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

[Bizzybirdy]

Soak their feet in warm water several times a day with Epsom salt...they can stand in a shallow dish of it for awhile, works wonders. Then apply Neosporin. In fact you can dunk the hen in it (her whole body) and blow dry her. I did that to one of my roos and he loved the dryer part. lol It will heal lesions and also help get rid of any mites.

Wonderful that you rescued these two. They will soon be beautiful birds again....

 

[Ladyhawke1]

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This looks like Bumble Foot to me.

 

[pixie74943]

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AND if you get DW to clean out the cage while you have the birds soaking... you'll get the mites off the bird and out of the cage at the same time No re-mite-ification when you put them back

good luck and keep the pictures coming

 

[possumqueen]

You're ON the right track, Eggcellent! Keep them pics and posts coming!

The vet will probably be able to tell you what the black stuff is, even if she doesn't do chickens much. Trauma is trauma, whatever animal has it!

maggie

 

[chinbunny]

When I bred chickens, i kept mine in wire rabbit cages. The cages do not cause those problems. Sounds like these birds just weren't cared for that well. We used to dip our chickens feet in motor oil to kill the leg mites.

 

[Eggcellent]

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The wire may not have caused it... But, the mindset that says its OK to leave 2 birds in an exposed 2x2 wire-bottom cage in open farm country with howling winds and temps that can fall into the negative 20s certainly shows what a lack of respect this owner had for the well-being of these chickens. I am not convinced the wire was not at least a contributing factor. I have some banty orps who were also kept in a cage before I got them. They had some pretty banged up feet as well... Nothing like these birds though.

 

[Eggcellent]

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Sorry tulie13,

I must have missed your post last night when I was replying to everyone. I don't really feel comfortable with injections, but my DW would be more than willing I'm sure. She at least has some nursing school under her belt. I will stop in at the feed store on my lunch break and see what they have. Also, the pair looked about the same this morning. No more blood leaking from the toe or anything. And the roo was crowing for the first time. I gotta tell you that hen really stinks. I really wanted to give her a full body bath but I was just worried about the cold. The blow dryer is a great idea.

I did email a vet professor in diagnostic medicine at MSU this morning. The receptionist says he would be the best person that may be able to help. I gave him a link to this thread so hopefully he will pop in.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I have not read this entire thread so if I repeat someone else forgive me.
You need to keep these birds in a temp stable warm area (yet with sufficient ventilation).
(Birds that feel poorly are unable to maintain body heat properly . temp swings will compromise the immune function capability)
I suggest you purchase AviaCharge 2000 (you can only purchase it online from McMurry or strombergs) > this is a daily formulation / complete vitamin/mineral/micronutrient supplement specifically formulated for chickens and is organic certified approved.
In addition to that, give four drops of Polyvisol enfamil (not the one with extra iron!) > this is a childrens liquid A-B-D vitamin > give once a day for a week then taper off the next. These two measures should take care of any nutritional deficiencies until the birds are better.
Offer your birds a good quality plain (not flavored) live culture probiotic yogurt free choice.

You said you were taking the birds to a vet? If the vet is experienced in treating birds then they will recognize and know how to treat for the bumblefoot (it is sometimes tricky to treat and if you do it improperly you can make things worse. Let the vet advise you on the antibiotics.

 

[Eggcellent]

Thanks for all the advice folks... I will pick up some Polyvisol tomorrow and start them on that as well. Their feet look a lot better today but I didn't take any photos... I was busy looking for my 4 missing banty orpingtons. At first all I could find of them was feathers.... but then I found them all. Only the rooster was missing some tail feathers, but otherwise unharmed. We REALLY dodged a bullet with that one because I found huge dog paw prints in the sand near the scattered feathers. I never let them out unsupervised but I was helping DW with dinner and stuff so I was in and out. I never saw a dog or heard anything. I am just glad they are OK.

On a good note, I heard back from the DVM a few minutes ago. It's amazing that some professionals will just give you free advice just for the welfare of the animals. Here is the message of the email I received:

I didn't read all of the forum but did look at the photographs. It looks to me like the birds have an infection on the surface of their skin, most likely from walking on their manure. If their manure mixes with water, it can irritate their feet and cause the skin to be "burned" due to too low of a pH. My suggestion to you is to clean the feet with warm soap and water and cover them with a triple antibiotic ointment. It should take about 7 to 10 days for them to improve. After you have gone through that treatment and if there are still problems with their feet, take more photographs and send them to me and I will advise you what to do.

It looks as though our "clean with soapy water and cover with antibiotic ointment" treatment was spot on. That's why I love this community. We have an uncanny knack for coming up with the right answer with our collective knowledge. I feel better now that a vet has said they should be OK with the current treatment.

 

[Eggcellent]

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention... i did go to the feed store and purchased some antibiotics. It is tetracycline hydrochloride powder. I think I may hold off on it as long as they keep getting better.