Frozen Foot

[drmamabeal]

Is the color of the legs the normal color for this bird?

Regarding the left foot, do you see where the skin changes to white on each toe? This is how far the damaged tissue extends. In a few days take another photo that you can compare to see if it spreads further up the toes to the foot. If it is limited to where it is currently I would expect she might lose the nail (or more) from the two worst toes on this foot. The nail may or may not ever grow back, I suspect not, but this is not a big deal.

On the right foot, the damage clearly extends to the joint where the toes meet the foot. Circulation to the toes is severely compromised and because of that, she is in danger of losing those toes. If you can keep her inside on a towel or something other than dirt/pine shavings for a bit, that would be good. You don't want anything getting into the wound as the skin peels that can introduce infection. It's kinda a wait and see period now.

I'm not sure about continued or repeated soaking at this point. Hopefully someone else can advise you on that. Fingers crossed she make a good recovery. I hope she is eating and drinking as normal now.

Yeah, I figured it's a wait an see game now. She seems quite happy. She's a funny bird. She's eating and drinking a LOT so that's good.

We have her in the garage in a brooder (about 45-50 degrees) with straw. I'll change it out for a towel to keep it cleaner.

thank you for taking a look at her.

 

[drmamabeal]

She looks like she will lose all toes on the right foot and probably a toe tip and half a toe on the legt foot. She may be able to still get around okay. It can take a month or more for toes to come off. I would use some betadine on her toes. Soaking her feet is probably not necessary at this point, since it happened a while ago.

We do have some of the betadine so we will use it.

 

[drmamabeal]

How large are your roosts? A flat and wide roost is best in my opinion, because your chickens can completely cover their toes when sleeping. As others have said, she will never have good circulation in that foot, so I would recommend making your roosts wider.

currently we have a ladder type roost with 2 x2's. How wide do you suggest? Maybe a 2 by 4 to make it look more like steps?

 

[drmamabeal]

Is the color of the legs the normal color for this bird?

Regarding the left foot, do you see where the skin changes to white on each toe? This is how far the damaged tissue extends. In a few days take another photo that you can compare to see if it spreads further up the toes to the foot. If it is limited to where it is currently I would expect she might lose the nail (or more) from the two worst toes on this foot. The nail may or may not ever grow back, I suspect not, but this is not a big deal.

On the right foot, the damage clearly extends to the joint where the toes meet the foot. Circulation to the toes is severely compromised and because of that, she is in danger of losing those toes. If you can keep her inside on a towel or something other than dirt/pine shavings for a bit, that would be good. You don't want anything getting into the wound as the skin peels that can introduce infection. It's kinda a wait and see period now.

I'm not sure about continued or repeated soaking at this point. Hopefully someone else can advise you on that. Fingers crossed she make a good recovery. I hope she is eating and drinking as normal now.

Oh and yes, she has black legs and feet so the skin is normally black.

 

[wyoDreamer]

2x4 laid flat is what is usually recommended, that way it is wider than the birds foot and they completely cover their feet with feathers when they lay down.

 

[BYCforlife]

currently we have a ladder type roost with 2 x2's. How wide do you suggest? Maybe a 2 by 4 to make it look more like steps?

as @wyoDreamer said, a 2x4 laid flat will work just fine. That way your roost will be 3.5" wide.

 

[PirateGirl]

Oh and yes, she has black legs and feet so the skin is normally black.

Good good, I just wanted to double check because if she doesn't normally have black legs/feet you have bigger problems! I hope she is walking around and eating and drinking and doing well!

 

[PirateGirl]

How are the feet doing now that it's been a few days?

 

[drmamabeal]

How are the feet doing now that it's been a few days?

We've progressed into the blistering phase currently. And there's 1 toe that's super skinny and black so clearly she'll lose that one.

We put some butadiene on the blisters, cleaned and wrapped them. Still eating and drinking and in the garage at 40-50 degrees but not moving around too much. I think we are in the thick of it right now but hopefully in the next few days she will start to move around a bit more.

How long does it typically take for toes to fall off?

thanks for checking in.