Help!! Are My Roosters Feet going to fall off?!?

[happyfrenchman]

I would wait. It looks bad, but chickens are remarkably tough. If he is still walking around, I would let him. If it looks like he cannot carry himself, then I would give him the chop. I would not at all be surprised if he totally heals up.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would bring him to a spot where he won’t be pecked, perhaps to a dog crate with food and water. You can leave it in the coop where he can remain with the flock, or to a cooler spot in your house or garage. The feathered legs and feet are hard to see, but usually the toes are feet will drop off if you see black dry leathery tissue. On his feet there may be healthy tissue underneath, especially where it has bled from pecking. You should know in a few days the extent of the damage. We have seen chickens who have suffered loss of toes, one or both feet here on BYC. If the black does not go all around the foot, there could just be some sloughing off of tissue. Please let us know what happens.

 

[azygous]

I fully understand the panic you feel, and if it's laced with guilt, it really makes it feel awful watching this process take place. Have you given your rooster some baby aspirin as I suggested? It really can help with the pain. One 81mg aspirin in the morning and one at night can help him sleep comfortably.

I've given aspirin to my rooster when he had severe frostbite. And another hen benefited from aspirin as she was going through losing parts of her foot from infection. It looked just like your rooster's feet, only not quite as bad.

Chickens get frostbite every winter, and I bet there are thousands from this hideous deep freeze this winter in the east US. Rarely is infection an issue. The chickens' own immune system takes care of that by walling off the tissue that was destroyed. No antibiotics are necessary, nor will an antibiotic miraculously restore tissue that has been killed by freezing.

All you can do is what you are doing - keep the rooster as comfortable as possible, cushioning his feet with plenty of soft nesting material to reduce the pain as he walks on his feet, give plenty of fluids, and a supplement like Poultry Nutridrench can help boost his immune system so his body can get through this ordeal.

 

[lazy gardener]

Extra animal protein also.

 

[Harry'sMom]

So I soaked his feet in epson salt very good today and gave him a baby aspirin.. the front of his legs and top and bottoms of his feet still look very healthy. The back of his legs do look neurotic, but could this mean he will only loose skin? There are a few toes that have a gray tint.


Does anyone know how long they can run around on their before they fall off? He was running around for two weeks before he started to baby his feet

And how long does the process usually take if they are going to fall off?

 

[DwayneNLiz]

it takes awhile for it to get to that black stage

 

[Eggcessive]

I would think if he can walk around, he will not loss his feet. If they were frozen and dead, he would not have feeling, nerve, or muscle control in them, and shouldn’t be able to walk. In my own flock, I have only dealt with frostbie in a few combs and some toe tips, never snything that extensive. Since you are soaking his feet, I would apply some Vetericyn or Betadine to his feet afterward. Or plain neosporin/triple antibiotic ointment if he is kept in a crate on a clean towel.

 

[azygous]

The process can take weeks or more. @Eggcessive is right - he wouldn't be able to use his feet if all the nerves were damaged. In that case, the feet collapse into closed talons and are useless. A chicken can't get around or roost. So there's hope as long as he's using his feet.

Keep doing the soaks and Vetericyn. Vetericyn helps grow new tissue in areas where the nerves and blood supply still exist. Don't give up!

 

[lazy gardener]

There are no muscles in a chicken's foot. There are nerves, and lots of tendons and ligaments.

 

[Harry'sMom]

He is walking around good today! We have them bandaged up between his toes and around his toes... and it actually looks like some color is coming back to his feet. Giving him a baby aspirin twice a day, and hoping they keep getting better not worse!