One dead, One with a HUGE swollen hot foot

[HeatherLynn]

I am not sure what to do at this point so any advise would be great.

Ok the smallest laying hen has been hanging out in the coop not all the time but a little more than usual lately. The fan is in there so I figure she is hot. I picked her up the night before last to check her over just in case. I did not see any mites but I went ahead and dusted her because we have seen a few on some of the others. I have been trying to keep that issue down using de and 7 dust. Ok so we found her dead on her nest this morning. She had half her body though pulled up under the wire we have surrounding our inner walls. Not sure if she was in so much pain she crawled up into there herself or if something maybe dragged her. BUT there are no marks. I dont think I feel an egg but she was stiff and its hard to tell.

Then I looked at another of the hens and her foot is HUGE. Its swollen and hot. I don't see anything especially wrong with it. No holes or cuts that I can tell. No bleeding. Just huge and swollen. What could I be looking at and how do I treat it. Is there any link to the other hen dying maybe?

These are red production birds. I was told they were a year old but I have some very serious doubts about that. These were in pretty rough shape when I felt sorry for them. They were getting to be somewhat pretty again. They get layer feed, they steal the high protein game crumbles when they can, they get anything they can forage while ranging, they also get veggies tossed to them from the garden, oyster shells, crushed egg shells, scrambled eggs, and a little bit of fruit. Right now mostly blueberries.

 

[chicmom]

It sounds to me like a predator may have grabbed her and pulled her under that wire......maybe you came out in time and it didn't get to finish yanking her out of there. She may have been sitting in the nest all the time because she was broody.

Now, the other with the swollen foot...sounds like it could be bumble foot. I've never experienced that, but it's an infection that needs draining. Eww, I know......a friend of mine did that with a serilized needle, and then she literally squeezed puss out of the swollen area. She also gave her hen antibiotics in her drinking water to help with the infection. Her hen recovered fully. Usually if the are is feeling hot, as well as being swollen, it indicates an infection.

Good luck with her.....I don't know personally if I could do the draining.....never had to so far.....maybe you could google bumble foot and see what else you could do for her.....

Sharon

 

[HeatherLynn]

Ok well after I got up off the floor after seeing the word draining, ummm I think I will have to enlist some help with this one. My plan right now was to bathe the foot, smear on neosporin, give her antibiotics, and maybe put some electrolites/vitamin powder in their water. I will be honest I am torn between getting sick and passing out on the draining part. I thought maybe it could be caused by leg mites since some of the others have had a few on them. Her legs don't look like it but maybe its early? I'm not sure I could afford a trip to the vet. I would have to call the vet and see if he would agree to even see her. He tells me all the time he doesn't treat birds although he has a few times for me.

 

[HeatherLynn]

Ok so the foot is washed, and I painted it with Blue Cote. Apparently while in the quarantine cage her foot scraped on something and something got popped because there is a little bleeding hole now. Also when we looked at the bottom of her foot while painting it we noticed a little round hard thing. I thought it was a nail. The hubby played with it while I tried not to pass out and said its part of her not something foreign. So she must have had a wound on the bottom of her foot that I did not see. In looking closer it seemed like their were 2 round marks on her foot. Also I found some buggies on her still even after treatment soooooo. She got dusted with 7 again, we were careful to avoid that foot though. Her entire foot and part way up her leg is completely purple with blue cote. I still need to head out to the feed store for more DE and some of the vitamine/electrolyte powder.

Anything I am missing out on doing. I was going to keep her separate but her and the roo were going nuts through the wire. I'm afraid she will hurt herself.

 

[crossedwires]

that is deff an infection, like previously advised the best thing to do is to drain all the rubish out of it, two ways to do it, use a syringe and suck it out with that, or sterile pin and squeeze! it will heal alot fater if you keep clearing the puss out. keep up with the vits and blue cote, and use abroad sprectrum antibiotic in the water. good luck but with a bit of work it should heal ok

 

[HeatherLynn]

The hubby said if I trust him he will do it without me. I am the type that get dizzy and tries to pass out if I watch them give me a shot. This is way beyond my abilities. I am keeping up with keeping it clean and the blue cote though. I think he plans on draining it tomorrow. If he cannot manage it he is going to plead with the vet. They used to be our farm vet but seem a bit shy about the whole poultry thing anymore. All the older vets retired and the young ones just don't seem interested.

Should I do the vitamines/electrolyte? Also what would be a good broad spectrum to give her? I have a yellow powder from the feed store that they said was safe for poultry but not sure.

 

[chicmom]

Heather, I know the thought of draining the foot is sooooo gross. Don't know if I could do that either. BUT let hubby do it because the thing is, she will get ALOT of relief from draining the wound.

Hmmmm with two round marks like that, I'm wondering if it's an animal bite. Don't forget the anitbiotics in the water. You can get that from TSC in a powder form--Duramayacin-around $2.99 for a package.

Good luck!

Sharon

 

[HeatherLynn]

Awesome that is what I had picked up but just was unsure if that was the right thing. Ok, well I am off to treat her foot one more time before bed and I will add the antibiotics for her. I believe he is going to dig around on here to figure out just how and what he should do. I feel bad for being such a wimp but I guess better a wimp still standing far away than one who passes out and squishes a poor hen.