Chicken toe swollen with something black wrapped around

[Nrelax11]

So i just finished building our chickens mobile A frame coup and i was checking on them and i saw one of my girls standing on one leg and saw her toe had something black on it. I looked further and noticed something black was actually wrapped around. I worry she either cut herself from me not cleaning up well after building the coop and checking for sharp edges, or she has had poop wrapped around her toe for a while. I looked up bumblefoot, but its her toe that is swollen with black wrapped around. Any suggestions what could have happened. I'll try and get a photo tomorrow. Its like her toe has an indent around it and then in the indent its black.
I feel so horrible and like I havent been checking on them more often. Thank you.

 

[Mutchi]

I have no idea till I see a pic so I will see tomorrow!

 

[HollyWoozle]

It sounds like she has something caught around her toe, maybe string or something like that. Either that itself is black or it’s cutting into her toe and perhaps causing a wound which appears black? Hard to be sure. I would get hold of her ASAP for a better look - if you wait until she is sleeping at night then you should be able to pick her up and look with a torch.

 

[Nrelax11]

Sorry its a little blurry! She's actually walking fine at the moment surprisingly.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Were you able to look closely and see if there is something wrapped around her toe?

 

[Nrelax11]

Were you able to look closely and see if there is something wrapped around her toe?

It looks like sonething is wraped around and i tried using tweezers to pulls a part of the black part off, but she freeked out. I did soak it a lot and it moved a little bit. Should i just soak her foot longer?

 

[HollyWoozle]

I guess it must be really sore for her. If there is something wrapped around it then it’s essential to get it off if you can - I guess soaking might help to loosen any scab/dried blood which is likely stuck to it at this point and might help you to get a view of what it actually is. If it’s string or something like that (although looks like it might be very fine?) then you could try to loosen and cut it.

 

[Nrelax11]

I guess it must be really sore for her. If there is something wrapped around it then it’s essential to get it off if you can - I guess soaking might help to loosen any scab/dried blood which is likely stuck to it at this point and might help you to get a view of what it actually is. If it’s string or something like that (although looks like it might be very fine?) then you could try to loosen and cut it.

So I unfortunately found out the hard way that it was actually a scab from a bad cut. I actually took some of the scab off and now she has an open wound. I put her back with her girls for the night, but at sunrise i wanted to separate her to clean out her cut. Is that the best thing i should do? I don't know how she cut it so bad. but I'll have to explore the coop and check.

 

[HollyWoozle]

That's OK, at least now you know there is nothing there. I would give it a clean and apply something like triple antibiotic ointment if you have some. Although it's a foot injury and liable to get dirty, toes seem pretty awkward to bandage and since it scabbed up nicely by itself I think I'd be inclined to leave her to it after that and keep an eye on it. Someone else might come along and say to separate her and keep it clean, but provided there isn't something wrapped around the toe then I think it seems quite minor and will likely sort itself out.

 

[Nrelax11]

That's OK, at least now you know there is nothing there. I would give it a clean and apply something like triple antibiotic ointment if you have some. Although it's a foot injury and liable to get dirty, toes seem pretty awkward to bandage and since it scabbed up nicely by itself I think I'd be inclined to leave her to it after that and keep an eye on it. Someone else might come along and say to separate her and keep it clean, but provided there isn't something wrapped around the toe then I think it seems quite minor and will likely sort itself out.

Thank you! I'll just clean it and keep an eye on it. When it was scabbed the toe was getting swollen. I dont know of it was infected or juat swollen from having a big gash.