I have nothing but praise for our vets. Washington was allowed to come home on Saturday afternoon after her foot was re-dressed. So my husband went down and bought both girls home.
There is a noticable improvement in Washington this time around. I think the oral antibiotics are helping battle the inflammation and the poultice is helping to draw out the infection. Then Washington's body is making it's own recovery. She has been out and about more often in the pen and even scratching with her sore foot.
Yesterday Washington went back for a re-dressing. I love how the vet nurse lays her out on her back. She just lays there quietly as she is tended to.
I watched yesterday as the vet cleaned out the wound with a curette tool. She scraped out the infected material and there was a healthy flow of blood in response. Then she swabbed the wound with antiseptic and then packed it with a poultice and then wrapped it with vetwrap.
Even though it looks nasty I think it is actually healing quite well. Unfortunately poor Washington has lost nearly a third of her body weight. She went from a large 3Kg to 2.2Kg since March. She has stopped laying her white eggs and is now moulting.
But I am looking after her. She gets first dibs on the food scraps and I am supplementing her diet with extra protein. She will continue with the oral antibiotic until it runs out and will revisit the vet for wound dressing every 2nd day. That's a 50Km round trip.
I tell you...this chicken is well loved. I can not afford to lose her now. Her first egg after this trauma might as well be golden!
On a positive note, I think that Breanna might be on lay again. On one day we had three eggs. I know that the huge one on the left belongs to Obama, the middle one to Bluey (and as Washington lays a small white egg, I can only deduce that the one on the right belongs to Breanna).
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