Chick's toe infected/constricted, may fall off, *Pics & Video*, help?

[concernedaboutchick]

I just noticed about an hour ago that one of my easter egger chicks (2 and a half weeks old) has something wrong with its foot; one of its toes is red and looks like it's had the outer scales picked off or something. I took some pictures:

I have pictures of this same chick from July 27th (10 days ago) and the toe is perfectly normal. I have more pictures of the same chick from July 31st (6 days ago) and you can see something on that toe but I thought it was just dry poo. Finally, I have pictures of the chick from August 2nd (4 days ago) where you can see the redness/change in color but I must not have noticed it at the time.

Here's the chick on July 27th:

On July 31st:

And on August 2nd:

Does anyone know what might be wrong and what to do about it?

EDIT:
After some googling, it sounds like "constricted toe" might be the issue? I'm not sure. I don't see anything wrapped around the toe and it has been very humid here lately. Here's a description of it: http://www.avianweb.com/birdnursery.html#constricted

2ND EDIT:
Added a closeup video of the toe as well as attempting to remove the problematic area in Post #3 in this thread.

3RD EDIT:
I called around to vets even out of state but every place seems to be closed for the weekend. The one place I did reach said they thought it was infected and that the chick needed antibiotic or the toe would fall off or the infection would spread and the entire foot/leg might fall off. Does anyone here have any advice on this? Is there a specific type of antibiotic I should be giving the chick or some I should avoid? I'm worried that just giving the chick antibiotic won't be enough with how that toe is looking, but I'm unsure of what else to do.

 

[dawg53]

Great pics! The constricted toe would seem to fit the mold in this situation. Have you tried physically removing the outer scales to actually feel or see if they are constricting the toe? I'd try that first and see what happens. My second guess would be maybe a fungus of some sort, I'm not sure. If the scales arnt constricting the toe, try putting a small dab of anti fungal creme or spray on it and see if it helps. I edited this due to the fact in one pic it looks like it's trying to peel in between the toe as well. I hope I'm wrong about it spreading. I'm wondering if it could be scaly leg mites, I've never heard of a chick getting them though.

 

[concernedaboutchick]

I tried soaking the chick's foot in a bowl of warm water today and massaging the toe, moving from the top down to the nail to promote blood flow as well as soften up the skin/scales to see if they can be taken off or not. After this I rubbed coconut oil on the toe as advised by this site to soften up the skin/scales even more. I did notice that little pieces would come off as I rubbed the toe down towards the nail, but nothing major. I used a pair of tweezers and tried gently tugging at the outer scales at the edge of where the red toe begins and got some more pieces off that way and then slightly separated a big chunk of the outer scales around the entire toe, but I didn't want to pull it all the way off because I wasn't sure whether it was a vital part of the foot or not that I would be tearing away. I'm also worried about possible bleeding/infection from doing this; another site warns not to try and do the removal for these reasons and advises to instead take the bird to an avian vet and have them do it. However, there are no avian vets in this area.

I took a video to better demonstrate what the current situation is...I used a macro lens which is very hard to focus with and even harder to do so while holding the chick/tweezers in one hand, so you'll have to forgive the shakiness/focus issues, but here it is:

(Note: the dark stains on the wood the chick is standing on are not blood, just drops of water)

At 00:19 seconds in you can see a blackish-looking part of the scales on the toe...that's the part that I was able to separate away from the rest of the toe when I tugged at it with a pair of tweezers. I'm just not sure whether or not I should be doing that.

At 00:29 seconds in is where I attempt to pull on that portion of outer scales to remove it. The focus isn't great here but you can still see how, at 00:34, I can pull it away a bit and there is a gap in between those scales and the rest of the outer scales, with pinkish/reddish looking toe in between. I push the outer scales back a bit at 00:40 because I was hesitant to remove them, unsure of what exactly I was removing...I was also afraid I was going to pull its entire toe off or something. At the end of the video is an example of a small piece I was able to dislodge with the tweezers.

So what do you think I should do? Should I go ahead and attempt to remove that section of blackish outer scales that can be separated when tugged at with tweezers? Or would that only do more damage? Any help is much appreciated.

 

[concernedaboutchick]

Quote:
Are you referring to this pic?
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8649/before2b.jpg

That was from a week ago and the redness on the inner webbing of the toe seems to only be present in that one picture; I checked for it today and there's no visible issue in that area now.

 

[concernedaboutchick]

Bump for help

 

[dawg53]

I watched the video and I'm at a loss as to what is wrong with the toe. There's a vet at 'First State Vet Supply' that specializes in poultry. I dont know if there's a fee or not but you can check it out online. Sorry I couldnt help you.

 

[concernedaboutchick]

I called around to several vets, even some out of state, but every place seems to be closed for the weekend. The one place I did reach said they thought it was infected and that the chick needed antibiotic or the toe would fall off or the infection would spread and the entire foot/leg might fall off. Does anyone here have any advice on this? Is there a specific type of antibiotic I should be giving the chick or some I should avoid? I'm worried that just giving the chick antibiotic won't be enough with how that toe is looking, but I'm unsure of what else to do.

 

[concernedaboutchick]

Didn't have the chance to post this until now, but these are pics of the chick's foot on August 8th, two days after the initial pictures in this thread were taken and the following morning after the video was shot:

I was apprehensive about pulling off the blackish outer ring of scales with the tweezers but apparently I got it started enough and the toe softened up enough that it must have come off on its own or been pecked off overnight, since there's no sign of it anymore as you can tell by the pictures. The rest of the toe doesn't look nearly as red either, although you can see a bit of a dent from where those black scales were.

Still not sure what exactly was going on there to cause the problem to begin with, but all appears to be well now thankfully!

 

[dawg53]

It looks great! I guess some things are best left alone. It looks like new scales have formed and will probably harden in time, it'll be normal as it should. It was a strange situation that's for sure. I'm glad for you and your chick. Take care.

 

[Crack N' Egg]

wow! That is amazing. Job well done. I can't believe the difference in the pictures.

Good luck. What a beautiful looking EE!!