BOTH Chicken feet fell off!! Frostbite??

[Meri Maura]

A few months ago I hatched six chicken eggs. All of them were healthy, except for one who had a limp leg. Her name is Lucy. After they were all fully feathered, I put them outside in the coop with the other chickens, after introducing them for a few weeks. Lucy was doing fine and was able to keep up with the other birds hopping on 1 foot. We had very cold weather around Christmas time, and one day when my husband went out to feed the chickens he found Lucy Frozen to the ground. Her bad leg that stuck out got caught in the chicken wire and she couldn’t move. He thought she was dead because she was super stiff and frozen. She moved her head the slightest bit so he quickly grabbed her and brought her inside. I wrapped her in a towel and hugged her to slowly raise her temperature.
Fast forward to now, she’s has been living inside my house ever since that happened. She’s eating and drinking fine and looks healthy. Today when I was cleaning out her pen, and picker her up, I noticed BOTH feet were gone! Could this have been Frost Bite?? I’m not sure what to do. I want to put her down, but she’s still so lively. She scoots around her pen and uses her wings for balance. Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions. Not sure why else this would have happened since all my chickens are healthy and doing fine. Thanks!

Pictures?

 

[Meri Maura]

Pictures?

Not sure how both feet could fall off overnight. It couldn't be frostbite, as she was inside your house.

 

[NatJ]

Hi! If she is inside and warm i would be suprised if she had frost bite.

I think the frostbite happened outside, and the feet didn't fall off until later when she was inside.

We had very cold weather around Christmas time, and one day when my husband went out to feed the chickens he found Lucy Frozen to the ground.

^This would be when the damage occurred

Fast forward to now, she’s has been living inside my house ever since that happened. She’s eating and drinking fine and looks healthy. Today when I was cleaning out her pen, and picker her up, I noticed BOTH feet were gone! Could this have been Frost Bite??

^This happened after the cold. So it's been about a month since the freezing, but we do not know exactly when the feet fell off. They were present at Christmas, gone today, and that's as much as we know about the timing.

With frostbite, the frozen parts usually do not fall off right away. It takes some time (sometimes weeks.)

 

[NatJ]

Not sure how both feet could fall off overnight. It couldn't be frostbite, as she was inside your house.

Frostbite could have happened around Christmas time when, the chicken was found "frozen to the ground."

Then the chicken was brought into the house.

Now it's a month later and her feet are missing. So they fell off sometime after the freezing and before today.

That sounds like frostbite to me.

 

[Magpie2]

Fast forward to now, she’s has been living inside my house ever since that happened. She’s eating and drinking fine and looks healthy. Today when I was cleaning out her pen, and picker her up, I noticed BOTH feet were gone! Could this have been Frost Bite?? I’m not sure what to do. I want to put her down, but she’s still so lively. She scoots around her pen and uses her wings for balance. Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions. Not sure why else this would have happened since all my chickens are healthy and doing fine. Thanks!

Did she lose the feet right at the joint or farther up the leg? The more leg left, the better. I’d recommend looking into rehoming her if she still has lots of energy and seems to be in good spirits. But ultimately it’s up to you and I hope you don’t feel badly if you decide to put her down.

I’m treating them a bird with frostbitten toes right now and we’re just waiting on them to fall off so we can treat the stumps. I’ll explain the process here in case anyone is curious.
We’re putting some topical antibiotics around where the toes will fall off and wrapping them in a nonstick layer, followed by normal gauze for cushioning and vet-wrap to keep it all together.
(DO NOT GIVE TOPICAL PAINKILLERS! Painkillers like you find in some versions of antibiotics like Polysporin are deadly to birds, make sure if you use something like Polysporin it isn’t the kind with painkillers.)
Honey is also very good as an antibiotic and anti inflammatory, vet recommended not just an urban legend. Just wrap it well because it’s very messy if left exposed.

Best case scenario is that the dead bone and tissue falls off at a joint. So far so good for my girl, she’s lost one of five toes and it was clearly the joint.
If it isn’t at the joint then there could be a higher chance of a bone infection.
(I’ll have pictures at the end so people can read without needing to see anything. It’s a little gruesome.)

Regardless of where it falls off, when it does, SLATHER it in an antibiotic gel/cream or honey and wrap it in an extra large nonstick layer, followed by gauze for cushioning, and vet-wrap. Just like before but at this point the goal is to have a scab and healthy layer of skin form over the exposed bone.
It’s especially important to keep the affected areas clean at this point. I put my hen in the bathtub and repeatedly rinse her feet with warm water, followed by an epsom salt soak in a large container. You can dry with a clean towel and/or a TEFLON FREE hairdryer on its lowest setting.
Rewrap when clean.

In my hen’s case, she’ll still have her feet to support her weight so it’s unlikely that she’ll need additional treatment but she may still struggle to scratch and climb without nails.
Without any foot left, it might be a good idea to continue wrapping the stumps to add cushioning and hopefully allow the bird to put weight on them and learn to walk again.
A veterinarian could also potentially help give the leg more natural cushioning from the surrounding tissue with surgery.

I’ve been cutting and using the outer layer of these as my nonstick surface:

GRAPHIC PHOTO WARNING

Dying tissue yellowing and then turning black:

Toe with concave joint visible:

Spoiler: Graphic

Healing stump with scab off due to nonstick layer being too small:

Spoiler: Graphic

Second toe is starting to separate from the middle stump:

Spoiler: Graphic

 

[Roosterrehablady]

I have a silkie hen who lost both of her feet around Christmas time, she's been in my house now for like 8 months, I wrapped her nubs with triple antibiotic and gauze pads and put loose balloon over it to make she no poop got on the nubs while healing, her feet we black so I didn't see any frostbite damage until it was to late, I just saw her having a hard time walking so I brought her inside and bam 2 days later no feet! however she is happy/healthy now and one of my best laying hens!

 

[FunClucks]

I have a silkie hen who lost both of her feet around Christmas time, she's been in my house now for like 8 months, I wrapped her nubs with triple antibiotic and gauze pads and put loose balloon over it to make she no poop got on the nubs while healing, her feet we black so I didn't see any frostbite damage until it was to late, I just saw her having a hard time walking so I brought her inside and bam 2 days later no feet! however she is happy/healthy now and one of my best laying hens!

Glad she has survived and is doing well. This is one of those things that new chicken keepers are often surprised by. It's amazing that they can heal as well as they do, but I wish they didn't have to.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Chickens are tough little survivors!