Urgent: post-amputation care, advice needed/I thought I would spend my Saturday doing this...

[darlingdarla]

With a nice scab, which that looks to be, I would not bandage it. Dry, Air, Clean. Maybe you could put a "look no touch" type of run out with her friends visible? Low, clean, lots of feed and water accessable with a bantam bud you mentioned? Birds will pick on an injured flock mate, and pick the scab, and keep her from the feed and water -- I wouldn't put her back until she is mobile and the stump is pretty well healed.

Question, how do I keep it clean if it isn't bandaged? Just wondering. I've been feeling like she needs to get out of the bandage but I am worried about infection.
What I am going to do is pair her with my two youngest and tamest bantams in my second smaller coop and transition her to living there. It is closer to the ground and though I need to make some adjustments so she can get up the ramp I think she'll end up doing well in there. She'll be where the other birds can look at her but not bother her for a while before she's back with with flock during the day.

Bit of an update: she is doing well. I gave her the final penicillin injection today. She is moving around more and not soiling herself anymore, although she still spends most of her time laying down.
Her stump pretty much looks the same, but still no redness or swelling so that's good.
I'm going to keep updating this thread for a while as she recovers, I'm hoping to move her outside into her new accommodations by next week and work from there.

I brought her out into the yard and let her walk around with the rest of the flock earlier, I threw some scratch on the ground and she came running over so fast I couldn't believe it. She is still pecking at the birds below her and they seem to remember that she is the boss, and most of the hens above her leave her be as they are part of my original flock of old ladies. But, one hen decided to make trouble, she is a two year old black copper marans no one is very fond of. Everyone was foraging just fine, and then the marans decided to fight my old lady full out. I intervened, but not before my one-legged old lady fought back against the younger bird with no hesitation. I put the younger bird away while everyone foraged since she was the only one causing trouble, eventually my old lady laid down and I brought her back in. All in all she had a good day and proved pretty resoundingly she is capable of defending her position in the pecking order.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@Allsfairinloveandbugs may have some tips for you, they had a hen lose feet due to frostbite. Not the exact same thing, but you may find some info in their thread that may be useful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

You may want to do an online search for a prosthetic foot or boot for her when she heals up. Not sure where you would get one - maybe custom order a 3D off a place like Etsy?
This BYC member had a boot made for their rooster, but sadly the bird did not make it. You may be able to message them to see where they got theirs? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/prosthetic-foot.1480818/

LOL Hen drama! She sounds like a feisty lady. It's good that she wasn't taking any guff from the others that's for sure. Lower order birds will try though.
Taking her for daily visits is a very good idea. Not only does it keep her connected to the flock, it gives her a break from being inside and of course they love being outside.

 

[darlingdarla]

@Allsfairinloveandbugs may have some tips for you, they had a hen lose feet due to frostbite. Not the exact same thing, but you may find some info in their thread that may be useful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

You may want to do an online search for a prosthetic foot or boot for her when she heals up. Not sure where you would get one - maybe custom order a 3D off a place like Etsy?
This BYC member had a boot made for their rooster, but sadly the bird did not make it. You may be able to message them to see where they got theirs? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/prosthetic-foot.1480818/

LOL Hen drama! She sounds like a feisty lady. It's good that she wasn't taking any guff from the others that's for sure. Lower order birds will try though.
Taking her for daily visits is a very good idea. Not only does it keep her connected to the flock, it gives her a break from being inside and of course they love being outside.

I've been looking into prosthetics since this happened and I forsee us trying to make something work. I've been thinking about fashioning her a peg leg type of thing with a molded caste of her stump so it fits well and doesn't rub, probably something with silicone, problem is I have no idea how to do that lol, but I have a crafty diy streak so I'll work on it more once she is healed. I'll look at that thread in the meantime.

She is a tough old lady, the fourth hen down on the pecking order, the only birds above her are members of the original flock. Her and my other OG hens turned six this year.

