Frost Bitten Feet

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TRChickenRanch

TRChickenRanch

Chirping
6 Years
Oct 22, 2013
51
17
74
Millarville, Alberta Canada
A few days ago when I went to check the chickens I noticed one our 8 week olds couldn't walk. When I picked her up I noticed both her feet were very swollen and a bit miss-shapened.
I brought her into the house to our infirmary and have been watching her since.
She is getting a bit better, she can now stand for a short period of time on her left foot but still cannot weight bare on her right.
We just had a lengthy cold snap, a week of -40*C.
We suspect she was frost bitten but can't figure out how since she was in the coop with 4 other chickens(2 of them her age).
If she does in fact have frost bite what should we be watching for now?

Tammy
 
If she has frostbitten feet, her feet will be a very dark blueish purplish colour, almost a black. Has she been sitting in the nesting box a lot lately, even though she's not broody? Has she been staying inside the coop a lot? Does she limp and/or have very stiff feet? Are her feet cold (maybe even frozen)? A picture would also help.
 
Depending on the severity of the frostbite, the feet may just be swollen and red/pink, or they could be bluish-black and cold to the touch. Unfortunately, I don't know what you can do now that the frostbite has occurred, other than watch for infection and hope for the best. I'd also keep her warm, massage her feet, and give her some vitamins to help with the stress.

If not frostbite, its possible something else could be wrong. Do the feet show any obvious signs of injury? You also said they were mishappen; does it look like the feet could be broken?
 
BantamLover21 said:
Depending on the severity of the frostbite, the feet may just be swollen and red/pink, or they could be bluish-black and cold to the touch. Unfortunately, I don't know what you can do now that the frostbite has occurred, other than watch for infection and hope for the best. I'd also keep her warm, massage her feet, and give her some vitamins to help with the stress.

If not frostbite, its possible something else could be wrong. Do the feet show any obvious signs of injury? You also said they were mishappen; does it look like the feet could be broken?
Click to expand...
X2
 
Frost bite can occur if they accidentally get their feet wet (or any other part) in a water bowl and then the cold air hits freezing the skin instantly.
 




These are pics of her feet tonight, they are very dark blue / grey, a couple of her toes are very stiff and can't move. I'm afraid it is very bad. Can she survive if her toes fall off?
sad.png

We still can't figure out how it happened, her water bowl is very hard to get her feet into but I guess not impossible.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
Thank you very much for the information, her treatments will start tomorrow and we will hope for the best.
She will most likely lose some toes if not more but I hope she will still be able to have a some what normal life.
I will keep you posted.
 
There is a BYC member named Aoxa who has a bantam hen that lost some of her toes last year due to frostbite. She still has "Margaret" and she does pretty well I think, but she has to be pampered a little more. I believe she massaged the toes with coconut oil to help. You could probably send her a PM for advice.
 

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