Emergencies/Diseases/Injuries and Cures

[Wyorp Rock]

Oookaaay. So it's escalated. The swelling has gone down, but her toes are dying.
There is no feeling on the black parts. Frost bite? I would think that the swelling might have cut off circulation and caused gangrene to set in, but why is happening on the good foot too? does frostbite take days to become evident? I don't know much first aid. only that required to get someone to medical personnel, so I have a whole lot of questions what and why and no answers. Confirmed that black areas are uncontrollable, sessile, and have no feeling; shriveled. and it's spreading, faster on the swollen foot than the good foot. The swelling has gone down tremendously, though still evident. She is waving the foot around in the air as if she is trying to get it to move. same chicken as before, pullet, some kind of laced breed that has feathered feet as chicks. Foot was swollen 4 times it's normal size. now barely twice.
I guess, I'll have to put the hen down, but I want to know what it is, and if I can cut the toes off and her be fine, and how to stop it, etc... I don't want her to suffer, and I do want to fix her up but I don't have an inkling as to what this is. Suggestions, ideas?

Yes, that looks like frostbite on both feet. It can take days to weeks for all the damage to become evident.
It's hard to know how much of the foot and toes she will lose.
I would not cut the toes off, let them die off and fall off on their own.
You may not need to put her down - it depends on how much time you want to invest in the healing process. It's going to take a good while for that to heal.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/frostbite-lost-both-feet-my-hens-story.1343701/

 

[Blackgranite]

Yes, that looks like frostbite on both feet. It can take days to weeks for all the damage to become evident.
It's hard to know how much of the foot and toes she will lose.
I would not cut the toes off, let them die off and fall off on their own.
You may not need to put her down - it depends on how much time you want to invest in the healing process. It's going to take a good while for that to heal.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/frostbite-lost-both-feet-my-hens-story.1343701/

Alright. It also looks a lot like gangrene from the pics, but I don't know. I think I'll call the vet to see if he has any suggestions.
Thanks.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Alright. It also looks a lot like gangrene from the pics, but I don't know. I think I'll call the vet to see if he has any suggestions.
Thanks.

Let us know what the vet says.

 

[Blackgranite]

We discovered that it was Frostbite. So I let climb as far up the toes as it would and clipped of the rest, so now he has one foot without toes, and another without 3 claws. Thus the name StubNub. Turns out it was rooster, but in my defense, he doesn't have a crested tail, spurs, or much of a comb yet, but he started trying to crow and exhibiting rooster qualities.
back out with the other chickens, roosting, etc... All is well that ends well! Thank you all for the advice and help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We discovered that it was Frostbite. So I let climb as far up the toes as it would and clipped of the rest, so now he has one foot without toes, and another without 3 claws. Thus the name StubNub. Turns out it was rooster, but in my defense, he doesn't have a crested tail, spurs, or much of a comb yet, but he started trying to crow and exhibiting rooster qualities.
back out with the other chickens, roosting, etc... All is well that ends well! Thank you all for the advice and help.

Thank you for the update.
Sorry to hear he lost toes, but has recovered and is able to get around and be with the other chickens.

 

[Blackgranite]

IMPORTANT TIME SENSITIVE QUESTION: My setting hen started sitting on the wrong eggs. Found almost hatched eggs still warmish and put them under a heat lamp. can they still survive? Any Tips??

 

[coach723]

Depends on how long she was off, how many days to hatch, ambient temp, etc.
If she's only been off a short time then just move her back to her correct nest. This is one of the reasons I separate broodies into another area. The humidity won't be right under just a heat lamp, you would need to have them in an incubator. I have had hens do this, if you get her back on the right nest soon enough then all may be fine, if not then you may lose the hatch, it's very hard to say since I don't know all the particulars. I had a first time broody do this last year on day 16/17, I put her back as soon as I realized she was off, it was several hours. I only had two chicks hatch and only one survived.