does the toe need to be amputated or will it fall off?

[annek]

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.

 

[Tootsie]

Don't cut the toe off!!! it may fall off, it did with my gal Toeknee who got her toe stuck. It didn't fall off for a few months but what you should be doing is put her on antibiotics for the infection and soak the toe at least once a day in warm water with a little betadine in there, wipe it clean and put some neosporin on it afterwards (I use the generic it is cheaper). I put her in a crate keeping her as clean as possible until it was totally healed. I had another one Sorbet get her toe stuck where you could see the bone coming out and her toe healed crooked and did not fall off and she is fine too but still needed to do the above.

I used baytril as per the vet but if you cannot get that at least aureomyicin you can get through Jefferspet.com or at your feed store. Otherwise the infection can spread through her system.

Just picture yourself with an open wound that you don't treat, it will get worse.

Best wishes.

 

[silkiechicken]

If the toe is cut or damaged, I would just clean it off and inspect it. If it is not red or inflamed, just put an ointment on it and pass on any oral antibiotics. Chickens have very strong immune systems and as long as the wound isn't festering, looks like the toe may be taking care of itself. I've had toes get caught in feeders, and just shrivel up and fall off without intervention. I personally don't like to use antibiotics and "save them" for when really needed like dog bites or large open wounds as it is easy to make resistant bacteria.

 

[annek]

Okay, I will do that. I do have some baytril left over from one of my cats who didn't end up needing it. It is 22.7m is what is written on the prescription. Do you know the dosage and how many times a day she needs it? It is in pill form, do I just crush it and put it in something like yogurt?

Also, where do I get betadine? Can I get it at local feed store?

 

[annek]

Quote:
The toe isn't cut, she is walking fine, she is out with the girls in the tractor today. Only thing I noticed is that she has been doing the thing like something is caught in her throat. She just started doing that. Of course it may be since they do like to eat grass. Don't know if that is related to the hurt toe. She has been acting so normal that I didn't even realize it had happened until I noticed something black. I didn't see any blood so I don't think it is open, it just looks gross. Should I give her the Baytril?

 

[silkiechicken]

If the toe is not cut... are you sure it's not cecal poo dried on the toe? See if you can't soak the foot and wash off the black before treating for anything, it could be just stuff stuck to the toe. I don't even give antibiotics for small cuts because the ability of resistant bacteria to spread the resistant plasmids between each other can mean baytril family antibiotics won't even work on you when you need it. Often the numbers of good bacteria keep the bad ones at bay.

 

[Tootsie]

Betadine can be bought at your feed store, call first to make sure they have it OR jefferspet.com Be sure to get the Betadine Solution.

It was indeed an AVIAN vet that saw these birds with the same condition and prescribed the baytril and soaking. Especially since you said:

black and deformed rear toe, just the tip is black, looks like spreading to healthy tissue?

I had a young one Sorbet and I had to give her 1/16 of the baytril pill twice a day, that was fun cutting it up like that...not, he he.

I have the 68 MG baytril since it is cheaper that way through pet meds, anyway it goes by weight of the bird. A 5 lb bird gets 1/4 of mine twice a day or 1/2 tab (34 gm) once a day. I usually just pop it down their throat. Some birds will eat it plain or in bananas, others you can smash it and mix with water in syringe but best way to know they got the whole thing is pop down the throat. If the bird is 3 lbs then they get a total 1/3 of mine which equals one of yours (22mg) once a day or if you have time you can break it in half and give 1/2 of it twice a day.

I try and give them probiotics an hour later if I have it on hand. Jeffers has that also and a good one is bene-bac paste.

Oh if puss develops in the toe you need to get that out which is easier to do after soaking the toe.​

 

[Martha G]

Tractor Supply has Betadine and other vet supplies.

Okay, I will do that. I do have some baytril left over from one of my cats who didn't end up needing it. It is 22.7m is what is written on the prescription. Do you know the dosage and how many times a day she needs it? It is in pill form, do I just crush it and put it in something like yogurt?

Also, where do I get betadine? Can I get it at local feed store?