God help me! My hens feet are frozen

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
That is offically frost bite.... I think. If you can post pic that may help.

Puffy tissue is damaged tissue frozen and collecting fluids. Black = tissues becoming necrotic and dying. Be careful with her and I would say now you need to keep her in. She will probably lose her toes. Keep an eye out for infection now as you don't want gangrene to set in. Keep the feet clean too. Might have to look up frost bite treatment since I don't know how.

 

[animals1981]

ok thanks a lot

i am just getting so confused I am hearing all kinds of diff things i should be doing but i dont know which one i should?

shes been in a few days now all she does is sit and eat shes living in a cat carrier

her feet are warm now so now i guess i just have to wait for her toes to fall off

at this point what do u think i should use for her bedding? maybe i will put her in a carboard box?

IS news paper ok that way i can replace it daily? Or should i use something else?

News paper seems clean

 

[Mrs MIA]

This is what it looks like after a bird has lost its toes to frostbite.

This is Penelope-No-Toes, a silver sebright, and we got her last February as a rescue from a gal that couldn't take care of her birds anymore. Her husband left, the house was in foreclosure, and NONE of the many animals (from chickens to goats, pigs, ponies, ducks, geese...) had food or fresh water, and most of all no shelter. (I forgot to mention that it was about -25°F at the time.)

Her toes were already black when we got her, and within a couple of weeks the toes that were the worst fell off. I actually changed out the dowling for 2x4s laid flat for her, because she couldn't grip the dowling. She does quite well, now, with only one or two toes left, and even with her small size she is one of the top hens in the coop.

Keep her warm, keep her feet dry and clean, and let it take its course. She may lose the tips of her toes, but she'll be fine. You can use a little Neosporin or A&D ointment on them if they start to look infected. Don't use the pain-relief version - it's not good for them.

Good luck with your little girl...

 

[Mrs MIA]

Newspaper should be fine to use.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

This is what it looks like after a bird has lost its toes to frostbite.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k270/vyancey/Chickens/P3310014.jpg

This is Penelope-No-Toes, a silver sebright, and we got her last February as a rescue from a gal that couldn't take care of her birds anymore. Her husband left, the house was in foreclosure, and NONE of the many animals (from chickens to goats, pigs, ponies, ducks, geese...) had food or fresh water, and most of all no shelter. Her toes were already black when we got her, and within a couple of weeks the toes that were the worst fell off. I actually changed out the dowling for 2x4s laid flat for her, because she couldn't grip the dowling. She does quite well, now, with only one or two toes left, and even with her small size she is one of the top hens in the coop.

Keep her warm, keep her feet dry and clean, and let it take its course. She may lose the tips of her toes, but she'll be fine. You can use a little Neosporin or A&D ointment on them if they start to look infected. Don't use the pain-relief version - it's not good for them.

Good luck with your little girl...

When we moved to this place the fellow had left 4 hens in a tiny coop.
They all had toes missing from having been in the cold and drafty coop the past winter and they looked just like Mrs. AK's bird with the missing toe, well it's been 4 years now and 3 of them are just dandy ...they scratch and get around just fine. The 4th passed from being eggbound.

BTW 4 hens led to over 40

and I had never met one before (*alive* that is). Hope she recoups as well.​

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Sometimes advice is alot of different things and it's confusing. But the goal is the same for all of it. All of the advice given here is good. Just pick the things you feel are right for you.

 

[silkiechicken]

And a lot of time, it can be hard to understand advice because the advisee can't actually see what is going on so could easily mis understand something, imagine it a bit different, and so on, so do what you think is best from what is posted. There is no hard and fast way to do things. Good luck.

 

[nnbreeder]

And if I may add too that many times a lot of us post at the same time without knowing about posts coming from the others.