TUMOR ON ROOOSTER FOOT

[Jakenhoss]

I have a bantam Cochin roo who was getting his feathers pecked by my RIR, (RIP), and his foot got so infected that he now has a tumor on his foot. I took him to the vet thinking it was bumble foot, but no, that would be too easy to fix. He has a tumor that short of amputation there is nothing the vet or I can do. He looks as if he only has two toes but the third is actually under the tumor.



This happened because of another chicken pecking the feathers off of his leg / foot. (I was once told that because the featherless legged chickens don't have feathers, they believe that a feather legged chicken has feathers that don't belong on the legs so they are going to clean them by picking off the feathers.)

I used and antibiotic cream, Blucoat and Nopeck, But it didn't seem to deter the others from doing what they do. My RIR was constantly chasing him down to "clean" his feet. I tried isolating him for a while but he was getting too upset that he was not with "his girls" so I would keep him isolated for a few days then let him free range with the girls and when it was time to go back into the pen he would get isolated again.

He has gotten used to this tumor, but I believe it has to be painful at times.The vet says that it shouldn't be producing too much pain, but....

The moral to this is be careful when one of your flock gets a sore or gets cut somehow, because it could turn out to look like the above, Keep all cuts / sores covered and clean as best as possible.

Thanks for the interest and reading my post.
Have a great day!!

 

[GoldenSparrow]

Oh that poor boy, I hope he feels better, and some how this heals.

Praying for him

 

[Jakenhoss]

According to the vet, the only way he has a chance of healing is if the vet amputates the foot. I didn't think my poor boots could withstand that. I think he will be alright. His name is "BOOTS" but now I just call him "BOOT". It looks as if he was wearing boots with the feathers growing down his leg. Any way, he does a great job of protecting his girls, he use to attack me but he gave up on that.
I guess he figures as long as he has his girls he'll be fine. I know he's feeling better because he seems to have his "rooster hood" back.
Can't keep him off of the little game hens. I thought he had killed one the other day. I heard her crying out but I couldn't find her. She was under him and just barley poked her head out from under him as I turned to look for her. She cried out again and he finally hopped off of her. She just ruffled her feathers and ran to the other end of the pen and hopped up on the table with the other 3 game birds.
Oh well... He'll be fine.


I'll keep you posted on his progress.

Thank you for your concern and reply.