Bleeding toenail

[DesertSilkieHen]

I (with help from an ornithologist) trimmed my month-old silkie's nail to collect a little blood for a DNA sex test. Afterwards, we held a cotton ball with corn starch on it for a few minutes till the bleeding stopped. Then the bleeding restarted so we held a fresh corn starch cotton ball on there for most of an hour.

The bleeding has stopped, but there's still cotton stuck on there and I don't want to rip it off and reopen it. I also don't want it to be infected.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

 

[DesertSilkieHen]

Update: the cotton fell off and the toenail appears to be fully clotted. I dabbed it with an antiseptic wipe to gently clean it without reopening it, applied neosporin, and then put on a little more cornstarch just in case she somehow opens it back up first thing in the morning. I'll clean it and reapply neosporin in the morning.

Any suggestions on the best way to avoid infection or avoid reopening it would be appreciated! I probably should have just had the ornithologist do a vein stick on her instead of the toenail trim the bird DNA sequencing company recommended, oh well.

 

[Callender Girl]

Although I have had one chicken whose nail bled excessively after an intentional trim, I have had MANY chickens lose nails on their own, bleed to the point where I thought they were in danger, then have no problems at all with little to no help from me.

In fact, my two Salmon Faverolles barely have any toenails. I don't know what these girls are doing with their feet!

I would expect that, given what you've already done, your girl will be okay; toe injuries seem to heal pretty quickly. (However, I am NOT an expert!). Best wishes!

 

[DesertSilkieHen]

Although I have had one chicken whose nail bled excessively after an intentional trim, I have had MANY chickens lose nails on their own, bleed to the point where I thought they were in danger, then have no problems at all with little to no help from me.

In fact, my two Salmon Faverolles barely have any toenails. I don't know what these girls are doing with their feet!

I would expect that, given what you've already done, your girl will be okay; toe injuries seem to heal pretty quickly. (However, I am NOT an expert!). Best wishes!

Thanks! It looks healed this morning!

 

[LaFleche]

Any suggestions on the best way to avoid infection or avoid reopening it would be appreciated!

Next time, you could have the vet cauterize it which will prevent bleeding and infection.

 

[DesertSilkieHen]

Next time, you could have the vet cauterize it which will prevent bleeding and infection.

Ooh good call! There's 24 hour vet I could have stopped at on the way home--- it's probably a bit late for that now though.

(The ornithologist collecting samples for me was a bird scientist friend, not a vet. She does lots of blood draws and deals with minor injuries in small birds though.)