| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| princesspatches |
Posted - Jul 06 2012 : 07:16:31 AM
I just noticed this morning that one of my chickens broke off her back toe and her foot is slighty swollen. I an worried about infection and losing her.
What do I do? I was going to try and soak it in some hydrogen peroxide or epsom salts. Hubby thinks iodine might help.
HELP!
Arttie |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| princesspatches |
Posted - Jul 07 2012 : 06:05:49 AM
There doesn't seem to be any scabbing or open sores. But in the pad of her foot is swelling. I did treat the water with duramycin. And I am going to check her out closely today again. she is limping, but still pretty feisty.
Thanks for the advice. You girls are the best.
Arttie |
| batznthebelfry |
Posted - Jul 06 2012 : 6:43:08 PM
Kathryn is right about the iodine but 1st get her foot in some warm water diluted with the iodine & let it soak a good 5 minutes to kill any germs & clean off blood ect...pat dry & let air dry for a few moments then check it...do you see any bone? damaged tissue? if not just dab with pure iodine let dry & put on a good antibiotic...she should still be in a cage but a wire cage bottom may hit the area as she moves so I recommend if you only have a wire cage to cut a piece of card board place that on the floor of the cage & then put down a old towel or 2 for her, also get a baggie with a bit of ice cold water, cover it with a washcloth & see if you can place that under her foot while she rest...check & clean at least 4 times daily until a good scab happens & the swelling goes down...as long as she has swelling you need to keep cleaning the area & tearing off any scabs to get any infection out....
Now if you see torn tissue or bone do the cleaning as listed above but once you have a good bit of antibiotic on...cover area & up into leg above it & around it also...get a bandage that is large enough to cover the whole damaged area, cut off the tape areas of it..do not use cotton or cotton balls as the pieces can come off in the wound & help keep the infection in....use some gauge like wrapping & wrap the bandage on...go under the foot thur the toes & back around a few times to keep it there then tape only the gauge areas & not anywhere on the skin......again put her in a cage or safe area & check her 2 times a day if she has worked the bandage off, re clean,medicate it & re-bandage it.......this kind of wound will need to stay bandage until the skin heals back as germs,infection can work its way under the wound & then spread to other areas of the foot & leg.....its a pain to do but for me worth it...also up her calcium leave during this time & a bit more protein to help the skin heal faster plus this wound will knock her off a bit so any extra protein will help her heal better & faster...each time you take off the bandage, check & squeeze the area that is swollen to make sure its not infected......
also never use epsom salts it has man made ingreds in it that may inflame the area...think pouring salt on a wound you have....peroxide is really good to use if you don't have iodine or with the iodine to clean out infection......dip foot in it, let it bubble, rinse off, redo until its has few bubbles....hen do the other things needed.....good luck & trust me a chicken can survive without a back toe....but they may limp a bit for the rest of their life.
Chickens RULE!
hen #2622
theoldbatzfarm.blogspot.com |
| RedHoopWoman |
Posted - Jul 06 2012 : 4:58:59 PM
Arttie I would just dip the foot in iodine now and then (doctoring livestock with iodine leads to some terrible stains so wear something you don't care about) and maybe keep her in a wire bottomed cage like a rabbit cage if you have one to help keep her feet out of muck until she heals,good luck!
"Today's Mighty Oak is just Yesterday's Nut" |
