Cutting chicken's Toenails

[Haley Clark]

This isn't an emergency, but my hen's toenails are way too long and one is bent back and looks like it is broken. How do ou trim their nails, with what kind of tool, and how short?
Thanks!

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Have you ever trimmed a dog's nails? It is basically the same thing. I just use a dog nail clipper. It has same quick inside that will bleed if nicked so you only want to do a little at a time at a slight angle with growth of the nail. You can do a little more every few days, to give the quick time ti recede, until they are a manageable length.

 

[Haley Clark]

Ok I don't have dog nail clippers but I have goat hoove trimmers which are basically the same thing.. About how long should a grown hens toenails be?

 

[realsis]

I trim my birds nails with large human toe nail trimmers. use your judgement on how short but be careful as they have a quick and if you cut into it you will make them bleed. when I trim my girls I do it in very small increments at a time. you can usually see the quick it looks like a vein that runs down the middle of the nail. just start out trimming small portions at a time keeping an eye out for the quick. hope this helps you out. best wishes.

 

[Haley Clark]

Ok I think I will use large toenail clippers and try that

 

[StephieSky]

My favorelles has the longest toenails. One of her back toenails even curled into the meat of her toe in a complete circle. I took her to a vet because it was pretty gruesome looking.

He gave me these. They work great. I just turn my hen over on her back on my lap and let her rest her foot so the toes stick out between my fingers and snip them off a bit. I'm supposed to trim what he didn't an 1/8th to 1/4 inch or so every weekend until they're down to normal length. My hens are so bad they had grown out twisted.




These are the feet I'm fixing. They're pretty sad. She has a lot of problems from being neglected. I'm working on them and now that she's here with us I'm sure she'll get better with time and care.

 

[Haley Clark]

Ok I noticed on your pics how her legs looked, and that's what my hens legs and feet look like. What are you putting on them to heal that?

 

[ChickensRDinos]

That looks like it might be scaly leg mites. Search the threads to double check but I believe you need to use vaseline.

 

[bantyhen]

My hen's legs look about the same way. They used to be so bad that the skin of her feet were showing. I put mineral oil on her feet. It really helps. Her scales are growing back. Put it on her feet once every other day. I don't know whether my hen has scaly leg or if it's something else, but with patience, the mineral oil works. Be sure to put it on her feet only. She will probably peck at it a little. She might drink a tiny bit of it, too. That's OK. Just don't feed it to her.

 

[StephieSky]

Ok I noticed on your pics how her legs looked, and that's what my hens legs and feet look like. What are you putting on them to heal that?

When I took her in the vet here that does parrots he informed me she was on the verge of being eaten alive by the mites. They had completely encapsulated both her legs and feet in rock hard scales. I'm working on them and they are getting better. Slowly. I can't just scrub the old mite detrius off as she has to rebuild her exposed legs once the heavy scaling drops off or she'll be raw skinned. So far its going pretty good. Oh yeah! Almost forgot: Once a week I wash her legs and feet with soap and water to completely clean them off and get a good look at them, then I smother them in vaseline again. Hope your bird doesn't have mites too! Both mine do I didn't know. I thought they were supposed to look that way when I got them. I'm learning and they're getting better treatment here than they probably ever have in their whole lives

That looks like it might be scaly leg mites. Search the threads to double check but I believe you need to use vaseline.

- It is scaly leg mites. A very bad infestation of them that is being fixed as quickly as possible without crippling her further. Thanks for letting me know when you noticed it though! I was w/o a clue until I ended up at the vet for an ingrown toenail :/

My hen's legs look about the same way. They used to be so bad that the skin of her feet were showing. I put mineral oil on her feet. It really helps. Her scales are growing back. Put it on her feet once every other day. I don't know whether my hen has scaly leg or if it's something else, but with patience, the mineral oil works. Be sure to put it on her feet only. She will probably peck at it a little. She might drink a tiny bit of it, too. That's OK. Just don't feed it to her.

- I'm using the vaseline approach. But my two hens have had this for a very long time before I acquired them. No telling how long. The vet removed a toenail and seems to think once we break gracie's legs free of the rock hard casings she might actually have a normal chicken gait in there someplace instead of her awkward stumble! Now that she can walk normally and they are being well fed they haven't eaten a single egg. I'm supposing the reason they were eating eggs before I got them was a matter of survival of the slowest and most crippled. I'm glad I got them both even if its a little bit of work. I just feel sorry for the chickens that still live there! What a miserable existence to be so neglected