My rooster's leg is green! Infection?

[azygous]

I posted yesterday a thread about my rooster having a hurt leg, not knowing what was causing it. Today, I took him out into the sunlight and examined his feet closely. He has been tapping the top of the right foot repeatedly with his beak, probably signaling something is wrong with it.

Well, it's turning green! The other foot is not green, so I think it's probably safe to conclude that this signifies an infection. I took a photo of the foot so you can see what it looks like.

I keep amoxycillin 250 mg on hand and I broke one open and gave it to him in a teaspoon of peanut butter.

Is this the right thing to do? What do you suppose caused this infection, if that's what this is?

 

[azygous]

The green on my rooster's leg is spreading. He doesn't seem any better, and may be worse. He isn't interested in eating, let alone standing up and walking around. The foot seems to hurt him a great deal. I sure wish I knew why it's green. Has anyone experienced their chicken's leg turning green like this?

 

[ernie85017]

You're gonna think I'm crazy, but take an eyedropper and put one drop of bleach on the greenest area, away from the skin and see what happens.
It looks like the green that grows under fake fingernails.
THis is a better picture than yesterday. The green looks like it is inside the scales.

 

[BantamLover21]

Your rooster could certainly have an infection, but be advised that chicken bruises are green. It could be that something slammed into your rooster's leg, which irritated the skin (causing him to peck at it), and bruised the tissue. However, because your rooster is acting ill, I think that infection is more likely than bruising. The amoxycillin should help, but if not, injecting the leg with Penicillin might be more effective.

Encourage your rooster to eat by giving him scrambled eggs and moistened feed. If he still won't eat, pry open his beak, insert some food, and then get him to swallow it. Tube feeding is another possibility. Fluids are also important; drip water on the side of his beak or dip his beak into water often to get him to drink. Keep him in a clean, warm place, bedded on a good layer of wood shavings. Minimize external stresses (animals walking around nearby, loud noises, etc.).

 

[azygous]

Thanks for the advice. I did the drop of bleach on the greenest area, and it didn't change anything.

I moved him inside to the pet crate with water with electrolytes and ACV, and a container of two kinds of feed, one moistened with water and Poutry nutri-drench. He seems comfortable, and he ate a little bit.

I was keeping him in the run with just two hens to keep him company, but I don't think he really benefitted from being with them. At least this will make it easier to take care of him.

 

[ernie85017]

I think you need to hear from dawg or beekissed.

 

[azygous]

I know Dawg and Beekissed give terrific advice, maybe we'll be gifted by an appearance!

Penrod, my poor boy, is settled down in his crate in the garage. I got him out a couple of times to poop outdoors, since he doesn't like pooping in the crate. Even still, he can't stand up to do it and the result is an awful mess, and giving a twelve pound rooster a butt bath is a real job when he can't stand.

I hope, hope, hope to see a bit of improvement in the morning since he will have been on amoxycillin for three days.

 

[Haunted55]

If this were my bird, I would be painting his leg with iodine. Just a thin covering of it. Colored or non colored, doesn't matter. Iodine is readily pulled into the skin and is a good topical treatment to use because of this. Paint it and leave it, don't cover it. I know that the lower percentage of the iodine we can get now isn't supposed to burn the skin, but there's no reason to chance it. As the iodine is absorbed, it will kill any infection it comes in contact with. If you can do it, a good soak in warm water would help. Not overly warm, just enough to help make the skin/scales softer and more able to let the iodine into the underlying skin. The internal antibiotic isn't going to hurt even if this doesn't turn out to be an infection. My choice would have been one of the tetracyclines as they are better able to get out to the extremities faster.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www.canadianpoultry.ca/cms_pdfs/AviaTech_Staph.pdf
see the bottom of page 3...don't know if this pertains to your boy or not

 

[azygous]

I talked to a local vet a little while ago, and he said staph would most likely be evidenced by a discharge. Since there is none, staph is unlikely.

I will give the iodine treatment a try, though, preceded by a warm soak. Should I do it every day?