Infected Elbow?

[Tesumph]

Good advice so far. I would agree that debriding that yellow crust off until you get to pink tissue is the best course of action. Holding a scalpel sideways and scraping instead of cutting works well on crumbly and/or hard scabs. Bleeding is okay (preferred, even), just means the tissue is still alive; thankfully it looks like the tip of her wing is okay for now. Honey and ointment is good for softening but wont necessarily benefit her if it’s just sitting on top of a thick scab.

I would suggest trying your best to get either fishmox or if you already have a vet (for other pets) call and see if they can do you a favor. Strange that your state doesn’t have any antibiotics for cattle.. not even Tylan or similar at a feed store?

 

[casportpony]

Strange that your state doesn’t have any antibiotics for cattle.. not even Tylan or similar at a feed store?

New Jersey is one of the no needles without a prescription state, so no point in selling injectables if you can't buy needles I guess.

Valley Vet will ship injectable penicillin and tylan injectable to NJ, just not needles.

 

[Tesumph]

New Jersey is one of the no needles without a prescription state, so no point in selling injectables if you can't buy needles I guess.

Valley Vet will ship injectable penicillin and tylan injectable to NJ, just not needles.

Oh, weird. That sounds horribly inconvenient for livestock owners.

 

[casportpony]

Oh, weird. That sounds horribly inconvenient for livestock owners.

Yeah, quite a few states have funny needle laws.

 

[julskinka]

So, update from tonight:

I first just want to say that poor little Pesto is a better patient than most humans I’ve seen. I gave her some aspirin, wrapped her in a towel, and talked calmly to her the whole time. If anything was too much, she just trilled a little and I would back off.

The vestiges of my “birth box” have been so helpful. I had sterile gloves, gauze, antibiotic cream, syringes, betadine, q-tips, and razor blades. I also used a headlamp.

I soaked the area with a compress of warm water and Epsom salts for a bit. Then I put a bunch of neosporin over the damp scab and let that sit for a bit to moisturize it. While I was waiting for that, I trimmed her flight feathers on that wing to make it lighter for her and less likely to get dragged along the ground.

Then, with Pesto wrapped in the towel with only her wing exposed, I began to shave down the scab with the razor blade. It bled in parts, a little. Mostly, it was a fatty white substance underneath. I tried palpating the mass, and couldn’t get anything to give with a medium amount of pressure.

Then I flushed everything with saline, wiped it down with betadine, let that dry, and then applied copious neosporin and covered with gauze, but didn’t adhere it, so it can fall off while she’s sleeping tonight.

I wanted to query you all before I try going any more invasively - if it’s a tumor and not an infection, no amount of prodding it will make it come out.

The de-scabbed, flushed wound.

Also, her leg (the opposite side from the wing) doesn’t have any kind of bumblefoot or obvious issue unto itself. But she curled the foot, sits on her haunches, and will also push the leg out in front of her to sit.

*Thank you everyone for caring enough to make the suggestions re: antibiotics, but I’m also not going to buy antibiotics online to skirt my state’s laws, which I actually support in this case, having read up on it. They exist so that people in NJ can’t willy-nilly contribute to antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria among livestock. I’ll do what I can for this chicken without resorting to that.*

 

[micstrachan]

How old is sweet Pesto? The leg sounds a bit like Marek’s to me. You’re doing a great job with her.

 

[chickendreams24]

I'm following this thread closely.

I also want to share a similar experience I had with a rooster of mine that had similar lumps.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-from-fighting-predator-attack.1202789/page-6

In the thread about my bird 2 or three other links are also posted with birds with similar looking injuries, lesions whatever the heck they are.

I don't mean to be an alarmist at all and I don't want to scare you but I would very closely check your pullet over and keep a close eye on her to be sure.

I hope your girl has a better outcome and if not I hope you can find the answers I don't think the rest of us ever got.

 

[Tesumph]

Tumor certainly isn’t the first thing I thought of but the leg lameness is a big red flag in my mind. I’m also wondering if this is already far past bone infection stage and her body is starting to break down per say. Personally, I would keep treating her in isolation until you see a definite sign of decline, and prepare for testing or an at-home necropsy if you do need to euthanize.

How many other birds do you have, and have you looked anyone else over for these cheesy lesions?

 

[julskinka]

How old is sweet Pesto? The leg sounds a bit like Marek’s to me. You’re doing a great job with her.

She’s 16.5 weeks. The dreaded M. This is what I’ve been worrying about. My older hens were vaccinated at a hatchery, but since we hatched these ones ourselves, they are not.

 

[julskinka]

Tumor certainly isn’t the first thing I thought of but the leg lameness is a big red flag in my mind. I’m also wondering if this is already far past bone infection stage and her body is starting to break down per say. Personally, I would keep treating her in isolation until you see a definite sign of decline, and prepare for testing or an at-home necropsy if you do need to euthanize.

How many other birds do you have, and have you looked anyone else over for these cheesy lesions?

We had a cockerel fall over dead last night of an apparent heart attack - no lesions I could find. So now we have 4 adult hens, 3 pullets, and 8 cockerels (most of which are on the chopping block for this weekend). I haven’t noticed anything obvious, but then again I missed Pesto until it was this bad, so a thorough going over is in order. I’ll report back tonight.