 

[AnnieFoothills]

I have a suggestion For making a stump socket. Try Sugru to fashion a stump socket, and some wood to make a leg to even out her balance. Sugru is a polymer type glue thing that has strength but has some flex to it when set. open up a packet it moulds like Playdoh but then sets. Maybe use her stump to form the shape then remove the sugru so it can set. Use a second blob of sugru to attach some wood dowel after the stump socket has cured and set. Sugru is available on Amazon.

 

[darlingdarla]

I have a suggestion For making a stump socket. Try Sugru to fashion a stump socket, and some wood to make a leg to even out her balance. Sugru is a polymer type glue thing that has strength but has some flex to it when set. open up a packet it moulds like Playdoh but then sets. Maybe use her stump to form the shape then remove the sugru so it can set. Use a second blob of sugru to attach some wood dowel after the stump socket has cured and set. Sugru is available on Amazon.

That is a very viable option for sure, thanks!
I'm trying to figure out something that won't irritate her skin with the constant movement of walking. She's already putting a little weight on the stump when she moves around and can walk on it pretty well, but we'll see how she does when she is healed. Honestly she just needs a few centimeters of length so the stump touches the ground with the other leg.
One thing I worry about is her developing bumblefoot on the stump, I have another bird who hatched with missing toes who develops bumblefoot on the backs of her ankles because that's where she balances. I don't want this hen to have the same problem. I imagine a prosthetic of sorts would help protect against an infection.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Thanks for the tag @Wyorp Rock . Glad to know your hen is so far recovering well, @darlingdarla . As Wyorp Rock mentioned, my amputee's medical situation was a bit different than yours, since my hen's feet slowly auto-amputated over a period of many weeks due to frostbite. As far as,surgical amputation aftercare i would have offered no advice even if i had seen your thread, and you have received the best care and advice possible with WR.

I read through each post of your thread, & will attempt to address your specific questions and concerns.

One thing i Would have advised you is bring your hen inside while the wound is healing, not just to avoid flystrike, but soil-introduced infection too, which you voiced concern over. But then you said your landlord mandated "no chickens inside the house." For my curiosity, is that "no pets of any type inside", or just no chickens? Whatever your answer, want to say that a small wire and plastic guinea pig/rabbit cage with a raised bottom lip makes an excellent temporary housing if one needs to bring a chicken indoors for any reason. The 2-4" bottom lip prevents a chicken from scratching shavings out of the cage, & shavings absorb/cover the chicken poop. You can scoop out the poop same as u would clean a cat litter box. If your landlord said "no chickens inside" because landlord thinks chickens are dirty and messy, seeing your hen contained in the rabbit cage may have allowed a short-time exception to the rule?

As far as keeping your hen's foot bandaged vs unbandaged, i got quite a bit of input re that. I had been keeping the first foot to autoamputate bandaged due to my fear of infection, but the majority/consensus from those that replied to her thread said unbandaged was better for healing as long as her bedding was kept clean and dry. I kept both stubs wrapped for about a week after they fell off just to make sure no infection could take hold. I was thereafter meticulous in keeping her bedding clean, and also kept her healing stubs liberally coated in triple antibiotic ointment and veterycin spray.for weeks.
Many recommend towels for soft bedding, but i found towels were difficult to keep clean so went with shavings, which i scooped several times daily.

As far as possible infection, i posted some photos of my hen's left foot shortly before it fell off because there was considerable reddish-pink skin just above the line of demarcation. Like you I was concerned about infection. The concensus advice was if in doubt, medicate. So i did, with oral fish antibiotic cephalexin (thomas brand fishflex, which i got at tractor supply.) As Wyorp Rock told u, cephalexin is the best common antibiotic for skin and bone infections. But it turned out that pink skin was not infection after all, but new, smooth-as-a-baby smooth skin healing after her leg scales had fallen off. I never knew a chicken's leg scales fall off and regrow during annual molt along with its feathers, until learning much throughout my hen's ordeal! I mention the above for 2 reasons. 1) if u notice smooth pinkish skin above her amputation, know if its in fact infection and not new skin. Because 2) Antibiotics tend to mess with a chicken's healthy gut flora. My hen did get diarrhea from the (unecessary) antibiotics i gave her. But easily rectified with chick probiotics, & still best to medicate for infection if one is unsure.

