Baby seems to have broken broken a nail!

[ClareScifi]

My pet rooster has blood around one of his beautiful toenails. I don't know how it happened.

He was in the chicken run with one hen. I noticed she had some blood on her back for the first time, and I thought he must have gotten rough with her, which he has never done before.

But then I noticed blood spots in the snow and saw the blood around his nail.

I am afraid it might get infected. Could it cause bumblefoot? There is a lot of snow and mud as we had a big snowstorm last night.

What should I do? I asked a friend who said to do nothing, that chickens will heal okay, but I'm wondering whether I should put some sort of cream on it? I have some all purpose flour. Would that be good to dust it with?

He seems happy and not in pain. I can't figure out what he tore it on. Has anyone ever had this happen?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

It's a good idea to stem the bleeding, especially so the rest aren't drawn to the blood, but also because those broken nails can bleed quite a lot.
If you have styptic powder, that would be great. Corn starch and flour may work as well. Spider webs work.
When mine broke a nail I couldn't stop the blood with corn starch (which is what I had on hand). I ended up taking her to the vet (which I wouldn't do again) but it was a good learning experience. He stopped the bleeding with styptic and then wrapped it. I kept her separate for the amount of time the wrap was on (not very long - 30 minutes or so). And made sure that it was done with the bleeding. The vet sent me home with a little more styptic.
After that a friend told me about how effective spider webs were at staunching blood from broken nails. That's what I would try the next time.

 

[ClareScifi]

Thanks for the good info, Yay Chicks! I saw some spider webs just the other day in the den and thought I should knock them down, but I didn't get around to it, since I don't like to houseclean. So that's a blessing! They should still be there. Who would have thought?

I wonder where one would buy Styptic Powder? I had a styptic stick as a teenager.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Gee, I would think you could get styptic powder, or stick, at the drugstore. Although maybe that is just super old fashioned. Who knows?

Probably a pet store would have some. Maybe even a farm store. A vet might be able to sell you some.

 

[klmclain1]

Assuming the bleeding has stopped - you were worried about getting a staph infection (bumblefoot). Given the muddy conditions, you COULD clean the area well with warm water, spray it with blukote (an antiseptic), then keep him in a clean, dry area for a few days until it starts to heal up.

 

[silkiechicken]

You could get "quik stop" for birds at any pet store.

That said, I've had adult birds break nails ouside in the PNW mud by doing who knows what. Haven't had an infection due to broken nail yet. If it's stopped bleeding, I'd not worry too much about it.

 

[ClareScifi]

Thanks for the good info. I did put both spider webs and flour on it, and Baby was so cooperative and good. He seemed to sense I was trying to help him. It had stopped bleeding, so that's good.