Brahma wont leave coop, walking with limp and keeping tail low. Looked at limping foot and appears to be a pebble (maybe?) imbedded in foot. Should I just hold her down and pull out the pebble and then how can I prevent infection from open wound. I dont want to give her antibiotics and I also dont want to interfere if this is something she can solve on her own. Its been 2 days so any help would be great
It might be bumblefoot if it's a dark in color/roundish scab. If it's bumblefoot, you'd have to do minor surgery to remove staph infection. If the infection reaches the legbone, it'll quickly spread throughout her system and she will die. A pic would help us identify if it's bumblefoot or not.
If bump is on top, look UNDER foot! If you see a chunk(s) of what looks like hardened dirt, pull them off. I just recently noticed on my heavy breeds (orpington & brahma) that fecal material worked its way through the bottom of the foot out the top. It becomes a big plug and you can probably pull it out from the bottom. Bumble foot will have a cheesy stuff inside. This is just dirt and poop. Good luck!
Here are a couple of good bumblefoot sites/threads with wound and treatment descriptions. http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/2009/09/bumblefoot-chicken.html https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bumblefoot-how-to-treat-your-chickens-with-surgery-graphic-pics If you decide it's bumblefoot - you do not want to mess with it. It is a staph infection and will kill your chicken if not properly taken care of. You have treatment options so do your research. There is a non-surgical possibility using antibitics so look that up here on this forum if you're interested. However, if either the surgical or non-surgical methods don't work, you will HAVE to use a systemic antibiotic (IM Penicillin) or it WILL die. I recently did the surgery on one of my girls and used neosporin on the wound until it healed. I was able to avoid the IM penicillin. Good luck!
If your bird does not show any other signs of sickness or infection it may have simply hurt its foot or a joint by jumping of it's perch. Brahmas, being a heavy breed, are prone to that. When I had Brahmas I lowered thier perches. Good luck.
