HENS FOOT TURNING BLACK- DONT KNOW WHY

[Angie_Chickens]

We've owned chickens for about 4 years and had once dealt with bumble foot, all had healed with no complications.

We realized about 2 weeks ago our hens had bumble again and did what we did last time; Epson salt bath, remove bumble, and wrap foot. Most of our hens are perfectly fine now but two got a bad infection in their foot. We think it's cause the wrap got wet and we didn't change it fast enough. Our older hen (about 6 or 7 years old) with the infection is getting better with soaking and rewrapping with antibiotic ointment.

Our younger hen (1 year old) seems to be getting worst. Her ankle and toe is turning black and the foot is super hot and swollen. Where we thought we got the bumble out of is black too but we tried squeezing and nothing will come out. Her other foot seems to be getting pale also.

Today she stayed in her coup only leaving to eat and drink, none of the other hens are picking on her thankfully but it is very different from her normal behavior.

We read online that it could be because we wrapped her too tightly, so we made sure to wrap are super loose for the past couple of days, but she's still getting worse.

We don't have enough money to go to a vet right now and we're worried she is starting to get a fever and that she might lose her foot. If anyone could tell us how we can help her or why this is happening it would be greatly appreciated.

Ps. Right now we have her isolated in a separate coup with her foot wrapped with antibiotic ointment.

 

[CherishedFowlGuardian]

Tag @Eggcessive and @Wyorp Rock.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

I agree with you, it looks like the foot has had circulation cut off, which is likely from the wrappings.
The tip of the blackened toe may eventually auto amputate. It is concerning that the upper part of the leg is black, but hopefully that will improve with soaking and care. Make sure wrappings aren't too tight and change them daily or more frequently if they get wet or heavily soiled.

 

[Angie_Chickens]

Welcome To BYC

I agree with you, it looks like the foot has had circulation cut off, which is likely from the wrappings.
The tip of the blackened toe may eventually auto amputate. It is concerning that the upper part of the leg is black, but hopefully that will improve with soaking and care. Make sure wrappings aren't too tight and change them daily or more frequently if they get wet or heavily soiled.

Thank you, we feel so bad about it. We have been doing daily soaking and wrapping after we noticed. We're just starting to get worried about that ankle because the blackness is spreading and now she's becoming lethargic.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you, we feel so bad about it. We have been doing daily soaking and wrapping after we noticed. We're just starting to get worried about that ankle because the blackness is spreading and now she's becoming lethargic.

Do you have any antibiotics on hand?

If she's becoming lethargic, that is a concern. See that she's staying hydrated and encourage her to eat.

 

[Angie_Chickens]

Do you have any antibiotics on hand?

If she's becoming lethargic, that is a concern. See that she's staying hydrated and encourage her to eat.

We've been use Neosporin on any of the blackening spots.
We're will to buy some but we aren't sure what kind we should get for her.
She's definitely eating and drinking but seems like she's trying not to walk around much.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would offer her food and water with a little egg every 4-6 hours. Pick her up often to stand to keep her using the leg. I agree with everything Wyorp Rock has said. Antibiotics can take a week to arrive. Amoxicillin 250 mg given orally twice a day for 7-10 days can be obtained here:
https://hardypaw.com/products/fix-m...-OdVW3_sjmTmAaYwiWMXWs6exe-Shzi1mcYSiiKmEPxse

 

[Angie_Chickens]

I would offer her food and water with a little egg every 4-6 hours. Pick her up often to stand to keep her using the leg. I agree with everything Wyorp Rock has said. Antibiotics can take a week to arrive. Amoxicillin 250 mg given orally twice a day for 7-10 days can be obtained here:
https://hardypaw.com/products/fix-m...-OdVW3_sjmTmAaYwiWMXWs6exe-Shzi1mcYSiiKmEPxse

Thank you we'll try this. Do you recommend we keep soaking and wrapping her foot or should we leave it be.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would not wrap the foot but keep her on clean towels or puppy pads.

 

[Angie_Chickens]

Update:

We order those antibiotics and they'd have gotten here by Monday (today) but I had a gut feeling she wasn't going to make it till then, so we took some money from saving and got her to a vet on Saturday.

They told us they don't know what could have caused the blackening on the ankle but it was possible the infection was cutting off circulation. They said she was in a lot of pain and asked us to consider putting her down. Given that she was eating, drinking, and walking around we didn't want to go to putting her down just yet. They gave her some pain meds and antibiotics, wrapped the foot, and told us to keep her isolated inside (so the heat doesn't stress her). They gave us anti inflammatory, antibiotics, and pain meds and told us to come back in a week, if she showed any signs of worsening then consider putting her down.

For the rest of that day she was very perked up and even tried walking on the leg. When Sunday came she was still eating and drinking but acting the same as she was Friday when I made the post (laying around and only getting up for food and water).

Later that night at 12am when I gave her her 8 hour pill she seemed extra droopy but I thought it was because I was waking her up late and she was just tired, so I put her back and didn't think much of it.

This morning (Monday morning 6am) I found that she had pasted in her sleep, doesn't seem to have been painful (im really hoping not), she was huddled like how she normally sleeps but very cold, we think it couldn't have been that long after I gave her that midnight pill.

We are definitely going to miss our girl Houdini, she was definitely a character. She had tons of spirit and we were really hoping she would pull through this. What upsets me the most is that we could never truly find out what was wrong with her. If this is happing to your hen I hope you find out a way to save her.