Hello everyone!
As is often the case, I have an oddball here: I have a 4 month-old Silkie that weighs right at 1lb that suffered an injury to its hock joint in the last 10-14 days. I'm asking for some recommendations and suggestions for our treatment plan until we can get the bird to a vet (ours doesn't take birds any longer). This is a bird that went to a friend of ours, and we were told that a fight occurred with older birds that created the injury, but looking closely at the now-healing wound, it looks more like a bite wound. Photos are attached showing the injured inner lower portion of the hock joint.
Here's a quick rundown of dates since I think they're important for treatment/therapy:
03/10/25 - hatch day
04/19/25 - day delivered to a friend because she wanted Silkies (chicks were 5 weeks old)
06/25/25 - we're told a fight occurred that injured this bird; we were told this on 07/03/25 when my husband went to retrieve one of the birds for other reasons
07/03/25 - husband picked up the bird and because of the poor housing conditions and the one bird's injury, he brought BOTH home
07/07/25 - currently seeking a vet appointment for this 4 month-old to get X-rays and recommendations on treatment.
We believe that the wound on the lower inner of this pullet's hock is a bite wound, not something she would have received during a fight with other pullets or even adult hens. We think it looks like a bite wound that is healing, possibly from a rat or other predator. The joint is quite swollen (likely from infection), has a 1" scabbed over area, is warm to the touch, and clearly causes her discomfort. We noticed today that her leg/foot from the hock joint to the toes is quite warm, much warmer than the leg that is not injured. Through her discomfort, however, she eats and drinks normally, is active and wants to run with her sister, and even tries to jump to roost bars if she finds one.
Our treatment plan so far has been:
- 60mg of Amoxicillin twice per day (what we had available going into the holiday weekend)
- 60mg of children's aspirin with an anti-inflammatory twice per day
- epsom salt soaks for the joint once per day.
QUESTIONS:
Is there a better antibiotic to use?
Can we give her a higher dose of antibiotic?
Can we give it more frequently?
Can we give her more (and more frequently) a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory?
We feel like some of the swelling has gone down, but it clearly still hurts her, and she favors the leg heavily taking a step but quickly hopping to the other foot as she moves around just like a human does when they have severe pain in their foot.
What more can we do for her? She's isolated from the flock with her hatch-mate, the other bird that my husband picked up on July 3. We just want to try to get her back to being able to use her leg normally. However, we feel like we're well behind the curve since she didn't receive any treatment for this injury in the first 10-12 days or so after it happened.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
As is often the case, I have an oddball here: I have a 4 month-old Silkie that weighs right at 1lb that suffered an injury to its hock joint in the last 10-14 days. I'm asking for some recommendations and suggestions for our treatment plan until we can get the bird to a vet (ours doesn't take birds any longer). This is a bird that went to a friend of ours, and we were told that a fight occurred with older birds that created the injury, but looking closely at the now-healing wound, it looks more like a bite wound. Photos are attached showing the injured inner lower portion of the hock joint.
Here's a quick rundown of dates since I think they're important for treatment/therapy:
03/10/25 - hatch day
04/19/25 - day delivered to a friend because she wanted Silkies (chicks were 5 weeks old)
06/25/25 - we're told a fight occurred that injured this bird; we were told this on 07/03/25 when my husband went to retrieve one of the birds for other reasons
07/03/25 - husband picked up the bird and because of the poor housing conditions and the one bird's injury, he brought BOTH home
07/07/25 - currently seeking a vet appointment for this 4 month-old to get X-rays and recommendations on treatment.
We believe that the wound on the lower inner of this pullet's hock is a bite wound, not something she would have received during a fight with other pullets or even adult hens. We think it looks like a bite wound that is healing, possibly from a rat or other predator. The joint is quite swollen (likely from infection), has a 1" scabbed over area, is warm to the touch, and clearly causes her discomfort. We noticed today that her leg/foot from the hock joint to the toes is quite warm, much warmer than the leg that is not injured. Through her discomfort, however, she eats and drinks normally, is active and wants to run with her sister, and even tries to jump to roost bars if she finds one.
Our treatment plan so far has been:
- 60mg of Amoxicillin twice per day (what we had available going into the holiday weekend)
- 60mg of children's aspirin with an anti-inflammatory twice per day
- epsom salt soaks for the joint once per day.
QUESTIONS:
Is there a better antibiotic to use?
Can we give her a higher dose of antibiotic?
Can we give it more frequently?
Can we give her more (and more frequently) a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory?
We feel like some of the swelling has gone down, but it clearly still hurts her, and she favors the leg heavily taking a step but quickly hopping to the other foot as she moves around just like a human does when they have severe pain in their foot.
What more can we do for her? She's isolated from the flock with her hatch-mate, the other bird that my husband picked up on July 3. We just want to try to get her back to being able to use her leg normally. However, we feel like we're well behind the curve since she didn't receive any treatment for this injury in the first 10-12 days or so after it happened.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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