Baby w/ slightly detached toe! **Amputation successful!**

[theron]

This baby is very young and its right foot middle toe is barely hanging on to the foot and is bleeding. It just hatched today and was hatched under a broody. After I got home from school, it was underneath the heat light and very weak. We think one of the roosters pecked the toe or something. Right now its inside with a hatchmate. It is chirping alot probably because it is a little cold and could be in shock. We have a heat light on it and dribbled some vit/electrolytes solution down its throat. I washed the toe and put some flour on it to help to stop the blood. We were thinking should we amputate the foot? The break is right next to where all of the toes join and the toe is just dangling there. Do we amputate just the toe or the whole foot? Thanks

 

[chicks4kids]

Although I've never had that happen, if it were me, I would start with the toe...no need to amputate the whole foot at this point. Baking soda works real good to stop the bleeding.

 

[theron]

would i use just sterilized scissors or what? ok ill get some baking soda. it is still chirping away but seems to be moving around and more awake now.

 

[chicks4kids]

I would...I can't think of anything else to use. One quick snip should take care of it. I imagine that if it's just hanging there by a thread (so to speak) every time that it moves it, it's just causing it to bleed again. It's needs its strength since it just hatched today. If it were me, I would just snip it, dip it (in the baking soda) and hope for the best.

 

[chicks4kids]

Are you sure that it is bad enough to cut off? Is the little toe bone broken/seperated from the foot? Dangly? Can you post a pic.?

 

[silkiechicken]

If the toe looks like it is about to fall off, just snip it off. Had a chick get the tip of it's toe caught in a feeder once and sliced the tip off. He was just one nail short of a full rooster.

 

[theron]

So, we snipped the toe off. The toe was dangling by a thread so to speak. Sorry we didn't get any pictures. We took a pair of scissors, sterilized them, quickly cut the toe off in one snip, and dunked it in baking soda. We then gave it some more vit/elect solution and put it in a small fish tank with a heat light and its hatchmate. They are now both sleeping and not chirping anymore. I think it will be all right. This was my first time I had to do this. I guess there is a first for everything. Thanks everyone for the help

 

[chicks4kids]

Glad to hear it went fine! And that he/she is sleeping now...time to let it's body get stronger! Good job!

 

[sourland]

Theron, good job. First step toe amputation, next step veterinary school.

 

[theron]

Thats funny because that is what I want to be when I get out of school... a vet.

I have wanted to be a vet since I was like 5. I have performed a few surgeries and autopsies already. One was on a chicken to see why her stomach was so large and on a gerbil this past summer to see what why its belly was large. We think it had something to do with a bad liver.

In my anatomy class, we are going to perform an autopsy on a rat and we will have already watched a live video feed knee surgery.