A few days ago I came home with 4 new hens. I got them in the afternoon, so I left them in the kennel for a couple hours, and placed them on the roosts when it got dark.
The next day, I noticed one of the girls was limping. I didn't think much of it at first, thinking maybe she 'pulled' something either when she was caught, or after... But I removed her from the flock, and put her in a kennel to recover. Today, I noticed that she was not using her leg at all anymore...
Worried, I brought her inside and examined her leg in detail. Under the feathers, above the hock, I noticed SEVERE swelling. I started parting the feathers, and noticed a LOT of pus and dead flesh. The smell was HORRID! I started cutting the feathers around the wound to get a better look, and after removing quite a bit of scabs and dead flesh, I found a leg band that had slipped from where it SHOULD have been around the shank, to well above the hock. It had COMPLETELY grown into the flesh... The leg looked lost, it was cut thru to the bone!!!
All 4 hens wore leg bands at her previous home. Before we put each one in the kennel to bring them home, the owner (and us) checked all the hens legs for bands, and any bands we found, were removed. We missed this one, because it was so high up on the leg, and was completely covered with feathers. Generally bands stay under the hock, on the shank. I've never seen one that slipped up above the hock before. I use leg bands myself, especially for hens that look alike (leghorns, comets, etc). If I have 6 comets, and 2 of them are 3 years old, and the other 4 are only 1 year, I will band them differently, so I know which hens are older... But the bands I use are larger, thicker, harder, and they 'snap' shut, so there is NO WAY for one to slip past the hock. The band on this hen was the 'wrap-around' type, that stretches.... As I said, I have never seen, or heard of a leg band slipping this high up. This was an accident. No one knows for sure how it happened...
I feel SOOOOOO HORRIBLE for not checking her sooner! I just never thought a LEG BAND could move so high up on the leg, and cause so much damage! I thought pulled muscle, maybe an injured toe, but a leg band..??? Never crossed my mind!
Anyhow....
I checked her foot, and even though it was cold, she appeared to still have some blood-flow, because she was able to move her toes a bit, so I removed the band, cut off all the dead flesh that I could, cleaned the would with warm water, then peroxide, drizzled Penicillin over the whole thing making sure to coat every bit of open tissue, cut off all the feathers that might interfere with healing, gave her an injection of Penicillin and Biomycin, and since she had nothing in her crop, and refused to eat, I tube-fed her.
6 hours later, I checked on her, and took some more photos. The difference is INCREDIBLE! The foot is once again warm to the touch, but NOT hot. She has much more movement in her toes now, but still refuses to use the leg, and is wobbly on her feet. Which is understandable...
I wanted to know if anyone can think of anything else that I can do to help her heal faster. I scrambled her some eggs with powdered egg shells, to promote healing, especially of cartilage that I'm sure was damaged...
I'm contemplating sewing the wound shut, but it's been a couple of hours, and I noticed the flesh is ALREADY starting to close up... So I might not do that at all, and just let Nature take it's course...
Is there anything else that I can do for her?
This photo was taken after I removed the scabs, pulled out the leg band, cut off all the dead tissue, cleaned the wound, doused the flesh with Penicillin, and gave her antibiotic injections...
This is some of the dead tissue that I removed, and the band...
6 hours later, the wound is already starting to close up nicely...
A photo of the back of the leg. Not doing as well as the front/side, but already a TON better!!!
Here are Comparison photos, taken 6 hours apart.
And this is Bonnie. The little Sweetie Pie with the injured leg...
The next day, I noticed one of the girls was limping. I didn't think much of it at first, thinking maybe she 'pulled' something either when she was caught, or after... But I removed her from the flock, and put her in a kennel to recover. Today, I noticed that she was not using her leg at all anymore...
Worried, I brought her inside and examined her leg in detail. Under the feathers, above the hock, I noticed SEVERE swelling. I started parting the feathers, and noticed a LOT of pus and dead flesh. The smell was HORRID! I started cutting the feathers around the wound to get a better look, and after removing quite a bit of scabs and dead flesh, I found a leg band that had slipped from where it SHOULD have been around the shank, to well above the hock. It had COMPLETELY grown into the flesh... The leg looked lost, it was cut thru to the bone!!!
All 4 hens wore leg bands at her previous home. Before we put each one in the kennel to bring them home, the owner (and us) checked all the hens legs for bands, and any bands we found, were removed. We missed this one, because it was so high up on the leg, and was completely covered with feathers. Generally bands stay under the hock, on the shank. I've never seen one that slipped up above the hock before. I use leg bands myself, especially for hens that look alike (leghorns, comets, etc). If I have 6 comets, and 2 of them are 3 years old, and the other 4 are only 1 year, I will band them differently, so I know which hens are older... But the bands I use are larger, thicker, harder, and they 'snap' shut, so there is NO WAY for one to slip past the hock. The band on this hen was the 'wrap-around' type, that stretches.... As I said, I have never seen, or heard of a leg band slipping this high up. This was an accident. No one knows for sure how it happened...
I feel SOOOOOO HORRIBLE for not checking her sooner! I just never thought a LEG BAND could move so high up on the leg, and cause so much damage! I thought pulled muscle, maybe an injured toe, but a leg band..??? Never crossed my mind!
Anyhow....
I checked her foot, and even though it was cold, she appeared to still have some blood-flow, because she was able to move her toes a bit, so I removed the band, cut off all the dead flesh that I could, cleaned the would with warm water, then peroxide, drizzled Penicillin over the whole thing making sure to coat every bit of open tissue, cut off all the feathers that might interfere with healing, gave her an injection of Penicillin and Biomycin, and since she had nothing in her crop, and refused to eat, I tube-fed her.
6 hours later, I checked on her, and took some more photos. The difference is INCREDIBLE! The foot is once again warm to the touch, but NOT hot. She has much more movement in her toes now, but still refuses to use the leg, and is wobbly on her feet. Which is understandable...
I wanted to know if anyone can think of anything else that I can do to help her heal faster. I scrambled her some eggs with powdered egg shells, to promote healing, especially of cartilage that I'm sure was damaged...
I'm contemplating sewing the wound shut, but it's been a couple of hours, and I noticed the flesh is ALREADY starting to close up... So I might not do that at all, and just let Nature take it's course...
Is there anything else that I can do for her?
This photo was taken after I removed the scabs, pulled out the leg band, cut off all the dead tissue, cleaned the wound, doused the flesh with Penicillin, and gave her antibiotic injections...
This is some of the dead tissue that I removed, and the band...
6 hours later, the wound is already starting to close up nicely...
A photo of the back of the leg. Not doing as well as the front/side, but already a TON better!!!
Here are Comparison photos, taken 6 hours apart.
And this is Bonnie. The little Sweetie Pie with the injured leg...
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