Okay i walked out to the aviary this morning to feed them and i noticed my opaline hen has got a sore foot, On closer inspection she appear's to have a very swollen area around where her toe's start... she cannot stand on it nor can she move her foot... it's a faded yellowish swollen type of thing... any idea's what it might be.... i have an idea of the fact that she may have been bitten by a spider... or anything for that matter......Okay here's the picture's. bad quality once again due to a lame camera. and bad light. Her RING seem's to be cutting off ALOT of circulation... the leg comes out more then the ring so it looks like the ring has literally squashed into the leg itself

 

Edited July 24, 200915 yr by mattdog2

Cut the ring off.

Okay how do i do that.

You can buy ring cutters from show tables. If the ring is cutting off the circulation that bad, you may have to see a vet.

Depending on how much room their is, you could use side cutters.

Ive used side cutters many times to cut the rings, but mine have never cut off circulation.

Be carefull you dont chop the birds foot off.

It's a metal ring, so i dont know if it will work.

Side cutters are designed to cut metal.

Take her to a breeder or the vet. you can not cut off a ring that is dug into the leg like that as you will cause serious bleeding.

the leg looks infected and i would rush her to the vet to have to ring removed and the wound inspected.

Edited July 24, 200915 yr by **Liv**

Thought so, I'm going to take her to the vet ASAP tomorrow morning, It's only a 30 second walk to the vet as im only a few door's down..

 

How much would it cost. to have the ring cut off

Edited July 24, 200915 yr by mattdog2

Dont know... going by your signature... does it matter??

 

I would get her there first thing... get her in a hospital cage with a lamp, not perch (unless she stresses without it) and paper floor so she can rest her foot. put some iodine or other bird safe antiseptic on the wound. i use ionic silver as an antiseptic on my birds.

Just finished bathing the foot in warm water... i do not have anti-septic and i wont try anything else until i know its not harmful... so now that it's bathed I've got her in the hospital cage with her mate, which is taking care of her very well... she is sitting on the perch but is a bit off balance as she is putting most of the force in the left leg instead of her bad one.... he's eating and feeding her even though she's eating as well... so let's just hope it's not worse by tomorrow morning... i have no lamp suitable for it so i have a light heater... which i have on LOW... and it heat's the room up and is nice and warm...

Sounds good. look forward to the vets diagnosis tomorrow. it looks nasty from the photo... yellow in the skin is never good

Yeah, As you can see the green ring is really tight around her leg... so vet might have to amputate if worse come's to worse.....

 

She's due to have egg's in the next 2 weeks... the male has been going at her a few time's already.... so hopefully it heal's up in time for that.

It may not heal in time... the longer the leg is restricted of blood flow the more nerve damage there will be. Amputation is a lot trickier than it sounds so i hope it doesn't come down to that.

You know Matt, it looks uncannily like Fussy Chook's leg .... and that was a tumour that had to be amputated.

 

Here's hoping it's just an infection that can be cured with antibiotics

Matt she wont have eggs in a couple of weeks...they would be here now if she was going to have them. Considering her state of health she will not be making eggs. Good advice not to cut the ring off yourself. I have seen experienced people try with one that embedded and the bird was slashed and bled so much the blood supply to the leg was cut off also.

If anyone ever has to cut off an easier to take off legring, you use the legring cutters ( around $12 on our accessories table in our club ) BUT you cut both sides so it falls off without having to manipulate the sharp sharp metal.

Edited July 24, 200915 yr by KAZ

Yeah, if i had them i still would not do it... the ring is that tight that i cannot even move the ring 1 bit.... and beside's... i cant take the risk of hurting her more....

 

And cause she is an aviary-bred bird... she stress's out very easily so i'm going to leave her be with her mate for tonight and then off to the vet tomorrow....

 

And Liv, being that i asked what price it was, the reason i asked was because i don't get paid for a few day's yet... so i have no money... and mum hasn't got much either after paying the monthly bill's this week.

Hi Matt if you put her foot on your finger as if she was going to perch on it does her foot curl around your finger? If not then that means she has most likely snapped the ligaments i had this hapen to one of my birds before she may only need to be in the hospital box for 5 days or so but still take her to the vet ASAP i am just goin on previous experinces. I have also need to have had a ring cut off as it was cutting off the circulationlike your is it cost about $50 because they need to use a very small grinder and they need to keep puting water on the ring about every 10 seconds so the birds leg doesnt get burnt.

Edited July 24, 200915 yr by Blake

I see, Thanks for the info. She does not perch properly, she sit's the bottom of her foot on the perch but does not curl it...

Timing is crucial right now Matt.....please do not delay getting her to the vet. It can go pearshaped within hours.

Timing is crucial right now Matt.....please do not delay getting her to the vet. It can go pearshaped within hours.

 

I agree with kaz aswell she will need to see the vet ASAP.

Vet is shut so their is nothing i can do until the morning, I'll be at the vet door's ASAP tomorrow morning.

Vet is shut so their is nothing i can do until the morning, I'll be at the vet door's ASAP tomorrow morning.

Thats fine mate...I was just saying once that happens to the legring, things change quickly.

 

PS we will be at the vet tomorrow too Kens old siamese cat just got attacked by a horrible tomcat and has a hole in his stomach. The vet said bring him in tomorrow to be stitched. I bet our vet bill will be bigger than yours.

Vet is shut so their is nothing i can do until the morning, I'll be at the vet door's ASAP tomorrow morning.

Thats fine mate...I was just saying once that happens to the legring, things change quickly.

 

PS we will be at the vet tomorrow too Kens old siamese cat just got attacked by a horrible tomcat and has a hole in his stomach. The vet said bring him in tomorrow to be stitched. I bet our vet bill will be bigger than yours.

Ouch, Yeah no doubt about that.... Mine should be roughly $50... your's will be surely in the Hundred's

I managed to get the ring off myself this morning.... it was plastic so i got a very small pair of snippers and snipped the ring straight off... no harm done to the bird.... turns out she had a infection in between the ring and flesh that went up to her toe's and caused swelling.... the swelling has now gone down and the infection is almost gone.... i've put some bettadine on her foot and she's now able to curl her foot right around the perch.....

 

so couldn't have went better as far as im concerned.... and i didn't have to see a vet when i took the ring off it was dented into her skin and was bleeding and bruised all around the skin where the ring was.... so the ring most Definitely caused it

Thats great news Matt well done