I left my hens stumps unwrapped while they healed, and she didnt walk around much anyway. Now that they have healed, i do keep them wrapped with vetwrap to prevent potential bumblefoot or other injury, as is your concern. To help the wrap stay on now that she is more mobile, i finally recently found a workable solution. The solution involves 3 separate strips of vetwrap. First, I wrap one strip around her shank. The second strip i wrap Over the top of her nub, then wrap/adhere that 2nd strip to the first strip around her shank. (Doing so also provides extra padding for the stump). The 3rd strip i wrap around her leg shank again, which holds in place the 2nd strip. I hope that makes sense? Until i did this, she was kicking off the vetwrap while walking, dustbathing, etc.

Unlike your girl, my hen has not Yet regained as much motility as i would like to see. She now walks short distances but since her injuries has never ran. I think that is likely because was mostly immobile for months while her feet inwardly healed before they outwardly fell off. Then the stumps required even more weeks of healing, and during the long process her muscles atrophied. It didnt help that she weighs over 7 pounds and is an older hen (5 years oldl) at time of injury. But her spirit and obvious desire to live never wavered, and so never once did i consider euthanasia. Just this morn (before WR tagged me) i was rewrapping her feet and thinking to myself "this process really hasnt been hard at all." And it hasnt been, at least not for me. But certainly i wish my hen still had her feet. Like you, i have begun to invesigate prosthetic feet. Im looking at the possibility of 3d printed feet using a pre-made mold of her stumps. But if my hen begins to get around as well as your hen already is just in her first week after amputation, i will simply continue to vetwrap her stubs and let her be. ("If it aint broke dont fix it.") And it sounds like your idea of giving her a separate coop with smaller gentler friends is the perfect solution for her new situation. My hen is no shrinking violet either and has mostly held her own. But her handicap has been noticed, & she has been ocassionally bullied. (My hen will live in my house at night for the rest of her life, but spends time outside daily with her flock).

Well i hope i didnt write toooo much to read thru, & that my input was helpful. How old is your "old lady", and what is her name? I am looking forward to following her continuing journey.

 

[darlingdarla]

Thanks for the tag @Wyorp Rock . Glad to know your hen is so far recovering well, @darlingdarla . As Wyorp Rock mentioned, my amputee's medical situation was a bit different than yours, since my hen's feet slowly auto-amputated over a period of many weeks due to frostbite. As far as,surgical amputation aftercare i would have offered no advice even if i had seen your thread, and you have received the best care and advice possible with WR.

I read through each post of your thread, & will attempt to address your specific questions and concerns.

One thing i Would have advised you is bring your hen inside while the wound is healing, not just to avoid flystrike, but soil-introduced infection too, which you voiced concern over. But then you said your landlord mandated "no chickens inside the house." For my curiosity, is that "no pets of any type inside", or just no chickens? Whatever your answer, want to say that a small wire and plastic guinea pig/rabbit cage with a raised bottom lip makes an excellent temporary housing if one needs to bring a chicken indoors for any reason. The 2-4" bottom lip prevents a chicken from scratching shavings out of the cage, & shavings absorb/cover the chicken poop. You can scoop out the poop same as u would clean a cat litter box. If your landlord said "no chickens inside" because landlord thinks chickens are dirty and messy, seeing your hen contained in the rabbit cage may have allowed a short-time exception to the rule?

