Great work Mia! Tylan is a good medicine for infections. If she is sniffling still you may want to try some sulmet or gallimycin. The feed store might have it or can order it.
The black stuff is probably old blood in a clot. it shouldn't be a problem to take it out or to scrape around and make sure that the gunk is out. Chickens form a hard pus shell to infections, so if its not all out it migh get encapsulated and just sit there until its strong enough to come back. So continue the compresses and antibiotics.
Chickens dont feel the same sort of pain that we do...Ive done many crop and bumblefoot surgeries over the years and had my birds just lay there while I did what had to be done, as quickly as possible! You saved her life for sure and you can be very proud of that!! She will soon be pecking around with her friends but its nice that she can see them from afar anyway.
My only other suggestion is to use bactine when you lance or scrape out the wound. It does have pain killer in it that is OK for chickens and its an antiseptic.
I wouldnt use sugar or honey...but use neosporin or something like that on it.
I think that the old wives were using raw sugar and raw honey, and that our pasturized stuff wont do much except call flies....and then maggots!!
There is a spray called granulex that is used in some treatments, and Ive tried it on bumblefoot, but I didnt see that it was any better than tylan 50 and topicals.
The real key is to clean out as much of the infection as you can get to...she looked so much better in the second set of pics that obviously you did the right thing!
When I saw her eye, I immediately thought that it was a sinus infection gone wild...and thats probably what it was. I had a roo with a totally swollen face and I sent him to the poultry vet extension at the university here because I am so paranoid about coryza, but he had pneumonia...and another of my birds had MG, which is rampant in the northeast this year...and I think its rampant in general. The vet told me that its reported everywhere, and like mareks, its considered to be pretty normal across the country. Anyway, the sinus can really back up on these little birds and it seems likely that it might abscess into the back of the head.
You are a great chicken mom, Mia! I couldnt have done it better myself, and Im known for my chicken medical knowledge around here!
You may be on your way to being a vet! you never know!
keep us informed on how Sugar is doing.
