Chicken caught in fishing hook! Help!

[Lrm93]

my favorite hen got into our garage and when I went out there I found her tangled up in the fishing poles. She has a hook stuck in her foot. (I don't fish so bear with me). It's a heavy duty hook with 3 ends on it. Two of the hooks are in her foot. The first one completely pierced through. The second on, is only partly through. The third hook I was able to bed back and forth a bunch of times with needle nose pliers and it broke off. How can I get the other 2 out? Husband is the tool guy and he's at work and can't leave. I tried pulling the hooks back through but they wouldn't budge and I was just hurting her. I'm very worried about the hook that didn't come through the other side. What tools can cut through these hooks? All I could find was needle nose pliers. I don't think I'm strong enough to break it with those though. Please help. She's resting in the coop. The blood is all clotted up.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

@azygous @Eggcessive can you guys help?

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

OH NO!!!@cassportpony

 

[Hacket]

The needle nose pliers may still be the tool you need. In the jaws of the pliers on the other side from the pointy end there is a place used to cut wire. Looking at them from the side it looks like a circular hollowed out area. Put the part of the hook you want to cut in there and squeeze to cut it.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Once you've cut through the shank of the hook, if they are barbed hooks, you will need to push them through her foot instead of trying to pull them out the way they went in. Look at the hook you broke off, and see if it has a barb - a piece of metal that points downward from the tip. If it does, the pieces in her foot SHOULD NOT be pulled back out of her foot. Unpleasant though it may sound, you need to push them the rest of the way through, instead, to avoid making a much larger wound. Those barbs are designed to keep the hook from pulling back out once it's been bitten by a fish, so they do the same thing in a chicken foot.

While the needle nose should have a wire cutter on it, as mentioned above, finding a set of side cutters would be much easier - they look like this.

https://assets.artbeads.com//_artbeads/5/5/1/tool-131.jpg

 

[Eggcessive]

Follow the instructions by Zinjifrah, and use some iodine (Betadine) or Vetericyn to clean the foot. Wire cutters are a good idea and needle nose pliers as well. Most times the fish hook will need to be pushed through and cut off, to pull it out. Place her in a dog crate until you can get her foot fixed.

 

[Lrm93]

Thank you. This sounds terrifying. Hubby will have to help me when he gets home. I don't think I can do it without crying!

Once you've cut through the shank of the hook, if they are barbed hooks, you will need to push them through her foot instead of trying to pull them out the way they went in. Look at the hook you broke off, and see if it has a barb - a piece of metal that points downward from the tip. If it does, the pieces in her foot SHOULD NOT be pulled back out of her foot. Unpleasant though it may sound, you need to push them the rest of the way through, instead, to avoid making a much larger wound. Those barbs are designed to keep the hook from pulling back out once it's been bitten by a fish, so they do the same thing in a chicken foot.

While the needle nose should have a wire cutter on it, as mentioned above, finding a set of side cutters would be much easier - they look like this.

https://assets.artbeads.com//_artbeads/5/5/1/tool-131.jpg

 

[Zinjifrah]

Hopefully, that will be soon. The longer the hook stays in, the more damage there will be.

 

[azygous]

@Zinjifrah has give you pitch perfect instructions. As a park ranger at lakes and oceans I had to remove more fishhooks from human hides than you'd believe, and that's how you do it - shove the barb on through and then cut off the head, then pull the shank back out the other way.

Meanwhile, give your hen a baby aspirin for the pain. This is hurting more than she lets on. She can have another aspirin at bedtime.

I would soak the foot for ten minutes in warm Epsom salt to flush out bacteria and any dirt, then spray with Vetericyn or Betadine.