Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[User395221]

who knew that one bleeding toe could bleed quite so much? I didn’t

It can kill a budgie or smaller bird. They can die of blood loss very quickly

I wonder how Crystal injured it? Bit of a mystery there.

 

[Teila]

It can kill a budgie or smaller bird. They can die of blood loss very quickly

I wonder how Crystal injured it? Bit of a mystery there.

Hey potato chip, yeah, I was a little concerned as to how much blood she lost yesterday but she seems fine today; no more bleeding and no signs of infection. I think she may have caught the claw somehow as the blood was dripping from where the claw meets the toe but no sign of a wound today and no more bleeding. I am keeping a close eye on it though and dabbed it with some more Betadine.

Because it is the 5th toe, it is staying quite clean because it does not actually touch the ground. Maybe that is the reason she may have caught it on something

 

[kat79]

Ok i want to introduce the silkies and ducks to the sexlink girls (3). Is it possible to introduce them and they can live together. as my ducks and silkies grew up together and the duckies are protectve of the silkies especialy the drake.

 

[Anniebee]

While seashells contain some calcium , they are only useful as ' grit ' which helps to grind food down , in the absence of teeth. Oyster shell on the other hand is calcium carbonate and is more readily absorbed into the birds system , in other words not just sent through the system via ' express post ' .

I thought so Fancy ... but wasn't 100% sure. We've had 'calcium' discussions on several occasions here, and I will always remember your advice about calcium / phosphorous ratio, and other related issues, including going easy on the cheese. !!

And that normal calcium powder, must be administered very carefully - certainly not too much. My wayward girls, being in moult are on more protein goodies now.

I might have to give in on the 'never buy on line' thing ( was bitten badly once a long while back ) .... and invest in powdered calcium carbonate - just in case.

Potato-chip .... I would suggest you do the same, if you absolutely have to. Your soft-shell layer hopefully will surprise you and start laying eggs properly again. Mindy did, and I suspect she would have done so, without the teaspoon of ordinary calcium powder I had given her about 2 - 3 times a week. But - I will never know.

I wouldn't think the 'horse' place would be of much help - but then you just never know.

And Fancys' advice is always spot on when it comes to chickens and what they need ... I appreciate her continuous input and good advice.

Cheers to you both.

......

 

[Teila]

And Fancys' advice is always spot on when it comes to chickens and what they need ... I appreciate her continuous input and good advice.

x 2

 

[Anniebee]

Top o’ the morn’n to ya

Anniebee I know I have mentioned this before, but I just wanted to let you know that your comment “My thought was the egg may have been ….. getting caught somehow and then dropping as she walked”, was not a weird thought at all and that happens quite frequently here.

Having a high ratio of fluffy butts to non fluffy butts, I am frequently finding eggs at the bottom of the ramp, in the run or on the coop floor. I think it was Blondie I bailed up in the garden one day, still dragging her egg around with her, stuck to her ‘skirts’.

I have found that if they linger in the nest box while the egg dries, it sticks nicely to their fluffy feathers.

So, we had a mini drama here yesterday. As I was watering, I spotted what looked like fresh blood on the small retaining wall. I called hubby over and he thought that it looked more like red berry juice from the tree. Anyways, turns out it was blood .. who knew chickens had such bright red blood? I didn’t, as this is the first time I have had to deal with a seriously bleeding chicken.

Of course I was beside myself with worry and frantically trying to locate everyone and suss out who was bleeding. I easily spotted Crystal with blood all over her underbelly. She looked like someone or something had sliced her open.

On closer inspection, through tear hindered vision, she had a bleeding toe

.. who knew that one bleeding toe could bleed quite so much? I didn’t

Anyways, it looks like she has knocked the claw on her 5th toe as the blood was dripping from there and then, as she walked, managing to spread far and wide across the garden and on her belly. Didn’t help that she still thought it was a good idea to use that foot to scratch her head

I managed to stop the bleeding and clean her and the toe up but she managed to knock it again and cause it to bleed. It did not seem to be bothering her and as, after the second clean up, the others were not paying attention to it either, I popped some Betadine on it and left her with the flock; no rebleeds for the rest of the afternoon.

