still attached to healthy skin that I had to stop with corn starch because it wouldn't stop with just pressure. But it looked much better afterwards and is starting to look more like the shape her foot pad should be.
I didn't get any pictures because I just wanted to get her treated as quickly as possible and wrapped up so she could rest. I'll get some pics tonight. I may work on pulling more scab off tonight or may just wait until tomorrow morning and give her a day break between each removal. We'll see how she's doing tonight after her soak and how her foot looks. Since her foot was bleeding, I only used the triple antibiotic ointment instead of the sugardine. I'll use the sugardine again at some point to help draw the rest of the infection out.

Still having to torpedo feed her as she doesn't seem to have an appetite at all. She won't even eat out of my hand anymore, but not sure I blame her after all the "torture" we've been putting her through. She is drinking on her own though, so that's good.

Just finished day 6 of cephalexine, so I think that should be good? @coach723 @Eggcessive I had researched the forum and seen that coach had told someone else 5 days for cephalexine. Is that right or should I do longer?

 

[coach723]

Since you are still getting pus, I would continue it for longer. I've seen it given for 14 and 21 days in some cases. It can disrupt the normal gut flora so it's important to monitor droppings for changes and abnormalities, and adjust dosing if needed. I gave one bird a combination of Clindamycin and SMZ-TMP for several months once, for bumblefoot that was suspected to have spread to the bone. If I saw droppings looking sick I adjusted dose downward a little. He did fully recover eventually and lived for many years after that, so no apparent permanent ill effects. You can also give probiotics between doses and after treatment with the antibiotics is complete, to help with the gut flora. You can use chicken probiotics or something like probios (multi species). Or sometimes I've just used human ones because it's easier to pop a capsule in once a day.
Glad it's looking better.

 

[daisyag13]

Since you are still getting pus, I would continue it for longer. I've seen it given for 14 and 21 days in some cases. It can disrupt the normal gut flora so it's important to monitor droppings for changes and abnormalities, and adjust dosing if needed. I gave one bird a combination of Clindamycin and SMZ-TMP for several months once, for bumblefoot that was suspected to have spread to the bone. If I saw droppings looking sick I adjusted dose downward a little. He did fully recover eventually and lived for many years after that, so no apparent permanent ill effects. You can also give probiotics between doses and after treatment with the antibiotics is complete, to help with the gut flora. You can use chicken probiotics or something like probios (multi species). Or sometimes I've just used human ones because it's easier to pop a capsule in once a day.
Glad it's looking better.

So her droppings haven't been normal since we've brought her in from day 1. Again, I attributed this to her not eating and drinking enough because they looked like that type. Very small and green. I have noticed that her droppings lately seem to be very liquidy, but thought it was from her drinking only water and not really eating. I wasn't the one who cleaned out her crate this time, so I can't really discribe what they look like now. I will see if I can get a pic of that tonight and let you tell me what you think about her droppings and whether I should adjust her meds. For now I'll keep going with them as is and add the probiotics. Thanks!

 

[AuntiePatriciaUSA]

I have an almost 3 yr old starlight green egger chicken that I thought had bumblefoot, but once I got her in and soaked her foot and looked at it closer, am wondering if that's what it actually is. I've attached some pictures to show how crazy her foot looks. I've researched and haven't found any pictures that look anywhere near what her foot looks like. It's all swollen, possibly warm, reddish in some spots, bleeding in some spots, looks like her skin is peeling, and it smells something awful (which I don't remember from my other bumblefoot cases). Our coop is like Fort Knox in that no predators can get in; however recently we noticed a rat in the storage area of the coop where the chickens do not have access. I have set out traps to catch it, but haven't been successful yet and was afraid to use any poison since it was so close to the chickens. Just discovered today that the rat chewed his way into the coop and has been in there for who knows how long. Set more traps to catch the booger. After seeing and smelling her foot, wondering if it's an infection from rat bites? We have 30 chickens in the coop with a 3 tier roost setup. This chicken normally roosts on the top bar, and none of the other chickens seem to have anything wrong with their feet like this. I do have one that is limping that I assume is bumblefoot again since she just had bumblefoot surgery about a month ago. Because we have had issues with bumblefoot recently, I've been trying to keep an eye on all the chicken's feet while they peck around, and think I would've noticed something this major before now (although we've been gone for the holidays for 5 days).

For now, I've just soaked her foot in epsom salt water, srubbed it as clean as I could, sprayed it with chlorhexadine solution and betadine, applied triple antiobiotic ointment, and wrapped it up. I was afraid to cut into her foot because honestly, I didn't even know where to start. There was no obviously single scab like normal bumblefoot. I also didn't want to cut her foot all up trying to find bumblefoot if that's not what it is. The whole pad of her foot looks like peeling black scabby skin. Please help! What is this and what do I do for her?

FYI: The first 3 pictures are before cleaning. The last 3 are after soaking and scrubbing her foot with a stiff bristle brush.

I've been reading a DMSO book and I think I'd put a little DMSO in the water bath... or do research for the ratio of DMSO to water online. It's been used for animals for years, is safe, but I'm not sure you'd want to use it full-strength, directly on a wound. Please research the possibility. Poor chicken! I'd definitely avoid surgery if at all possible... creates open wounds... ouch!!!!!