Silkie Rooster with possible abcess/cyst on leg

[Country Girl Cheryl]

I need some medical advice on my 9 month old Silkie Rooster - Zeke. He has what I think is an abscess on the back of his left leg on the joint. We noticed it about 2-3 weeks ago when it was bleeding - cleaned the wound and put neosporin on it and it cleared up within a day. Yesterday it broke open and bled quite a bit before I got it stopped - again cleaned it and put neosporine on it. This afternoon it was bleeding again and he was somewhat lethargic this time. We have cleaned the wound up and put a bandage on it to keep him from picking at it. I gave him some sugar water to perk him up - it did somewhat but he still seems to be sleepy. He is confined to his own quarters. I need to know if this is an abscess or a cyst and if the care i am giving him is correct - should I be giving him some type of antibiotic to fight to help heal it. Please anyone with any info to help me with this I would appreciate a reply. He's a good boy and is a good flock protector - I don't want anything to happen to him.

 

[crj]

Maybe you could put some Duramycin in his water and maybe give him some Poly-Vi-Sol vitamins. You can find the vitamins in the baby section of any store. They are liquid.

As for the abscess. Is it just blood? or is there any infection like puss in it? Something must be causing this. Is he hitting his leg on anything or is anyone pecking at it to irritate it?

Separating him is good. I hope he feels better soon.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Do you have pictures? Is there like white stuff in the middle that looks like tissue, but isn't? This sounds like it could be a staph infection. Is the area around the sore swollen? Pics are always good to show these things.

 

[Country Girl Cheryl]

We just checked on him and he seems to be feeling better. He's settled in for the night. There hasnt been any white stuff like pus - just blood - we cant find anything he could injure himself on - my hubby has taken care in making their coop and run "injury proof" - plus none of the other chickys have had any problems. He was picking on it this morning and so were a couple of the other chickys - thats why I covered it with gauze and taped it and separated him - of course he's not crazy about his new bling on his leg. Could he gotten weak from bleeding??

 

[Minniechickmama]

I didn't mean like pus coming out, look in the center of the wound and see if there is a definite whitish center of it. It would be something you could dig out, but it won't squeeze out. I just lost a Welsummer rooster this spring to a bad staph infection in his feet, not bumblefoot either. They can get it just about anywhere, but sometimes it looks to be an abscess but it is staph in the middle of it.
I am not say for sure that is what yours has, but I think it is sometime you want to really consider.

 

[Country Girl Cheryl]

I will take some pics tomorrow when I take his bandage off. I didn't want to stress the little guy out tonite - he seems to be resting comfortably after a stressful day.

 

[Country Girl Cheryl]

How do you treat staph infection??

 

[Minniechickmama]

I didn't. He got so bad so fast and was having such a hard time even walking, I put him down to spare him the suffering. He had crooked feet (probably from improper incubation humidity), and the twisted joints rubbing on the roost most likely caused enough stress on his feet to allow the staph to take hold. They all carry it, and unless some stressor weakens their immunity, they may never have problems with infections.
BUT I think it is treatable, you would need to talk to your vet to see what is the right thing to treat with. I wouldn't take it in unless you truly cannot figure out what is wrong with him and can't fix it on your own. I have a great vet that will give me the meds I need and help me with dosages since she is not experienced much with poultry.

 

[TeamChaos]

It's hard without pictures, but if he was mine I'd flush the the wound really well and gently scrub away any dead skin to get a good look at what's really going on in there then I'd focus on healing it from the inside out. I don't like antibiotic creams as they seem to close the skin before the core of the wound is dealt with. Bandages can do the same thing by sealing in infection, I'd use blu-kote to distract from the injury and lessen the likelihood of pecking/insects.

 

[Minniechickmama]

It's hard without pictures, but if he was mine I'd flush the the wound really well and gently scrub away any dead skin to get a good look at what's really going on in there then I'd focus on healing it from the inside out. I don't like antibiotic creams as they seem to close the skin before the core of the wound is dealt with. Bandages can do the same thing by sealing in infection, I'd use blu-kote to distract from the injury and lessen the likelihood of pecking/insects.

X2