I have not had a chance to inspect it closely this morning but there was no blood on or under the roost and she was happily dust bathing at breakfast time.

Of course, I will be checking it out later today, re-treating and keeping an eye out for any signs of infection.

Thanks Teila .... yes - laid with a wet sticky substance, ( first one I ever picked up hot fresh, I was so surprised at the wetness of it !! ). I had a good chuckle at Blondie trailing her egg behind her, in her 'skirts' ...... some of Mindy's cracked eggs, ( apart from a one, maybe two, balloon type eggs ), break as though dropped, as I have inspected the shells very carefully and they seem robust enough. The broken eggs in the past, have all dropped onto concrete pavers !! Figures. But in good laying mode, Mindy lays eggs that need an axe ( almost ) to break open the shells.

Much harder / solid than the other two girls eggs, which I consider to be normal shells.


If anything is going to bleed profusely on any animal or bird, it is the claw - either clipped too far down to nick the blood supply ( which then bleeds like a river ) ... or injured as Crystal obviously has done by tearing it off on something or other. I always clip my dogs claws, cat claws, rabbit claws ( people bring their animals here for me to do the claw clipping ) ..... same thing goes when clipping wings --- too far in, and bleeeed..... [ the best fun ? I had was clipping a male peacocks flight feathers - owner held him, I clipped - all was well, but he was none too happy at the indignity of it all ]

Often it is difficult to see the end of the blood supply ( or 'quick' ), especially on dogs. ( I have NEVER clipped a chooks claws, and wouldn't - they wear them down adequately in their wanderings ). A careful look at fully re-grown wing feathers after a moult is essential, to find out just how far not to go. They are simple enough though, as I don't take much off - just enough to stop them looking at tops of trees as an invitation to 'sit somewhere new to view the world '. !!!

Probably a good idea to keep at it with Betadine, considering the muck and mess they find to walk around in. !! Have had a cat tear almost an entire claw out - ( they shed outer claw shells continually and that's fine and good ) ... and while it didn't bother her too much, she walked normally etc., the blood ran - and ran. I applied pressure for minutes at a time, and eventually it stopped. Bound it up a bit for 24 hours - and all was well. She did not attempt to take off the little bandage.

Here is a little image I did to explain - it is easy to see on a cat claw - the blood supply on here : ( I have drawn a line where to clip, but without doing the image again, even a little closer to the end of the claw would be much better - round about where there's a little white spot ).




Cheers ........

 

[sjturner79]

I have clipped my chicken claws a couple of times as they grew out to about 2 inches long and had curled back to the point they were nearly touching the bottoms of thier feet. It took about 4 weeks to get them back to a good length but it is very hard on a black toed chook to work out where they quick will be. I got it wrong a few days, but with flour on it stopped bleeding in a few minutes.

 

[sjturner79]

I also got an egg today for the first time in a few weeks, based on the shape I'm thinking it's probably streaks, as she's the only one that regularly lays the torpedoe shaped eggs

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hey potato chip, yeah, I was a little concerned as to how much blood she lost yesterday but she seems fine today; no more bleeding and no signs of infection.  I think she may have caught the claw somehow as the blood was dripping from where the claw meets the toe but no sign of a wound today and no more bleeding.  I am keeping a close eye on it though and dabbed it with some more Betadine.  

Because it is the 5th toe, it is staying quite clean because it does not actually touch the ground.  Maybe that is the reason she may have caught it on something 

I have had roos pull their entire spur off, have also had combs ripped from heads. Dip the toe in cayenne pepper, the blood will coagulate and stop flowing.
Also a good reason to always keep Terramycin spray on hand at all times.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I have clipped my chicken claws a couple of times as they grew out to about 2 inches long and had curled back to the point they were nearly touching the bottoms of thier feet. It took about 4 weeks to get them back to a good length but it is very hard on a black toed chook to work out where they quick will be. I got it wrong a few days, but with flour on it stopped bleeding in a few minutes.

I have to clip the silkies regularly , I just use normal human toe nail clippers .