- Mar 12, 2009
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One of my hens got her toe caught in the door a week or so ago but I thought it was okay. It is the rear toe. I noticed a few days ago that the toe is deformed and part of it by the nail is black. At first I thought it just had some poop on it. I will try to get a picture of it. She is walking fine but the black appear to be spreading up the toe into the section that is not bent. Does this need to be amputated or will it just fall off? My vet does not work on chickens and says she won't see her. I don't know if I can find one that does, the dog/cat ones work on them and the large animal ones don't see poultry. I don't know if I could cut it off myself. If I did how would you stop the bleeding?
Edit: Well I was able to get a picture or two but they are not real clear, I will post a better one when I get some help holding her hopefully later tonight. I don't know if you can tell if the toe will fall off where damaged or if I need to have it removed to prevent the black from doing any more damage. I have been calling vets and still no luck with one that will see a chicken. Uugh, poor baby.
1) What type of bird , age and weight.
rhode island red 11 weeks old
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
acting normal
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
black and deformed rear toe, just the tip is black, looks like spreading to healthy tissue?
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I was shutting the coop door and thought she was clear, apparently her rear toe got caught
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
crumbles, free range
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
normal as far as I can tell
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
nothing
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
unfortunately I may have to do it myself
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I will try to get one
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
coop night, tractor day, pine chips
If you can see the blackish red on the right foot, it is between the rear and front toes. The toes form a triangle in the picture and the hurt is black and pinkish in the middle of the leaves. You can barely make out the pink of the nail on the bottom. The wire in the picture runs right through the joint where the toe was damaged if that helps. You can see how the rear toe goes back and then it curls under and the black starts. Sorry about the picture, I am by myself and don't have a way to take a better one right now.
This one is really hard to see the black but you can see how far back the toe is damaged. On this picture it is on the left, and the little black ball looking thing is the damaged toe on top of the leaves.
Edit: Well I was able to get a picture or two but they are not real clear, I will post a better one when I get some help holding her hopefully later tonight. I don't know if you can tell if the toe will fall off where damaged or if I need to have it removed to prevent the black from doing any more damage. I have been calling vets and still no luck with one that will see a chicken. Uugh, poor baby.
1) What type of bird , age and weight.
rhode island red 11 weeks old
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
acting normal
3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
black and deformed rear toe, just the tip is black, looks like spreading to healthy tissue?
4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I was shutting the coop door and thought she was clear, apparently her rear toe got caught
5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
crumbles, free range
6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
normal as far as I can tell
7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
nothing
8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
unfortunately I may have to do it myself
9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I will try to get one
10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
coop night, tractor day, pine chips
If you can see the blackish red on the right foot, it is between the rear and front toes. The toes form a triangle in the picture and the hurt is black and pinkish in the middle of the leaves. You can barely make out the pink of the nail on the bottom. The wire in the picture runs right through the joint where the toe was damaged if that helps. You can see how the rear toe goes back and then it curls under and the black starts. Sorry about the picture, I am by myself and don't have a way to take a better one right now.
This one is really hard to see the black but you can see how far back the toe is damaged. On this picture it is on the left, and the little black ball looking thing is the damaged toe on top of the leaves.
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