Matilda is going to lose her feet. :(

[Eggcessive]

I hope that Matilda can learn to walk around on her soon to be healed stumps. Eventually, they may toughen up. Padding or medical dressings can be helpful until that happens. I am trying my best to recall a product we used on kids and babies to protect their faces when tape was used. It is fairly thick with an adhesive back and can be cut to fit the size.

Your pictures over the last months has been valuable for others that will deal with frostbitten feet in the future. Thanks for staying with this thread with updates so far.

Some of the guys who deal with a lot of frostbite in places with severe winters have posted about doing nothing for chickens who have lost their feet, and survive on their stumps. Most of us are a bit more caring, but it goes to show that chickens are very tough. Good luck.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I'm not easily grossed out. But the photo of that detached foot did it.

I wouldn't worry too much about infection other than keeping the raw stumps covered until a glaze of tissue forms. The whole point of chickens being able to jettison dead extremities like this is to protect them from systemic infection.

Thinking about how clever this strategy is, it makes me wonder why they didn't also evolve the ability to grow new feet.

I wasn't grossed out by the appearance, but was by the odor. If you think it looked bad, you should have smelled it! I will definitely keep the wound covered until a glaze of tissue forms. I think the glaze may also be called "eschar", a term @Siamoureux used in their reply on tuesday. (Eschar is slightly different than a scab).

For anyone who is interested, I plan to post more info about "things i know now that i didnt know then" later tonight. And also show photos from past posts, as well as photos that i never posted. There were questions i asked throughout this thread but got no answers to. Some answers i still dont know, but others i now do.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I hope that Matilda can learn to walk around on her soon to be healed stumps. Eventually, they may toughen up. Padding or medical dressings can be helpful until that happens. I am trying my best to recall a product we used on kids and babies to protect their faces when tape was used. It is fairly thick with an adhesive back and can be cut to fit the size.

Your pictures over the last months has been valuable for others that will deal with frostbitten feet in the future. Thanks for staying with this thread with updates so far.

Some of the guys who deal with a lot of frostbite in places with severe winters have posted about doing nothing for chickens who have lost their feet, and survive on their stumps. Most of us are a bit more caring, but it goes to show that chickens are very tough. Good luck.

She is able to hobble around a little, and was even standing after the foot detached tuesday; that was how i immediately saw it had come off. But her legs dont have enough strength to hold her upright very long, and her balance isnt very good either. She usually wobbles when she first stands. But maybe both will improve now that both feet are off. A big problem is that she is a large hen, approx. 7 1/2 pounds. So im not expecting her mobility to ever be great again. In most of the frostbite cases ive seen on byc where chickens lost their feet, the chickens were of a much smaller breed, & most were quite younger in age too.

That product you mentioned jogged my memory, but like you i cant recall the name. Probably never even knew the name; it was simply something that got taped to my skin to cover childhood wounds larger than small cuts. I will be doing more research to decide on the best padding to use to protect her stump(s) after they heal. Have seen various padding products used in other frostbite threads. But certainly every case is different, so it may take time to discover what works best for Matilda. As of now she still has her right foot pad. But the spur on the right foot is being completely "absorbed", same as the left spur was. The right spur appears to be part of healthy tissue, yet it is slowly but surely also "going away". Googled "rooster reabsorb spur" and got nothing. So what that means for the prospects of the pad remains to be seen.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think the dressing I was thinking of is called duoderm or hydrocolloid dressing. There are different branda and can be trimmed. They are thicker than Tegaderm, and sometimes tincture of benzoin is used to help them stick well. We used them in the hospitals to protect skin in stoma care as well as on infant skin (knees and faces with nasogastric or endotracheal tubes.)

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Below are photos i took just a moment ago, immediately after unwrapping her foot but before medicating. For comparison, the first photo is from tuesday, immediately after the foot separated.

Photo #1: Tuesday, May 25th

Friday, May 28th



A shot of the mysterious receding right spur, which Appears to extend from healthy tissue. Spur is smaller/has regressed more than it appears in photo, due to the camera angle.


For comparison, a photo taken May 9th of left spur remnant. The left spur is almost completely gone now. Yet like the right spur, it appeared to extend from viable tissue.


The disappearing spur isssue is a curious oddity, but not a concern. As far as the wound photos from tuesday and today, any comments anybody? I dont see much change from tuesday through today (Friday), other than the wound appears a bit "cleaner", i.e. less bloody than tuesday. But im only one pair of eyes, the more eyes the better. It is definitely a Much larger wound than the left nub was after separation. It is therefore more suseptible to infection and will take much longer to heal than the left nub did, i assume? Unfortunately for Matilda, i think it might be a while before she gets to stand/rest on the bare ground again. I will find other ways to keep her happy.