As far as keeping your hen's foot bandaged vs unbandaged, i got quite a bit of input re that. I had been keeping the first foot to autoamputate bandaged due to my fear of infection, but the majority/consensus from those that replied to her thread said unbandaged was better for healing as long as her bedding was kept clean and dry. I kept both stubs wrapped for about a week after they fell off just to make sure no infection could take hold. I was thereafter meticulous in keeping her bedding clean, and also kept her healing stubs liberally coated in triple antibiotic ointment and veterycin spray.for weeks.
Many recommend towels for soft bedding, but i found towels were difficult to keep clean so went with shavings, which i scooped several times daily.

As far as possible infection, i posted some photos of my hen's left foot shortly before it fell off because there was considerable reddish-pink skin just above the line of demarcation. Like you I was concerned about infection. The concensus advice was if in doubt, medicate. So i did, with oral fish antibiotic cephalexin (thomas brand fishflex, which i got at tractor supply.) As Wyorp Rock told u, cephalexin is the best common antibiotic for skin and bone infections. But it turned out that pink skin was not infection after all, but new, smooth-as-a-baby smooth skin healing after her leg scales had fallen off. I never knew a chicken's leg scales fall off and regrow during annual molt along with its feathers, until learning much throughout my hen's ordeal! I mention the above for 2 reasons. 1) if u notice smooth pinkish skin above her amputation, know if its in fact infection and not new skin. Because 2) Antibiotics tend to mess with a chicken's healthy gut flora. My hen did get diarrhea from the (unecessary) antibiotics i gave her. But easily rectified with chick probiotics, & still best to medicate for infection if one is unsure.

I left my hens stumps unwrapped while they healed, and she didnt walk around much anyway. Now that they have healed, i do keep them wrapped with vetwrap to prevent potential bumblefoot or other injury, as is your concern. To help the wrap stay on now that she is more mobile, i finally recently found a workable solution. The solution involves 3 separate strips of vetwrap. First, I wrap one strip around her shank. The second strip i wrap Over the top of her nub, then wrap/adhere that 2nd strip to the first strip around her shank. (Doing so also provides extra padding for the stump). The 3rd strip i wrap around her leg shank again, which holds in place the 2nd strip. I hope that makes sense? Until i did this, she was kicking off the vetwrap while walking, dustbathing, etc.

Unlike your girl, my hen has not Yet regained as much motility as i would like to see. She now walks short distances but since her injuries has never ran. I think that is likely because was mostly immobile for months while her feet inwardly healed before they outwardly fell off. Then the stumps required even more weeks of healing, and during the long process her muscles atrophied. It didnt help that she weighs over 7 pounds and is an older hen (5 years oldl) at time of injury. But her spirit and obvious desire to live never wavered, and so never once did i consider euthanasia. Just this morn (before WR tagged me) i was rewrapping her feet and thinking to myself "this process really hasnt been hard at all." And it hasnt been, at least not for me. But certainly i wish my hen still had her feet. Like you, i have begun to invesigate prosthetic feet. Im looking at the possibility of 3d printed feet using a pre-made mold of her stumps. But if my hen begins to get around as well as your hen already is just in her first week after amputation, i will simply continue to vetwrap her stubs and let her be. ("If it aint broke dont fix it.") And it sounds like your idea of giving her a separate coop with smaller gentler friends is the perfect solution for her new situation. My hen is no shrinking violet either and has mostly held her own. But her handicap has been noticed, & she has been ocassionally bullied. (My hen will live in my house at night for the rest of her life, but spends time outside daily with her flock).

Well i hope i didnt write toooo much to read thru, & that my input was helpful. How old is your "old lady", and what is her name? I am looking forward to following her continuing journey.

hello, I read through Matilda's thread earlier and found it extremely informative. Is she still become a therapy animal? I've actually been looking into getting my dog into training, he is already my ESA.

