Potential abscess on back of foot - light bleeding

[k_scho]

One of my chicken has what looks to be an abscess on her foot. It is soft and she appears to be having trouble using her foot. She also seems to have very runny poop. Will get pictures later when I have help. Until then any ideas/suggestions?

I'm so sorry to hear about your poor chicken! As @Eggcessive recommends, maybe try doing the Epsom salt soak -- I did that for my hen (who had the mysterious injury in my original post), and I was able to clean it a little bit. I also sprayed the wound with Vetericyn and wrapped it in gauze (spraying and rewrapping about three times a day) for a few days. Then a very dark scab formed, which came off on its own a couple of weeks later. I've attached a before-and-after photo. I still have no idea what caused the injury.

It gets pretty hot and humid here in Hawaii, especially during this time of year, and I've noticed that my chickens have really runny poop when they've been drinking a lot of water.

 

[MagnoliaRoseRanch]

I'm so sorry to hear about your poor chicken! As @Eggcessive recommends, maybe try doing the Epsom salt soak -- I did that for my hen (who had the mysterious injury in my original post), and I was able to clean it a little bit. I also sprayed the wound with Vetericyn and wrapped it in gauze (spraying and rewrapping about three times a day) for a few days. Then a very dark scab formed, which came off on its own a couple of weeks later. I've attached a before-and-after photo. I still have no idea what caused the injury.

It gets pretty hot and humid here in Hawaii, especially during this time of year, and I've noticed that my chickens have really runny poop when they've been drinking a lot of water.

 

[MagnoliaRoseRanch]

Thank you! After doing some research we soaked her foot in warm epsom salt water. That softened it enough to allow me to get quite a bit of the infection out. Then put a powdered antiseptic and neosporin on the wound and wrapped it. She is spending the night in or small chick pen away from the rest of the girls. Will treat her again tomorrow morning. I was so freaked out I didn’t get any pictures yet.

 

[MagnoliaRoseRanch]

Is it on the bottom or the top of the foot? Pictures would be helpful. Soaking in warm Epsom salts water is a common treatment for a foot abscess or bumblefoot. What are you feeding? Runny poop can vary in cause. It might be from drinking a lot of water during warm weather, to an infection or sour crop. What color are the droppjngs? Is she eating normally?

There is dark scab on the side of here foot and the lump felt spongy. Was so freaked out didn’t get pictures yet. Following suggestions found here I used a warm water epsom salt soak. That softened up the lump enough that I was able to squeeze out quite a bit of pus, cleaned the wound, put antibiotic on it and wrapped it. She is separated from the other girls in our small chick enclosure. Will get pictures to post when we treat her in the morning. Poop is yellowish. We feed organic crumble and provide crushed egg shells for calcium. The get veggie scrapes from our kitchen. We are in East Texas and it hasn’t started getting really hot here yet. That said it is humid here most of the time.

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad that you got started on soaking and getting the solid pus out. If you see any bright yellow poo, take pictures.

 

[MagnoliaRoseRanch]

Glad that you got started on soaking and getting the solid pus out. If you see any bright yellow poo, take pictures.

We cleaned, re-medicated and redressed her foot this morning. (The yellow dust on her foot is powdered antibiotic recommended by the chicken guy at our local farm supply store. We followed that up with a layer of neosporin. Gave her foot a longer soak & the scab came off. She is still quarantined from the rest of the flock. Seems to be eating & drinking. Her foot appears a bit more swollen than yesterday but is no longer spongy. I am so grateful for the help y’all have provided. Don’t know if we can save her but at least k ow that we tried. The only poultry vet around here charges $300 just for an exam!