I rescued 2 chickens today - Help me treat plz - GOOD NEWS UPDATE

[possumqueen]

Not sure what you mean by dog kennel. If it's a plastic shipping crate it's perfect because you can clean those things with hot soapy water and dry them real well. Same if it's a pen on a concrete floor, although the floor might be kinda cold.

You might consider a big old appliance box made of cardboard. When it gets too messy you can throw it away and get another one. Bye bye mites at the same time.

Sounds like ANYTHING you've got them in is better than what they had!

That crack that split open -- it's actually good that it bled really hard even though it looks really scary, because that'll help clean out stuff. Your wife sounds like a real jewel!

(don't forget the pics!)

 

[poultrypatch]

How about taking some Dawn dish liquid....THE ORIGINAL ...only.....put a few drops in warm water and one at a time swish the feet and legs in it....RINSE REALLY REALLY WELL !
If it was my birds I'd do them one at a time with a good hot water cleaning in between for the BUCKET so as not to spread anything more. Although it sure sounds like they have enough between them already. Poor babies.....once again....GREAT YOU for rescuing them. Cudos to your wife too. My DH's idea of helping me is to open the pop door. LOL But you can't beat him for building those cute coops.
Liz
Rochester, MA

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Might also clip their nails back a bit. They seem pretty long, probably from being kept on wire. You can do this with a pair of dog nail clippers, just don't get too close to the quick. If they do start bleeding, use some cayanne pepper, blood stop, or flour to help stop the blood.

 

[Eggcellent]

Quote:
I am comfortable with clipping nails and I was planning on doing it once the redness and swelling goes down a bit. We have a pair of dog clippers and they work great. We got some banty orpingtons earlier in the year that were kept on wire as well... Those poor hens had tonails over an inch long and crazy curly. You wouldn't know it today... They love scratching around in the dirt with the rest of the chickens.

 

[Eggcellent]

Quote:
I probably should have said crate rather than kennel. Its a 2.5'x4' wire cage, but I put an OSB board on the bottom of it so they weren't standing on cold concrete in the garage. I could just use sheets of cardboard or newspaper on top of the board and change them daily. My wifey is a real jewel and is amazing with animals... She can do things that are quite disgusting. I don't know how many kitten necks she has extracted bot fly larvae from.

When she first saw the banties in the cage, she had that "Oh no, MORE chickens" look in her eyes...

But once she found out how they were in such a sad state because of neglect, she couldn't help but be taken in by them. She was under the impression that OEGBs were very flighty and aggressive, but these 2 are probably the friendliest birds I have ever seen.

Glad to hear the bleeding is not neccesarily a bad thing. I think she did the right thing by gluing it shut. She said she just put a drop in the middle so it could still drain if need be.

EDIT: There are pics of the pair on the first page of this thread - didn't know for sure if you missed them or meant for me to add more pics to look at the progress. You can also see the dog crate and wooden floor I am talking about in the photos.

 

[Eggcellent]

Quote:
That was the plan for tonight... Not only will it help clean them - it should help me get a little better picture of what is going on.

 

[Eggcellent]

I got home from work and my wife was able to help me so I could get a better look at their problems... It may be worse than I expected. I found what looks to be a yellow sore/lesion on the hens belly. Her bloody toe is swollen pretty badly and I decided to clip her nails. The were so long it was twisting her toes side to side when she walked. Unfortunately I did nick the quick of a nail.

I did notice an odor on her as well... Kind of like corn chips almost. I thought she was better off than he, but now I think she is in worse condition than him

The rooster's feet were considerably less red and I got good pictures of the black toes I was talking about initially on the rooster. It almost looks like it could be a fungal growth or something. There are 3 black toe tips. They almost look kind of charred. He does not smell badly at all.

The photos are below... They are not pleasant so turn to the next page now if you are squeamish.

















The hens swollen, bloody toe and the quick I nicked. The bleeding from both is under control now.

This yellow lesion on her belly is really concerning. I don't know what it is.

Here are the rooster's feet. On a positive note, they do look much better today. Not nearly as red as before and much cleaner in general (thanks to my DW). The blackened toe tips worry me... Anyone know what it is? A fungus? Frostbite?

 

[Eggcellent]

Here is another photo of the yellow lesion with her head in for perspective.

 

[SallyF]

I'm no chicken expert, but the yellow lesion on your chicken's abdomen reminds me of when my children got impetigo following chicken pox.

"Impetigo is a skin infection typically caused by one of two bacteria: group A streptococcus (the same bacteria that cause strep throat) or staphylococcus aureus. These fairly common bacteria are found on the skin of healthy people. When the skin is broken — like with a cut or a scratch — they can enter the open wound and cause impetigo. Someone whose skin becomes infected develops blisters that usually burst, ooze fluid, and then harden into a honey-colored crust.

So maybe she had some kind of irritation, like from the wire, and a secondary staph or strep infection has gotten started? Just a guess, but it probably wouldn't hurt to put some triple antibiotic ointment on it. Hope you get some expert advice!

 

[Eggcellent]

Quote:
Thanks SallyF,

Now that you mention it, it does kind of look like impetigo. Its almost like a scab. If you look really closely, you can see where there is an area more towards the feet that has healed and the scab has fallen off. The "wound" follows right along the bony part of her lower breast and belly, so it makes sense that maybe living on a wire cage could create almost a bed sore. As bad as her feet are, she probably laid down a lot to avoid the pain.