Help! Broody-hatched chick has bloody foot! **PICS ADDED**

[serinat]

i'm sooooooooooooo excited that we have chicks! i just walked out to the coop (i left her there to brood, as previous multiple attempts to move her failed miserably), and i saw a little ball of fluff walking around amidst the grownups. i shooed the other chickens out to range for the day, but the dear little thing back in with it's mama, and saw another chick in the nest. it was kind of stuck in the corner, so i held the mama down with a broom (so she wouldn't peck me) and picked up the baby. it has one foot that looks pecked and bloody. it can't walk; it just shuffles.

what do i do? should i take this one out and bring it inside? could the mama have done this? this is her first brood, and she was a day-old from a large hatchery last year. we are all new at this. i haven't seen her attack the other chicks, but i haven't watched very long, either.

i plan to move them to a separate chicken tractor once all the chicks are hatched. how long do i wait?

thanks for any help!

 

[eggsrcool]

If the bleeding isn't serious it should stop it'self. You could put purple spray on, which helps to heal the wound and tastes foul so stops any picking.

If you feel the mother hen did it, or if the bleeding is serious, remove it from the mother hen, take it inside and treat it as needed. It may not be able to join the other chicks at a later date, so may have to be hand reared.

Sometimes my chicks get a little bit of blood from their feet, but most of the time it is straw or grass that has damaged one of the scales, and caused it to bleed.

 

[serinat]

thank you. i spent some time watching the chicks and mama this afternoon, and the little one with the injured foot finally peeked back out. (i was afraid he was dead underneath her, because he didn't come out for a long time.) he's walking fine now. his left foot is swollen and bigger than the other foot, and it's red instead of orange. i took a picture and i'm working on getting it uploaded and posted.

there are at least five of them now! she was sitting on eight eggs, and we have one rooster for our ten hens, so most of them were likely fertile. i can't wait to see how many there are!

 

[serinat]

big, red, swollen foot:

i know there's nothing there for comparison, but it's much bigger and redder than normal chick feet.

and just because they're cute:

more pics here .

 

[heatherkh]

Hi - Just curious as to how this turned out? I have a broody-raised chick who turned up with an injured foot this past weekend. I have it separated right now (the other chicks were picking), it seems alert, energetic and is eating, drinking and pooping. But I want to get it back out with momma asap. The bleeding appears to have stopped, the chick isn't favoring the foot too much (just after I washing it and/or put blu-kote on it). Would love to know what happened to your little chick with the injured foot. thanks!