missing toe nails

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jessejames

jessejames

In the Brooder
10 Years
Jul 5, 2009
66
0
39
forest ontario canada
so i have gone to the coop to find a bit of blood about a few times over the last months. the first time i found a hen with blood all over her head but no visible sign of injury.
yesterday though i finally noticed where it had come from. 2 of my cockerels are missing toenails
36017_no_toes_002.jpg

36017_no_toes_002.jpg

do any of you have any idea what may be causing this?
they seem to be ripped off i cant get a good pic of the bottom of the foot but there is just a scab where the base of the nail was before.
i know i do have the occasional rat around do you think they could be the perp?
thanks alot
 
I had found a hen a couple weeks back with her toenail ripped off...I think when she jumped down from her roost, that her toenail got caught on the hardware cloth on the windows and ...and out it came.

Maybe your roo's could've gotten their toes caught on fence like that??
 
Any chance they are fighting each other or something else through a mesh fence ? I suppose a rat could have bitten off a toe while they were sleeping on a roost , but doubt it . However , if you see a rat , you have a rat problem that needs addressed IMO . If they don't eat a chick , they are still going to be eating your feed , leaving droppings that may carry disease , and nawing through coops .
 
as for a rat problem. i am surrounded by dairy farms so i get the occasional traveler, but that is it. i can be sure that is it do to the fact that there is no evidence of them, i just mentioned it because i cant think of anything else it could be.
for sure they are not fighting each other i seem to have the most laid back roos around i have one cock and four cockerels to twenty hens. i know that this cant last but am waiting to pick the nicest ones and then am going to be separating them and cull a couple as well.
i know that they are not fighting because i spend a lot of time with them and the two cocks n question seem to be best buddies.
there is also no mesh or anything obvious that they could be catching them on.
i also thought they might be getting frozen to metal or something like that but again there isnt anything like that, that they could be getting frozen to.
maybe it is just a mystery.
thanks
 
I just noticed this same, exact thing on one of My game stags. Hes in a breeding pen with two hens. It looks identical to these pics...I dont know if it will grow back but a few months ago, another rooster of mine lost his nail to his toe. What I mean is the hard, nail type material but the flesh was still intact. He was limping for a few months and the hard part of the nail eventually grew back. I dont have rats and predators at night here usually do not get past the gry pyr. I would love to know if this/these nails will grow back to...
 
A few of our hens have that exact thing. We live in Southern California by the coast and I noticed the past couple months our turkey has been pecking at a bleeding toe, not sure of it is the same one that is missing, but yah she has a missing toe I noticed today. Again not sure if it was the same toe.
 
jessejames said:
so i have gone to the coop to find a bit of blood about a few times over the last months. the first time i found a hen with blood all over her head but no visible sign of injury.
yesterday though i finally noticed where it had come from. 2 of my cockerels are missing toenails
36017_no_toes_002.jpg

36017_no_toes_002.jpg

do any of you have any idea what may be causing this?
they seem to be ripped off i cant get a good pic of the bottom of the foot but there is just a scab where the base of the nail was before.
i know i do have the occasional rat around do you think they could be the perp?
thanks alot
Click to expand...


newchickengirl said:
I just noticed this same, exact thing on one of My game stags. Hes in a breeding pen with two hens. It looks identical to these pics...I dont know if it will grow back but a few months ago, another rooster of mine lost his nail to his toe. What I mean is the hard, nail type material but the flesh was still intact. He was limping for a few months and the hard part of the nail eventually grew back. I dont have rats and predators at night here usually do not get past the gry pyr. I would love to know if this/these nails will grow back to...
Click to expand...

The desire or need to rise to the top of the pecking order will cause both pullets and cockerels or stags to self mutilate themselves by fighting through the wire, cracks in the coop, knotholes. and yes even nail holes in roofing tin used between pens as blinds. I even lost a cockerel or two who decided to take on that house of mirrors looking chicken challenging him from a chrome truck bumper.

His toes will not grow back any more than a human amputee can grow a new arm or leg say like a craw fish can.

The blood on your hen's head is the classic sign of something like rowdy children, a love sick rooster, or a predator causing her to fly head first into the coop wire.
 
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