Catastrophic Foot Injury

[ChopperLinc]

So my kids informed me that the chickens were playing in the front yard, so I went out to collect them and get them in the back yard.

I found my year-old Red Sex Link in the garage, surrounded by blood with two gaping wounds in her feet, one on each of her middle toes. They appear as if something cut them horizontally across the top. However, there is a lot of tissue missing, and she has a bloody beak, so I was concerned that she may have eaten her own feet, as strange as that sounds.

The blood has no apparent source to which I could trace the injury, only a pool where it either initiated, or she stopped to nurse her wounds. I could find nothing around that could have caused it.

That leads me to ask two questions:

1. Do chickens ever eat their own feet?
2. Is there anything I can do for her, or is she toast?

I've bandaged up her wounds, but between the pain and the awkwardness of the bandages, it's difficult for her to walk. With no tissue to heal together and cover the exposed bone, how will she ever recover?

As crass as it may sound, a $100 vet visit for a chicken is out of the question.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,


Lincoln

 

[klmclain1]

Be sure to rinse her feet in warm water and wash well with soap. Rinse well, slather with neosporin or, if you have it, just spray well with Blukote (great antiseptic). Then, wrap her feet as shown in this video (disregarding the bumblefoot surgery). Change the bandages and redress daily. She'll get used to walking with the bandages if they're on this way!
http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/2009/09/bumblefoot-chicken.html

 

[ChopperLinc]

UPDATE:

I bandaged the chicken feet a few times a couple weeks ago. It appeared that she may make it after the bandages came off, as much of the wound was healed over.

However, the chicken has pecked at her feet again, and the other three are joining in the fun. They are bloody again and she spends most of the day sitting on them. I don't see how this can be a containable problem if she keeps undoing my work.

Is it time to euthanize?

Advice Please.


Lincoln

 

[sharol]

UPDATE:

I bandaged the chicken feet a few times a couple weeks ago. It appeared that she may make it after the bandages came off, as much of the wound was healed over.

However, the chicken has pecked at her feet again, and the other three are joining in the fun. They are bloody again and she spends most of the day sitting on them. I don't see how this can be a containable problem if she keeps undoing my work.

Is it time to euthanize?

Advice Please.


Lincoln

Is there a chance that she has something that makes her feet itchy so that she is trying to scratch them? I don't know if mites do that or not. Anyone out there with other ideas?

 

[ChopperLinc]

I've heard of something called scaly mites? They get under the scales on the feet. However, I have checked all the hens thoroughly and can't see mites or lice.

It's only a matter of time before she become completely crippled or gets a serious infection.