injured foot on a rooster

[napachicken]

Hi, I am a new member to BYC. I really appreciate the good questions and answers that I have read on the website over the last year or so.

I have a 12 month old rooster that got some feed sack string wrapped around his foot about 12 day ago. The injury it caused was not visible to me at the time we took off the string, but it was pretty tight. In retrospect I should have took him to the infirmary but I didn't until 2 days later. His middle toenail had a red streak that has gotten lighter, but is still there.

I cleaned the foot and then tried a triple acting antibiotic ointment and wrapped the foot with gauze for 2 days. Then I kept it unwrapped and his pineshavings were changed daily. He seemed to be on the mend, crowing and getting antsy in the smaller pen; so on day 4 in the infermary, I took him back to the flock.

After 2 days of him limping badly again and the foot looking a bit worse, I separated him out again and then started I gave him Duramycin- 10 ( tetracycline hydrochloride) - 1 Tablespoon/ gallon of water; in a bucket with water nipple, and changed daily; for 5 days. He was walking on the foot but still limping a bit. I put him back with the hens, but I think tending them caused more stress on his foot and it started looking worse and I isolated him and started the tetracycline again. I think I will try it for 7 days this time.

I am wondering if the foot has gangren and if so, will it eventually kill him? The skin has all turned black on 2 of the toes and the bones are completely rigid. I also wonder what will happen to the foot?


He seems otherwise in good shape.

Any suggestions on how to proceed? We don't have the money to take him to the vet, but he is my favorite rooster and I would hate to have him suffer; so before I cull him out, I thought asking for opinions would be a good next step. Thanks...

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I would be concerned that he could possibly lose the toes or part of of the foot because they are black and probably necrotic. Chickens who have frostbite can lose toes or a foot without a huge problem getting around. The toes may just fall of at some point in the next month or two. Tetracycline or Duramycin is used for respiratory and some intestinal infections, but if I could get some stronger antibiotics such as amoxicillin, Cipro, baytril, or Keflex, I would. A vet could prescribe them. They are available online for birds, but it would take awhile to get them. I might spray or apply iodine or BluKote to the black areas to keep them dry and discourage pecking. I'm sorry I don't have more to give you.

 

[prettysilkies]

Hi, I am a new member to BYC. I really appreciate the good questions and answers that I have read on the website over the last year or so. I have a 12 month old rooster that got some feed sack string wrapped around his foot about 12 day ago. The injury it caused was not visible to me at the time we took off the string, but it was pretty tight. In retrospect I should have took him to the infirmary but I didn't until 2 days later. His middle toenail had a red streak that has gotten lighter, but is still there. I cleaned the foot and then tried a triple acting antibiotic ointment and wrapped the foot with gauze for 2 days. Then I kept it unwrapped and his pineshavings were changed daily. He seemed to be on the mend, crowing and getting antsy in the smaller pen; so on day 4 in the infermary, I took him back to the flock. After 2 days of him limping badly again and the foot looking a bit worse, I separated him out again and then started I gave him Duramycin- 10 ( tetracycline hydrochloride) - 1 Tablespoon/ gallon of water; in a bucket with water nipple, and changed daily; for 5 days. He was walking on the foot but still limping a bit. I put him back with the hens, but I think tending them caused more stress on his foot and it started looking worse and I isolated him and started the tetracycline again. I think I will try it for 7 days this time. I am wondering if the foot has gangren and if so, will it eventually kill him? The skin has all turned black on 2 of the toes and the bones are completely rigid. I also wonder what will happen to the foot? He seems otherwise in good shape. Any suggestions on how to proceed? We don't have the money to take him to the vet, but he is my favorite rooster and I would hate to have him suffer; so before I cull him out, I thought asking for opinions would be a good next step. Thanks...

Awwww,poor baby

 

[napachicken]

Thanks for the reply. I was worried the antibiotic would not be strong enough.

I will see what I can get tomorrow.

There does seem to be some swelling on the bottom of the foot and I am wondering if I should treat this as a bumblefoot injury and try to lance it and extract anything that may be in the swollen area. I have seen a couple of videos and read some pictorial how-to's on the procedure; but I am not that confident that it will not cause more harm than good- for both of us.

 

[napachicken]

Here is a pic of the rooster; we call him Zeus.

He was the first rooster to start crowing out of a group of 7 roosters; so I thought he deserved an authoritative name. He turned out to be the smallest rooster and was getting harassed pretty bad, so I took him out and put him in with the hens. He is pretty cool; his comb splits in the back. He is really good with his group of 6 hens.