Can a chick live with a bent toe?

[K0k0shka]

This chick hatched with the two external toes on both feet folding in and under the feet. That's how it was walking around, on the bent toes. I gave it booties made out of medical tape as soon as I noticed (a few hours after hatch) and kept the booties on for 2 days. After I took them off, the toes seemed straight. One day later though, and one of the toes has folded in again (the other toe seems fine). So what do I do now? Do I put another bootie on? The chick hatched in an incubator and I kept it inside for those 2 days, but now it's out with a broody and a sibling. I'm afraid the broody will try to get the bootie off and will inadvertently hurt the chick in the process. If I take just that one chick back for another day or two of indoor bootie wearing, both this chick and its sibling will scream their lungs out (they REALLY don't like being separated). If I take both chicks inside, I'm afraid the broody may break and won't take them back. So I'm in a bit of a predicament... I'm not going to ultimately keep this chick, it will be raised for meat (sorry, buddy) so I really just need it to be okay for a few months. Can it live like this? The toe isn't impeding its mobility at all, I'm just wondering if the pressure on the toe being bent like that might cause problems for the toe itself as the chick grows...

 

[K0k0shka]

Guys! Clear bandaids is the way to go! Barely visible, especially when walking through shavings! I have high hopes that this is going to save the day. The chick is ignoring the new splint, and so are the mom and the sibling. I’ll keep checking on them throughout the day, but this is looking so much better already!

 

[theoldchick]

Yes, a chicken can live with a bent toe. However, in your case I would try a boot one more time and see if you can get that toe straightened out. From the photo it looks like it is doubled over and that position may cause problems later in life. Another option is to have that toe amputated.

 

[K0k0shka]

UPDATE: I’m so glad I bothered to fix that chick’s curly toes! She ended up being the only female out of 7 chicks, and the only one I ended up keeping (because of that). And I know I wouldn’t have kept her with bent toes. So she really lucked out!

She’s 5 months old now, and you can’t even tell:

She’s bigger than her mom now, but they are still close and hang out together all the time:

 

[Aunt Angus]

Well, I will say that I have a chicken who is missing a toe, and she's perfectly fine. But no toe = no pain.

Come to think of it, my DIL has a cat who was born with a club foot that the vet opted not to correct - so her entire foot is bent back on itself. She gets around fine and is in no pain.

I think that is the most important thing. If it is painless, then it'll be ok.

 

[Tonyroo]

Chickens only have 2 feet that they put weight on with everything they do. From my perspective, it's important to avoid future problems that may occur if it can be fixed today.

 

[K0k0shka]

I’m going to try and splint just that one toe (instead of the whole foot like I did before). Hopefully that won’t be too obvious and the broody won’t fixate on trying to rip it off…

 

[K0k0shka]

Splinting just one toe didn’t work, the whole thing was getting folded under. So I taped the toe next to it as well, for support. At first, the broody just looked at the tape up close and did nothing. However, when the chick itself started pecking at the tape, and its sibling joined in, they drew her attention to it and raised her suspicions, and she started pecking at it, too! First the toe, then the chick itself. The chick was like WTF mom, and at one point pecked her back, right in the eyeball. YES baby! It was getting dark, so they both went under her and everybody was chill. I worry about what I’m going to find in the morning though…

 

[Aunt Angus]

Splinting just one toe didn’t work, the whole thing was getting folded under. So I taped the toe next to it as well, for support. At first, the broody just looked at the tape up close and did nothing. However, when the chick itself started pecking at the tape, and its sibling joined in, they drew her attention to it and raised her suspicions, and she started pecking at it, too! First the toe, then the chick itself. The chick was like WTF mom, and at one point pecked her back, right in the eyeball. YES baby! It was getting dark, so they both went under her and everybody was chill. I worry about what I’m going to find in the morning though…

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I'd go out super early in the morning and see how it's going. Might be worth raising it yourself with one of its siblings.

 

[K0k0shka]

Update: About a day or two after I put the clear bandaid splint on, I noticed that it had fallen off. And the chick's toe was straight and normal! Now all of its toes look normal, and it's running around being a little chick without problems and, importantly, without being bullied. The adoptive mom is taking great care of it and its sibling. I have another broody with chicks of the same age, and the two families were separated at first, but yesterday I brought them together and they are getting along really well. Each set of babies still goes under their own mom to sleep or warm up, but other than that, both hens feed and mother all of the babies. So the story really has a happy ending, despite the earlier setbacks.

It's the one on the right, last to go under the hen: