Injured toe. Please help.

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Faraday40

Faraday40

Free Ranging
10 Years
Aug 1, 2013
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Illinois
Injured toe. Please help.

Found a lot of blood on a hen this morning. It was on her feet & caked on her chest.
After closely checking, I believe her nail from her back toe got ripped off while roosting. (Not sure how yet)
So far, I've washed her feet & soaked the bleeding one in a dilute iodine water solution. Then applied corn starch & "Vetericyn" to the remaining nail on the toe.

She's resting in a box with pine shavings in the garage. (I'd like to avoid a house chicken if possible.) I'm pretty sure the bleeding is under control for now.

So, what's next? What can I do about all the blood on her feathers. It's very, very cold here (about 15'F, but feels like below 0)& I don't want poor Honey to go into shock by bringing her into the house. I don't know how the rest will react if she has bloody chest feathers. This is our 1st injury. Never had more than a nick before. My white pullet has a few specks of blood on her back. I'm pretty sure it dripped/splattered down on her.

Also, any special treats to feed her to help give strength after this ordeal?

PS- Thank you to the unknown BYC members for their advice on having a chicken 1st Aid Kit on hand. Made this morning easier to be able to treat ASAP.
 
Faraday40 said:
Injured toe. Please help.

Found a lot of blood on a hen this morning. It was on her feet & caked on her chest.
After closely checking, I believe her nail from her back toe got ripped off while roosting. (Not sure how yet)
So far, I've washed her feet & soaked the bleeding one in a dilute iodine water solution. Then applied corn starch & "Vetericyn" to the remaining nail on the toe.

She's resting in a box with pine shavings in the garage. (I'd like to avoid a house chicken if possible.) I'm pretty sure the bleeding is under control for now.

So, what's next? What can I do about all the blood on her feathers. It's very, very cold here (about 15'F, but feels like below 0)& I don't want poor Honey to go into shock by bringing her into the house. I don't know how the rest will react if she has bloody chest feathers. This is our 1st injury. Never had more than a nick before. My white pullet has a few specks of blood on her back. I'm pretty sure it dripped/splattered down on her.

Also, any special treats to feed her to help give strength after this ordeal?

PS- Thank you to the unknown BYC members for their advice on having a chicken 1st Aid Kit on hand. Made this morning easier to be able to treat ASAP.
Click to expand...

So sorry to hear about your girl
hugs.gif
The same thing happened to mine on Monday afternoon. She was out foraging and I noticed blood on her foot and she too had broken her back toenail
sad.png
I did bring her inside because I didn't want to chance it getting infected with dirt or opening up the bleeding with her scratching around. I think your set-up for her in the garage will do the same
smile.png
I just wanted to keep my girl calm and give her toe a chance to heal over. It is sore but getting better each day! Glad you got everything under control. I would separate her if she has blood on her chest for fear that other chickens would pick at her attracted by the bloody feathers. Other than giving her a bath, not sure how you would get the blood off the feathers...maybe someone else will chime in with some advice there! I think blue kote is used to cover the redness of wounds and help healing, but I'm not sure I would want to use it to cover feathers with blood. And on a white chicken it would maybe stain the feathers????
th.gif


What do you have in your chicken first aide kit? I have never had an injury either, but after this I want to be a little more prepared for sure! Good luck with your girl
hugs.gif
 
My "kit" is a shoe box with some stuff that I thought I may need - like Vet tape, disinfectant, electrolyte powder, Vaseline, Baby shampoo, antibiotic ointment, cotton swabs, etc There are some threads that had a very detailed descriptions with pics, but mine is very, very basic. I'm not the type to do my own surgeries. I also don't want to share these items between people & chickens.
 
Faraday40 said:
My "kit" is a shoe box with some stuff that I thought I may need - like Vet tape, disinfectant, electrolyte powder, Vaseline, Baby shampoo, antibiotic ointment, cotton swabs, etc There are some threads that had a very detailed descriptions with pics, but mine is very, very basic. I'm not the type to do my own surgeries. I also don't want to share these items between people & chickens.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me :) I also am not one to do surgeries/procedures but after reading your post thought it would be a good plan to have "chicken first aid basics" just in case of minor injuries/issues...especially after dealing with my girls toe
roll.png
 
UPDATE:

After 2 weeks, this is what "Honey"s toe looks like. She'll be gradually moved back into the flock this weekend.

I'm not sure if the nail will be growing back, but she's walking normally.
 


One of our BR's lost her entire toenail when jumping down from a small table (got caught in the mesh) - tremendous amount of blood all over the patio. It took awhile for it to stop, even though we used styptic powder and gauze.

This happened back in September and she's just now getting a tiny stub of a nail coming back in, maybe 1/16".

We thought it was pretty amazing that she didn't react at all when it happened - just walked around like nothing was wrong with all this blood coming out of her toe...she never made a peep when it happened.
 
I guess this may be more common than I thought. Honey's bleeding started up again on that 1st day. As I ran her foot under some water, it opened up & gushed. (My white tile got splattered with blood like a scene from a horror movie!) I ended up bandaging her toe & kept her inside so I could monitor. Because we had a week of below zero temps, she got a little extra time as a house chicken. It will warm up to the upper 30s, so she'll start the transition back tomorrow.
 
Yep...do think it seems more common than I realized. My girl didn't react at all either. I just saw the blood when she jumped up on my lap. It would bleed a little off and on the first few days so we kept her inside. Just a tiny numb now but she is using it just fine in her foraging adventures
big_smile.png
Just scary to see all that blood
th.gif
 
If anyone's wondering how it worked out, Honey is just fine. We had a house chicken for a while due to the severe cold. She continued to lay for us & I think she may have enjoyed her little vacation inside. (She certainly enjoyed watching TV. LOL) She had to work her way back up the pecking order & somehow ended up as one of the top hens instead of in the middle.

Her hind nail grew back completely. She enjoys digging in the mud & is a rather fast runner.
 

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