baby chick broken toe & foot yellowing ...

[corviidae]

Hey all. I've got an easter egger chick with some problems. Her name's Toast.

It happened shortly after we got her. The morning after we noticed it we ramped up treatment with diluted betadine solution and triple antibiotic ointment. We soak her feet 3 times daily as of yesterday and dab the site with the ointment and keep her on us. We initially let her sleep with her siblings, but they nearly flattened her like a pancake when we came in yesterday morning to check on her. Now she sleeps with us in a basket.

She's very lethargic and can't move on her own. She still eats and drinks with encouragement as long as we hold her. Despite our efforts with keeping her foot clean, it seems to be turning yellow- and it's only the one foot or I'd rule it out as betadine solution staining. The swelling has gone down since we started cleaning it. Her siblings have outgrown her already which is a bit concerning, as she's still very small, but she's growing slowly. We attempted to splint her foot, but it didn't work out.

I'm worried about blood poisoning or infection -- we already lost a chick earlier this week due to blood poisoning (she came to us with her umbilical cord tied tightly around her leg. we removed it but the infection had already advanced ) so I'm very nervous. Is there anything else I can do to help her? We can't see a veterinarian at this time.

Thank you for any advice. I'm afraid of her outlook but I want to do everything I can.

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you place her back in the brooder with the others and fence her off for her safety? She needs to be part of the flock, but she needs to be safe and get to food and water. Is there any break in the skin on her toe? If not, I would not continue soaking it. A chick chair or sling may be helpful to get her up and in front of food and water. Here are some pictures and a video:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

 

[the_peanut_coop]

She's cute. You could try putting a bunch of banages on her. He toe looks super swollen and broken, I don't know if there is much you can do.

 

[corviidae]

Can you place her back in the brooder with the others and fence her off for her safety? She needs to be part of the flock, but she needs to be safe and get to food and water. Is there any break in the skin on her toe? If not, I would not continue soaking it. A chick chair or sling may be helpful to get her up and in front of food and water. Here are some pictures and a video:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

Yep, there's broken skin. We've been on top of trying to keep it clean. We...aren't really sure what exactly happened. We were so focused on trying to keep our sixth chick stable that we weren't able to see what happened with this one.

I'll consider the chick sling. It sounds helpful. She eats well when we hold her up but occasionally requires lifting and setting back down because she's tired.

EDIT; I'm not sure if we can fence her off, but she can't eat or drink on her own. It's very difficult for her and she's exhausted. I've thought of separating her with another sibling rather than completely by herself to help her feel less lonely if that would work.

She's cute. You could try putting a bunch of banages on her. He toe looks super swollen and broken, I don't know if there is much you can do.

Yeah :c We were going to do bandaging but she somehow managed to get it off when we did every time lol. I can try again and see about finding some padding to cover her scab.


What I'm most concerned about is the yellowing- I'm not really sure what it means. Is it infection spreading? Bruising? I wish I knew. Our last critically ill chick had it before she passed and hers was a result of the umbilical cord I mentioned.

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens can bruise and it looks blue or green. If her bruise is old it may be yellow. Betadine also stains skin yellow. You can switch to Vetericyn or put a dab of plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment on the wound twice a day.

 

[corviidae]

Chickens can bruise and it looks blue or green. If her bruise is old it may be yellow. Betadine also stains skin yellow. You can switch to Vetericyn or put a dab of plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment on the wound twice a day.

I'll keep an eye on it and start just doing the triple antibiotic ointment. Only one foot is stained if it were the case, but it would make sense if the foot was already bruised. I'll keep on feeding her and giving her water every half hour or so if she'll take it (she can be a bit of a glutton).

To encourage energy, my wife and I talked about using our older hens' egg yolks. We also have a probiotic mix to put in a gallon of water that the feed store gave us for our last chick if that would help, as long as it doesn't shock her system to be given too many different things.

 

[Eggcessive]

Some chick vitamins such as Poultry Cell, SaveAChick, or others with riboflavin could be helpful. Human B complex also contains riboflavin, and it can be crushed and fed 1/4 tsb daily. Others may use Polyvisol without iron 2-3 drops daily.

 

[corviidae]

Some chick vitamins such as Poultry Cell, SaveAChick, or others with riboflavin could be helpful. Human B complex also contains riboflavin, and it can be crushed and fed 1/4 tsb daily. Others may use Polyvisol without iron 2-3 drops daily.

We have Durvet probiotics for poultry! It contains riboflavin. I can get that mixed in today and start giving it to her

 

[corviidae]

set up a basket for her and brought in one of her siblings. she missed the snuggles.

 

[corviidae]

I have an update. We lost her, unfortunately-- but not due to her leg. That healed up pretty great. She was suffering from failure to thrive and an unknown respiratory issue and we're guessing one of those things took her from us.

Thank you all for your help.