She is currently on my front porch in my dogs large crate, she is on puppy pads which I change every 1-2 days. The porch is completely enclosed with a sort of soft plastic windows, the flies got in because I need to open them on hot days, at night I go out with a fly swatter and smack them all and so far there have been no issues, she is also alert enough to snatch them out of the air if they fly too close to her. Unfortunately, the chickens are not aloud inside the house. I have kept many animals here, lizards and frogs, today I have a Herman's Tortoise, a 75 gal freshwater tropical fish tank, and our newest addition Finley, my nine month old ESA puppy. Outside I have my flock of 14 chickens, and a wild rabbit with a deformed leg I've been feeding since he was a baby-I guess he's not really a pet, but he knows me and I've been caring for him since he was very tiny and couldn't walk.
Chickens are the only thing that aren't permitted inside, trust me I have tried to argue this, but my landlord found out she was on the porch and chewed me out for that, and only after I assured him that she stays in the crate unless I am changing her bandage or giving her injections did he relax a bit, but I am still on thin ice (the things we do for our birds lol). I think the extent of her condition helped things along, once I explained that she lost her foot and needs hourly checking on and antibiotics and bandage changes he softened up, especially after he watched me give her an injection of penicillin into her breast muscle. So for now I am not pushing my luck, and I'm trying to manage with what we have. I am going to switch her onto pine shavings soon, and now that the hound dog I was sitting for is gone (an arrangement agreed upon before my girl's injury), she'll be spending much more time outside, yesterday she was wanting to dustbathe so I'm hoping she can still preen and groom fairly normally.

I treated her with penicillin as a preventative because it was the only thing I could get short notice, shipping from anywhere would have taken a week or more and we haven't even hit a week since the amputation yet. I avoid antibiotics if I can, but I felt like she would need it as she has a history of severe bumblefoot in this limb. That's why I worry so much about infection as well, when she gets one its almost impossible to get rid of. So I'm being cautious for now, but yes, I do feel like it would be best to get her out of the bandage. Question, how do I keep shavings from sticking to her leg if it's unbandaged and covered in ointment?

I am going to get more pictures tomorrow, but I think it's looking good.

She is definitely in a fair amount of pain, she squawks while I change the bandage especially when I put any pressure on the wound directly, even very little pressure like squeezing on antibiotic ointment. she has always been vocal though.
She is capable of running (more like fast hopping/hobbling) and walking short distances, but then she lays down on her side with her stump completely pulled up and sits there, so we're still a long ways off. I'm hoping she gets to the point where I don't need to check over her constantly, like way down the line when she is back with the flock, I'm hoping that for the most part she can be like an ordinary chicken who comes and goes from the coop as she pleases. That's going to take time of course.

My "old lady" is Rosemond Mary, Rosie for short, but most of the time I call her Ducky because she sounds like a duck to me . She and her sisters turn 7 at the end of this year.

Thank you so much for your response and your advice, as well as your detailed documentation of Matilda in your thread, it was informative.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Well darn re only chickens are banned inside house per your rental policy. Im glad your landlord's heart softened a bit when he saw the medical care you were giving to Rosie/Ducky. When ive wheeled Matilda into a store, some people just turned and stared open-mouthed, never uttering a word. They couldnt believe they were seeing a calm, tame chicken! Ive kept her home since the summer temps climbed the 80s and higher, & she gets uncomfortably hot after a few hours outside in the mornings lately. Shes gotten used to air-conditioning, & thats ok, shes earned it!

Re shavings sticking to the antibiotic ointment, after medicating her i would usually put her on my lap with a towel underneath for a bit, which allowed the antibiotic and veterycin to mostly soak in. But even when i put her directly back in her housing, shavings sticking to medications were not a problem. I used flake shavings not fine, which may have helped. I was actually more concerned about the shavings injuring her wound, since shavings are wood chips. But that never happened either, possibly because matilda was calm and didnt move around much. Most do recommend towels, puppy pads, etc for bedding, so if that is working for you then no reason to change. Your instincts and intuition seem spot on as far as knowing what to do.

