Genetic from birth or old injury? Strange stumpy rooster foot.

[jupitergirl]

Sorry it's kind of blurry. I can try again but right now he doesn't want to be caught. One foot is very stumpy and the other looks like it has just the end of toe or two missing.

Thoughts? He's a brown leghorn (I just found out by posting his pic in "what kind of chicken?")

 

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

Looks like the tips of his toes were ate off when he was a chick.. Some of my button quail chicks ate each others toes.. I got rid of the ones who did it..

 

[jupitergirl]

If he were a chick at the time, would that make the toes grow to be bulbous like that? I have no idea what his history is. Came to me a couple of weeks ago.

 

[BarkerChickens]

I have a chick who had a toe bit off and it it is pretty rounded on the end too. My first guess (though I am far from experienced in this area) is that his toes were bit off when he was little.

 

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

Another possibility is that it could have been frost bite.. If the old owners didnt keep their birds warm enough in the cold of winter.. That is just a theory.. An idea...

Edited to add. The reason the shorter toes are so rounded and big. Is that the bird needed some surface to walk on. And they just grew that way.. Again just an idea... Or it could have been they got infected first, and then just healed that way.. You never know with a bird that wasnt raised with you.. It would all just be speculation..

Does your roo walk ok..

 

[jupitergirl]

He walks ok but lifts the stumpy foot a little higher and sometimes holds it up. We considered frostbite but check out his gorgous frostbite free comb

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
Doesn't look "frostbite free" to me. He is missing some points on his comb.

Him losing his toes as a chick sounds like the most logical answer.

 

[jupitergirl]

Ohhhh, yes, I see what you mean about frostbite on his comb, I hadn't noticed because there is no discoloration. Wouldn't a comb suffer more damage than that if his toes were frostbitten completely off?

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
That's possible. But when you think about it, in the winter, a birds feet are constantly touching the cold ground and snow. And if he was roosting, he could have easily tucked his head under his wing to keep warm, while his toes were exposed on the roost.

Either theory could be true.