HELP hen with messed up foot, *PICS*

[Ema]

Ok so a while ago, I posted that I had a couple injured/sick hens.

one had a limp and she is fine now after she rested for a few days, the one with the foot infection was fine after 5 days of treatment. here is the link to the thread I posted prior with some pics.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5626204#p5626204

like I said after 5 days of treatment, cleaning and applying antibiotic ointment all seemed fine, she was walking and happy and her foot looked real good and she began laying again.

yesterday morning I refilled their waterer and they all came running to it including her so she was walking fine, but by evening when we went to lock them up she was walking funny. I left her be because it was too dark to do anything at all. This morning I took the hen and brought her in for inspection. nothing wrong with her EXCEPT her foot, same foot as last time. some swelling but not as bad as last time and no pus, but her middle toe nail is filled with blood and she has tiny bits of blood coming out half way up her toe. to either side of the middle toe she has crusty blood scabs and its all black. I am not sure if I am dealing with a broken toe or what. I see no signs of infection. just a black toe tip and nail full of blood and black on the corners with blood.

What the heck do I do???????????

cleaning and disinfecting her foot and antibiotic ointment isn't working. I cannot go out of town to get injectable antibiotics until the van gets fixed.

Has anyone dealt with this before?? could t be a broken toe?? I need help please

 

[Ema]

ok posted pics...would appreciate any help that I can get in how to treat this!!! thanks

Ema

 

[BeccaB00]

Are those cuts in between her toes?
I would probably soak her foot in warm water to get all the dirt/dried blood off. The blood is coming from somwhere.
THEN inspect her foot all over.

 

[Ema]

I did soak her foot in salt water and then scrubbed it. no pus coming out, its the same toe where her infection was last time, its open sores now in between her toes but the toe itself is bleeding from half way up too there is a small crack where blood is coming out. you can see it in the first pic. after cleaning it up I set her down and she was trying to peck at her foot. I had Dh hold her until I could get everything else ready and I applied polysporin and a bandage again on that foot. Her foot is becoming real problematic lately. and I am not sure what else to do for her. she hates the bandages. lol....

just to clarify there is nothing sharp in the coop or run, that could have caused that. All i can think of is one she is pecking herself or someone else is pecking her, at this point I have no clue. because when I am out there they are all going about their business and they are quite calm.

a few days before her last foot infection this hen did get into a fight with another hen, I do believe it was over a nesting box, we solved the fighting by removing that nesting box. actually we removed a few and incorporated new boxes that are covered and a bit bigger. they like those a lot better.

I have no clue how to stop her from pecking at her own foot, and if she is pecking at it I can imagine others have too.

 

[BeccaB00]

Do you have any vet wrap/is that what your using? I've never had to

use it myself but I hear it's good stuff. When my mean little rooster

attempted to flog my jacket through the fence it messed his feet up like this.

Our fence is chainlink covered in chicken wire, and theres also no pointy edges

jarding out. My hens used to flog the fence when they seen our free ranged roo

walking around, which we eventually had to catch because he was making them

all mess their feet up haha. Keep it clean, Put her in a clean (preferably indoor) cage,

(like a small dog crate) and watch to make sure sure there are no other symptoms

and see if anything gets better or worse. Being it's her foot it'll easily get dirty, especially since

chickens don't seem to mind stepping all over their droppings, So keep everthing as clean as possible.

I'm definatly no expert on injuries but it's what I would do

Becca

 

[Ema]

I do not have vet wrap. I use regular first aid supplies. all my first aid kits are full just not with everything I need for chickens lol.

I have done all I can do for her at this point and again she is in a crate all to herself. beginning to think she is injuring herself on purpose to get some extra pampering ahahaha.

believe it or not her feet were rather clean when I brought her in, all that dark colouring you see on her foot seems to be bruising and stains that will not wash off, I keep my coop rather clean.

was trying to to the DLM but it wasn't working out for me so each sunday I clean the coop and their run has lots of straw in it too cause they hate the snow and will not walk on anything that has snow on it.

I think when it stops bleeding a bit and I see that its starting to heal, I will use some glue on it and seal the cracks and see where that goes. I honestly think she has a broken toe. because of the purple bruising around it.

 

[ivan3]

Probably not completely healed and getting reinfected. We had good luck with epsom salt/betadine soaks/a small amount of antibiotic ointment/dressings: 2"X2"s/1"cotton wrap/duct tape. Have to keep her out of muck, however.

Example (we were working over his spurs after wrapping up foot):

 

[dsqard]

I agree with ivan, it looks like the foot is reinfected. The blood seeping out and in her nail might be from the pressure of the swelling in the area. Sounds like she will have to be out of the coop for a while. Good soaks in epsom salts, warm water, changing the dressings at least once a day (gauze and duct tape seemed to work well for ivan) continue with the antibiotic ointment. You will have to keep it clean and bandaged so she can't peck at it.

 

[tammye]

I have a hen that moves the other gorls out of her way by pecking their feet, could her flock mates be picking at it and keeping it open?