Help! My chickens are getting their toes cut off!

[sammi]

so...you have an open coop...but no pen?
boredom will also make then peck.

 

[christy777]

I did cover all my hardware cloth walls with window screen stapled to the inside so they have no way to run up the walls anymore. And they can't sit on top of the bottom wood wall board since the screen covers the wood edges as well. One chicken had lost 2 toes and one lost one.

They seem to be healing and only bled for a short time. I also was able to use the window screen in such a way that they can't get on top of the nest box anymore. Even though it's covered, I didn't want poop in the egg area! I will continue to monitor them to make sure the stumps heal properly and no further injuries occur. Thanks for all the advice everyone!

 

[christy777]

Oh, I just saw another post about about my pen design. The whole thing is a pen, 100 square feet total with 13 two month old chicks. A lady added 3 chicks to my order but she hasn't taken them yet as she has to do repairs to her coop. So, I will only have 10 birds once she gets hers. (She may even take 4.) I tried to stick with the 10 square feet per bird rule of thumb. I just don't have a traditional closed up coop with attached run. I just have the "run" with roosts and nest box and feeders in the run. The whole thing is covered on top with more hardware cloth and tarps over that. I did add 3 plywood sides around the roost area to protect from drafts. I have all cold hardy birds. I read a lot about how chickens can take lots of cold, but they need tons of ventilation and as long as they have protection from drafts, they are healthier. I let them out sometimes, too to free range. I never did see any of them pecking at the toe wounds or even pecking each other at all. They seem to be happy and are always making those cooing sounds. My pen is a L shape with different areas for roosts and ladder, nestbox, feeders, and also has straw, sand and dirt in different areas to dig and scratch in. I hope they're not bored. They do definitely like to go outside, but I tried to make their pen big enough that they have enough space if they can't go out.

 

[emvickrey]

Last year we had a bad mouse problem they would tunnel in. I would look for hew holes everyday. They would even tunnel in and end up under the feeder. To solve that problem, I bought rat poison in stick form and shoved it in the holes and covered the hole with a brick or something heavy I found i the yard. I would get both sides of the tunnels. I never had a problem with them chewing on my chickens. They had plenty of grain and corn to eat for that. I always overfeed just in case something happens and nobody can get out to them. Never know when an emergency will happen. So it tends to attrack the rodends. This year its chipmunks.
It could also be the chickens did it to each other. I have seen chicks do this to each other. I attempted to hatch and raise quail and the few that did hatch went after each others feet. Before I realized what was happening one chick had every toe broken. They would go after the toes and drag each other around trying to pull them off. These are newly hatched chicks i'm talking about. They all ended up dying. I had to separate them and they seemed to just give up then.

But anyway, I'm sure you've done it already but the bloody stubs have to be tended to or the others will peck and eat at the wounds.

 

[chrissiesmom]

I just had one lose a toe. I am heart broken about it. I held her on my lap and put pressure on it with a cloth to stop the bleeding. Then I put hydrogen peroxide in it and separated her from the other chickens. The bleeding seems to have stopped, but she is so mellow. Just sitting in her coop. Probably because her foot hurts. She is my sweet one! If anyone has any more good advice I could always use it. I didn't use corn startch or stop bleed because the pressure seemed to work. I will put more peroxide on it tonight. Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[ellend]

Go easy with peroxide. It is a good initial cleaner, but does cause tissue damage. Unless you are trying to get dirt out of the wound, switch to an antiseptic, or just let it dry now. When we do hydrogen peroxide flushes in the O.R., it's 1/2 strength.

 

[chrissiesmom]

Thanks for the advice on the hydrogen peroxide. I just did it twice and will stop now. She was up and about this morning. She is eating and drinking, and even walking on both feet. (Yesterday when she did stand, she would only stand on one leg). I think she is going to be okay. It just bothers me that I don't know what caused it...