My Chicken has a swollen foot with raised scales and 2 nasty wounds

[Pampered Hen]

It is not at all possible that the infection migrated from the bottom of the foot (the pad) to the upper part. This happened with my then. The injury that caused the infection occurred on the pad and then it moved up and the areas between the toes swelled up and it also had some puss under the scales on the lower part of the leg. Those affected scales came off easy and I just disinfected the area with Betadine - without "digging" around. There is not much flesh to mess with. Remove whatever puss might emerge with gentle squeezing and then disinfect and leave alone. As for the swollen parts between the toes, I agree with a recent poster and try to remove as much puss (might have a cheesy consistency) from the already existing lesion before creating more cuts. When you make cuts, I would suggest to only do this between the toes and not on top, unless the swelling is substantial, to avoid nicking bone and tendons.
You might not be able to remove all of the infection the first time around. Re-check daily or every other day and repeat the procedure until the swelling resides.

 

[TerriL]

OK I am going to go out and work on his foot. I will get out as much stuff as I can on that open side wound. There is no part of that foot that isnt swollen. I am not sure what to do about an antibiotic do I need to get something that would be injected?
So will the betadine help pull out the infection? I just hope I can help him, he isnt even mine he strayed up my driveway last summer and stayed. No one around here has chickens except me so I kept him, he is a Rhode Island Red named Big Red of course. He likes to follow me around. Well I will go do my best. Thanks for all the ideas, if anything else comes to mind let me know.

 

[luvarabhorses]

IMO, If you could get your vet to give you some tetracycline, best would be doxycycline, like 7 pills, 250 mg, that would knock it out. If you can't afford it, some times you can get tetracycline at a pet store in the fish dept. I am not sure if penicillin works against staph infections but I am sure you could google that. Once a day for 7 days would fix it. You need to withhold yogurt or any milk products while this is going on. Then it is a good idea to give some yogurt to allow the beneficial organisms bounce back in the intestines.

also, I would do more soaking and squeezing at this point than digging.

 

[TerriL]

Report - Well I went out and unwrapped his foot - the place on top of his foot at the base of his middle toe was all white and nasty looking. I soaked it in warm water and porixodie then I cleaned the wound out as best I could, pulled out some small chunks of something but it was bleeding so much you couldnt see what it was. Then I went to the wound on the side of the foot, it was all black but it looked like that was dried blood so I cleaned it out but mostly a lot of blood. I but betidine in both wounds and gauze and wrapped the foot in horse wrap. It certainly was a bloody mess, I had to take my jacket and pants off outside since they were soaked as were my shoes. I hope he didnt lose enough blood to hurt him, I know what am I going to do give him a transfusion
I sure hope this helps, I feel like I am torturing him but I dont want to give up on him too soon. Thanks for letting me ramble

 

[TerriL]

Luvarabhorses - I have some Erythromycin for Poultry that goes in there water but it says respriratory so maybe not. Would the one you are talking about be like crushed pills and diluted in water and given my mouth or what?

 

[luvarabhorses]

Blood is usually a good thing and will help clean the wound. If you have horses, perhaps you have wound dust powder? it is charcoal/iodine and great for creating a scab.
I think i have the same stuff here, sure it is not aureomycin? IF it were me, I would put 1/4 teaspoon (measure it) on a small piece of bread, squish together , add a few drops of water, and pop in his mouth once a day for 7 days.
hope that helps!

 

[TerriL]

Yes I have the blood stop stuff just didnt have it with me. The stuff I have is called Gallimycin PFC I guess I will have to do some study to see if it will help. Thanks so much for your input.

 

[chickenlady]

I would use an injectable penicillin. What you have is for respiratory.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

Naxel is more powerful than plain pennicilin.

 

[kathyinmo]

they'reHISchickens :

Naxel is more powerful than plain pennicilin.

They are NOT the same thing.
Naxel is a cephalosporin used for bacterial respiratory.
Penicillin should be used for wounds.​