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.
. She and her sisters turn 7 at the end of this year.
