Busted chicken nail

[jrawls1981]

Hi first time poster long time reader!

One of my beautiful buckeye hens snapped a nail. I noticed some blood drops in the yard and checked all of them out and noticed it was her and her poor foot. Ive seperated her from the flock and cleaned it as best as possible.

As far as a antiseptic can I use MERTHIOLATE? I use this for my dogs via vet recommendation.

Thanks!

Jake

 

[BantamLover21]

I've never used Merthiolate, and I'm not sure if it is safe for chickens. If it were my hen, I would probably just wash the foot in soapy water and keep her in a clean, dry place for a few days. If you can get it, I would also spray the nail area with Bluekote.

Other than that, just make sure the bleeding has stopped, watch for signs of infection, and the hen should be okay. Several of my chickens have broken nails in their life times, and all have healed fine. Typically, a broken nail bleeds a lot and the chicken tends to spread the blood around, making the injury appear more serious than it really is.