@ryneaeiel , i didnt use baby wipes to clean/slough off tissue before medicating this eve, because i didnt really see anything obvious to slough off. The sloughing skin/tissue from this past Sunday, May 23 seemed to mostly come off with the dead foot. In addition, Matilda was Very touchy when i medicated her foot yesterday, pulling her foot inward to her body and flinching slightly when i touched the foot. So i was already hesitant to apply any additional pressure. This eve she was Much more tolerant. Completely tolerant, actually. So tomorrow/in the future i will gently "slough" if need be.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I think the dressing I was thinking of is called duoderm or hydrocolloid dressing. There are different branda and can be trimmed. They are thicker than Tegaderm, and sometimes tincture of benzoin is used to help them stick well. We used them in the hospitals to protect skin in stoma care as well as on infant skin (knees and faces with nasogastric or endotracheal tubes.)

Thank you for the info; i will definiitely look in to that. No, i definitely dont remember anybody using those big words. I think what got taped to me was simply called a "patch."

 

[ryneaeiel]

Below are photos i took just a moment ago, immediately after unwrapping her foot but before medicating. For comparison, the first photo is from tuesday, immediately after the foot separated.



Friday, May 28th
View attachment 2693350View attachment 2693355


A shot of the mysterious receding right spur, which Appears to extend from healthy tissue. Spur is smaller/has regressed more than it appears in photo, due to the camera angle.
View attachment 2693367

For comparison, a photo taken May 9th of left spur remnant. The left spur is almost completely gone now. Yet like the right spur, it appeared to extend from viable tissue.
View attachment 2693389

The disappearing spur isssue is a curious oddity, but not a concern. As far as the wound photos from tuesday and today, any comments anybody? I dont see much change from tuesday through today (Friday), other than the wound appears a bit "cleaner", i.e. less bloody than tuesday. But im only one pair of eyes, the more eyes the better. It is definitely a Much larger wound than the left nub was after separation. It is therefore more suseptible to infection and will take much longer to heal than the left nub did, i assume? Unfortunately for Matilda, i think it might be a while before she gets to stand/rest on the bare ground again. I will find other ways to keep her happy.

@ryneaeiel , i didnt use baby wipes to clean/slough off tissue before medicating this eve, because i didnt really see anything obvious to slough off. The sloughing skin/tissue from this past Sunday, May 23 seemed to mostly come off with the dead foot. In addition, Matilda was Very touchy when i medicated her foot yesterday, pulling her foot inward to her body and flinching slightly when i touched the foot. So i was already hesitant to apply any additional pressure. This eve she was Much more tolerant. Completely tolerant, actually. So tomorrow/in the future i will gently "slough" if need be.

She's looking much better!

I wonder if the quick in the spur is receding somehow to redirect more blood toward the stump for healing?

Either way, wiping the stump will help remove any necrotic tissue that's stuck on. When I debride with wipes, it's just a quick, gentle wipe. Usually you can tell what's liquidized and needs to be wiped. It also helps to just remove any debris on there that might get in the way of healing.

 

[AntiqueB]

Poor Matilda, and poor you. She is a wonderful hen, so sweet and patient. And you are the same way, for taking such meticulous care of her.

Thank you for this extremely informative thread, and I hope Matilda heals soon.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Your guess is better than any i've come up with as to why that might be happening. And no one else ever commented at all. The regression is actually helpful, since the spurs interfere with smoothly wrapping the shank. But still, it was one of the questions i had not found an answer to.

Ok, i will give the wound a quick wipe before medicating from now on. (I use "wound" instead of stump for the right foot remnants, since the bottom foot pad is still intact. Thats why the right wound covers a Much larger surface area than the left stump did. I have used excessive amounts of vetericyn on both injuries with the intent of Spraying any debris away. Wiping will definitely be much cheaper.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Poor Matilda, and poor you. She is a wonderful hen, so sweet and patient. And you are the same way, for taking such meticulous care of her.

Thank you for this extremely informative thread, and I hope Matilda heals soon.

Any sorrow i feel for her quickly passes, because Matilda doesnt feel sorry for herself & takes it all in stride. To tell you the truth, i think she enjoys all the special attention she has received. She has lived inside my house since the accident happened in February.

Every time an exterior door is left ajar, nosy chicken faces soon appear at the entrance way. If i don't notice them in time, the bravest hens will then begin to cautiously cross the threshhold, desiring to check out "ms. chicken lady's big, cozy, nice and private coop". When i Still didnt notice the intrusion, i've discovered hens laying eggs in corners of my kitchen and laundry room. Ive always suspected they would ALL move inside if given the chance. Well, Matilda got to permanently move in! Sadly at the cost of her feet. But as i said, she doesnt seem to mind.