No doubt your girl is still in pain, since the amputation took place less than a week ago. But as active as she currently is, she may in fact quickly resume her normal chicken life as soon as the pain eases and the wound heals. Especially since she wont get to experience the life of luxury inside. Matilda is definitely loving being a house chicken. She has requested me to never tell the outside "normal" chickens what they are missing!

 

[darlingdarla]

Well darn re only chickens are banned inside house per your rental policy. Im glad your landlord's heart softened a bit when he saw the medical care you were giving to Rosie/Ducky. When ive wheeled Matilda into a store, some people just turned and stared open-mouthed, never uttering a word. They couldnt believe they were seeing a calm, tame chicken! Ive kept her home since the summer temps climbed the 80s and higher, & she gets uncomfortably hot after a few hours outside in the mornings lately. Shes gotten used to air-conditioning, & thats ok, shes earned it!

Re shavings sticking to the antibiotic ointment, after medicating her i would usually put her on my lap with a towel underneath for a bit, which allowed the antibiotic and veterycin to mostly soak in. But even when i put her directly back in her housing, shavings sticking to medications were not a problem. I used flake shavings not fine, which may have helped. I was actually more concerned about the shavings injuring her wound, since shavings are wood chips. But that never happened either, possibly because matilda was calm and didnt move around much. Most do recommend towels, puppy pads, etc for bedding, so if that is working for you then no reason to change. Your instincts and intuition seem spot on as far as knowing what to do.

No doubt your girl is still in pain, since the amputation took place less than a week ago. But as active as she currently is, she may in fact quickly resume her normal chicken life as soon as the pain eases and the wound heals. Especially since she wont get to experience the life of luxury inside. Matilda is definitely loving being a house chicken. She has requested me to never tell the outside "normal" chickens what they are missing!

Sorry for the long post and all the pictures, it was an eventful day.

Aww, I do love the idea of a few house chickens if I get a new place, maybe Rosie will move in with me one day
Honestly she may be back outside before I have the chance to put her on shavings. Just checked her stump and it looks really good, the skin is beginning to pull around the edges, it's very interesting. I feel bad changing her bandage because she lets me know she is uncomfortable, I find it odd that she had almost no reaction to the initial amputation, my guess is her foot was already so dead and painful that it actually felt better than before. But she is definitely visibly healing.
I feel like she is not eating as much as before, but I think that might be because she is unhappy being by herself. I'm making an effort to get her outside more now that she is more mobile.
Here is a video of her today outside. She hopped most of the way from the porch to the coop and then laid down. I carried her the rest of the way and put her at the end of the run where no other birds were just so she could get her bearings. After a few minutes my buff polish girl wandered over and sized her up, she is the one I mentioned with missing toes. There was a fight but as the video shows my girl ended it fast and the buff polish isn't bothering her any longer. It looks brutal for Rosie in the video, but slowed down you can see how she handled the polish and sent her packing.

I left her outside for a few hours and watched her through the window while I got some chores done. She did very well outside, she spent a lot of time hiding under a bush though, I think that was mostly because her stump hurt and it was hot. When I went out to get her it was just starting to get dark so all the birds were in the coop. I expected to find her under the coop but she was not there, I panicked a bit and looked everywhere and couldn't find her, as a last effort I checked the little coop and there she was with the two bantams I was planning on moving her in with and a broody bantam who is hanging in there right now. She seemed very content, and I guess she got up the ramp fine. I'm replacing the roosts in this coop right now so everyone is sleeping on shavings.

But, unfortunately she kicked off her bandage outside. I don't know how long it was off, but it was a fresh bandage with ointment so I'm hoping there was enough on her to protect it a bit, it still looked clean. I poured rubbing alcohol over it and rebandaged, and now she is sleeping in her crate on the porch.
I'm hoping it wasn't too badly contaminated.
Here are pictures today, how is it looking?


Also, while I was cleaning her crate for her to sleep, she hopped over to my tortoise's box and jumped up. It's only 18 inches off the ground, but it was nice to see her seeking high ground to sleep.

