Thanks for the deep freeze Mother Nature, frostbite on feet

[Trisseh]

Hey everyone! I have one of my 16 week old hedemora cockerels that decided it was a great idea to sit on top of the covered water bowl, and to then also dabble his feet in the water. No one else is having any issues, other than my icelandic with the giant single comb, but this guy is in pretty rough shape.

I’m dealing with the frostbite fallout on his feet; I work at a vet clinic and have discussed his case with my boss but we don’t deal with poultry much, since around here, chickens aren’t worth the cost of vet care to most people. (I’m apparently not one of them haha).

the right foot is a lot worse than the left; I know he’s definitely going to lose at least part of multiple toes, especially because this isn’t the first time he’s stuck his feet in water, but my main concern is that he may need that foot amputated entirely. It’s still too early to tell at this point.

I thought it may be helpful to others to also see his progress, and see if anyone else has dealt with damage as severe as this and had the bird do alright in the long run.

So! His feet were frozen stiff; he was unable to bend his toes. I brought him inside at the onset when I got home from work, thawed his feet in a barely warm water bath with Epsom salts, then dried and applied dermagel to the affected areas and wrapped his feet.
He received a dose of metacam by mouth, which is all I had but he was SO painful that he needed something. I would’ve preferred to give him a steroid but didn’t have any.
The next day he was perkier but his right foot was extremely swollen and almost non weight bearing.
He was started on Baytril prophylactically at this point.
I continued soaking and dermagel.
He is now getting a dose of dexamethasone every 2-3 days, Baytril, and continuing with the soaking/dermagel.

First pic, at onset

Day 3

Today, Day 5 - skin has split on the middle of the foot, bottom of the foot/footpad is relatively normal and much better when it comes to weight bearing.

While drying his feet, I noticed this area at the end of his keel bone in front of his vent. I believe it’s also frostbite damage but I’m not entirely sure - I’ll be checking in with my boss come Tuesday but so far it doesn’t seem to be bothering him so I just put some dermagel on this area as well. His skin is much redder than usual after soaking in a warm bath!

so at this point I’m not sure if there’s much else I can be doing other than waiting for the tissue to decide where it’s going to devitalize. He’s been eating and drinking very well and his feathers have been coming in well. (He’s growing his male specific feathering). His underside is definitely a lot more sparsely feathered than I realized as well, and now I’m wondering if that’s not part of the reason he was seeking additional heat from the water bowl. He’s wooly feathered, but I didn’t expect any issues with that as my original Hedemora pullet is also wooly and has had no issues.

Anyways! Wanted to share, and also pick brains of any who have had a similar situation. thanks everyone!

 

[Jeanw]

Poor little guy, thank God he’s got a good momma to take care of him!

 

[Trisseh]

Poor little guy, thank God he’s got a good momma to take care of him!

Thanks! I wouldn’t be able to do much without having access to things to care for him though. Haha. My boss is a trooper and lets me order things in as needed, even though as I mentioned, poultry aren’t viewed as very valuable around here.

 

[Malkaris]

I know it's hard that poultry get the short end of the stick... :/

On the bright side, while there is some blackness on some toes / toe ends it looks like there's a lot of good colouration and circulation coming back? I wouldn't think he'd need either foot amputated, but I'm a hundred miles from an expert. I will say that I've frozen my feet many times to the point of dark discolouration though. (I don't recommend it.) But keep doing what you're doing to prevent infection. Frustrating situation though! It's been cold here at times, can't believe the chickens are running around on the snow and concrete!

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t think that his feet are going to end up being too bad. I am sure that it is painful, and he will probably lose a few roe tips and nails. Some people soak the feet in warm Epsom salts water and use disinfectant on the toes. I would do that if you can keep him inside. Otherwise I would apply the disinfectant to his toes. The toe tips may drop off within a month or 6 weeks. The healthy tissue above the dark toes should be fine.

I would treat the breast sore with disinfectant or antibiotic ointment. That may be from a rough roost or front lying on the ground. If he leaned over the waterer, it could be a little frostbite on the surface of the skin.

 

[Trisseh]

@Eggcessive I missed the notification for your post. thanks! This is the first time I’ve dealt with more advanced frostbite in a chicken. Dogs and cats, I’ve got a good handle on, but this is new.
from what I’ve read on here and elsewhere, it seems that Epsom salt soaks and topicals are pretty much the only things suggested. I did find one study on the beneficial effects of dex on frost bitten tissue in mice. Not sure if it’s the same in chickens or not being a different species but this poor guy is my guinea pig so I tried it. Lol. I do think it helped a lot with the swelling and pain, although of course he drinks and passes urates like nobody’s business because of it. I’m not sure if it actually helps prevent some damage or not, but it did in the mouse study.

The wounds on his ventral side have mostly healed. I think it was mild frostbite, as it scabbed over and healed quite quickly. He’s doing much better with regards to standing and walking, and seems in much better spirits.

here is his right foot. His left fared much better, and I believe he will only lose toe tips on that one. This one, I’m not sure. I stopped putting topical gel on this foot as it seemed to make the swelling worse. He’s still on Baytril orally, and I discontinued the dex after 3 doses since he’s moving better and steroids are not something I wanted to keep him on for long.

 

[Trisseh]

Another update - there’s enough damage here he’s walking like it’s a peg leg already. And that outer toe bent right back when he was soaking. didn’t bother him any though!

Even if he does lose most of that foot I think he’ll be alright and get around ok. He’s a real trooper! he also started his first attempts at crowing this morning.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that his right foot looks so much worse than earlier. The first pictures did not look that bad. I do think he will lose most of the right foot. Keep us updated on how he does with more pictures. It really helps others to see how this can progress.

 

[Trisseh]

4 week update. Left foot, lost tip of back toe and most of outer toe. Middle toe has declared itself and looks like will be about half left. Inner toe should only lose the tip

right foot. Messy. Starting to loosen and pull away from the healthy tissue.

he’s otherwise doing surprisingly well. His balance isn’t perfect but he’s getting it figured out. He uses his right foot like a peg leg already so I’m hoping he’ll adjust ok. I may need to put booties on him when he’s outside and I doubt he can go back in the flock... but we’ll see. He’s in good spirits, eating well, growing in lots of new feathers, and crows a greeting every morning and when I get home from work. (and I’m sure at multiple other times during the day haha). I’ve switched him off of towels for bedding and put him on shavings as the towels tend to hold onto the manure and then he was getting it all stuck to his feet. The shavings seem to be working fine and don’t seem to be bothering him at all. His bum is a lot cleaner on shavings too. I’ll update in a couple more weeks or sooner if he loses more parts in the meantime, to continue with his narrative.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for the update and pictures. It helps others to see what this looks like. I am glad that he is doing okay, and hope for the best.