How to treat an injured and infected leg?

[hawkeyext]

Hello, we just noticed one of our barred rocks was limping around and discovered a crevice in her leg that now has dirt/debris/an infection(?) stuck in it. Has anyone encountered something like the photos below and does anyone know how to treat it?

Thank you.

 

[coach723]

Do you have vet care available? Based on how that looks in the pictures I think that would be best. It appears that she may have gotten something wrapped around that leg that cut in pretty deep. It does appear to still have circulation, but I think it's going to need to be cleaned out well and made sure that nothing is still in there wrapped around the leg, and she's probably going to need a round of antibiotics. As deep as it looks I think in this case a vet would be best.

 

[Cragg Klefor]

Agree with above. Poor chicken. Looks like its lucky you copped it.

 

[NanaKat]

Definitely a cut from something wrapped around the foot...possibly a string, wire, even a thick hair (like horse or cow).
I've had this happen before with hay twine fibers left in hay in the barn lot where my birds like to free range.
This is an injury you can treat.
Since the toes have good color, circulation has not been impaired.
Soak the foot in some Epsom salt water to loosen the dirt and soften the dead tissue. Gently clean the area. Check for the wire or string and remove it.
Let the wound air dry and keep him in a clean cage until it scabs.
Start him on antibiotics and continue for about a week.
If the wound begins to fester then soak, dry and then apply Neosporin or bag balm to the cut.
If he is inside a clean cage you won't need to wrap it.
When healing is evident, apply Blue wound spray to keep other birds from pecking his leg and put him back with his flock.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with everything posted so far. So glad that you discovered this. And I would remove the leg band and any others fro your chickens. Her injury may not have been from the leg bands, but since I have read of so many leg band injuries here on BYC, I do not use them anymore. I also pick up every string or strand of plastic that come off feed bads because they will invariably find their way on or in the chickens.

 

[hawkeyext]

Hello, and thank you all for your advice. We tried the epsom salt bath once with no luck. We just tried again and managed to scrape the scab (?) off. It almost looks like part of her leg too but she didn't fuss "too" much when we did it so I can't imagine it is. Never seen anything like this though. Has anyone else?

We used antibiotics. It was bleeding but seems to have slowed down.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos of what the leg looks like now after you removed that?
It looks like chicken pus to me.
Did you happen to break that apart to see what's inside? Especially where I have the arrow pointing. I agree with the others, it sure looks like she has something wrapped around the leg that caused it to fester.

 

[hawkeyext]

Photos below. We didn't try cracking the part that broke off, in half. I wish we did.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That's not looking to bad!
Is the foot swelling going down at all?