 

[darlingdarla]

Well darn re only chickens are banned inside house per your rental policy. Im glad your landlord's heart softened a bit when he saw the medical care you were giving to Rosie/Ducky. When ive wheeled Matilda into a store, some people just turned and stared open-mouthed, never uttering a word. They couldnt believe they were seeing a calm, tame chicken! Ive kept her home since the summer temps climbed the 80s and higher, & she gets uncomfortably hot after a few hours outside in the mornings lately. Shes gotten used to air-conditioning, & thats ok, shes earned it!

Re shavings sticking to the antibiotic ointment, after medicating her i would usually put her on my lap with a towel underneath for a bit, which allowed the antibiotic and veterycin to mostly soak in. But even when i put her directly back in her housing, shavings sticking to medications were not a problem. I used flake shavings not fine, which may have helped. I was actually more concerned about the shavings injuring her wound, since shavings are wood chips. But that never happened either, possibly because matilda was calm and didnt move around much. Most do recommend towels, puppy pads, etc for bedding, so if that is working for you then no reason to change. Your instincts and intuition seem spot on as far as knowing what to do.

No doubt your girl is still in pain, since the amputation took place less than a week ago. But as active as she currently is, she may in fact quickly resume her normal chicken life as soon as the pain eases and the wound heals. Especially since she wont get to experience the life of luxury inside. Matilda is definitely loving being a house chicken. She has requested me to never tell the outside "normal" chickens what they are missing!

Sorry for the long post and all the pictures, it was an eventful day.

Aww, I do love the idea of a few house chickens if I get a new place, maybe Rosie will move in with me one day
Honestly she may be back outside before I have the chance to put her on shavings. Just checked her stump and it looks really good, the skin is beginning to pull around the edges, it's very interesting. I feel bad changing her bandage because she lets me know she is uncomfortable, I find it odd that she had almost no reaction to the initial amputation, my guess is her foot was already so dead and painful that it actually felt better than before. But she is definitely visibly healing.
I feel like she is not eating as much as before, but I think that might be because she is unhappy being by herself. I'm making an effort to get her outside more now that she is more mobile.
Here is a video of her today outside. She hopped most of the way from the porch to the coop and then laid down. I carried her the rest of the way and put her at the end of the run where no other birds were just so she could get her bearings. After a few minutes my buff polish girl wandered over and sized her up, she is the one I mentioned with missing toes. There was a fight but as the video shows my girl ended it fast and the buff polish isn't bothering her any longer. It looks brutal for Rosie in the video, but slowed down you can see how she handled the polish and sent her packing.

I left her outside for a few hours and watched her through the window while I got some chores done. She did very well outside, she spent a lot of time hiding under a bush though, I think that was mostly because her stump hurt and it was hot. When I went out to get her it was just starting to get dark so all the birds were in the coop. I expected to find her under the coop but she was not there, I panicked a bit and looked everywhere and couldn't find her, as a last effort I checked the little coop and there she was with the two bantams I was planning on moving her in with and a broody bantam who is hanging in there right now. She seemed very content, and I guess she got up the ramp fine. I'm replacing the roosts in this coop right now so everyone is sleeping on shavings.
View attachment 2829415View attachment 2829416
But, unfortunately she kicked off her bandage outside. I don't know how long it was off, but it was a fresh bandage with ointment so I'm hoping there was enough on her to protect it a bit, it still looked clean. I poured rubbing alcohol over it and rebandaged, and now she is sleeping in her crate on the porch.
I'm hoping it wasn't too badly contaminated.
Here are pictures today, how is it looking?
View attachment 2829407View attachment 2829408View attachment 2829409View attachment 2829411

Also, while I was cleaning her crate for her to sleep, she hopped over to my tortoise's box and jumped up. It's only 18 inches off the ground, but it was nice to see her seeking high ground to sleep.
View attachment 2829413