Hen pecked her toe off 6 weeks ago and bone is still exposed - is it healing properly?

[Billy_WitchDoctor_Dot_Com]

Hello! Like the title says, about six weeks ago one of my French Black Copper Marans pecked the top half of her toe clean off. I’ve been keeping it clean and bandaged ever since. She never got infected and the toe stub looks fine, i.e. no swelling, no pus, no discoloration, full range of movement, etc.

However, my concern is that the skin has not closed up over the exposed bone. I change the bandages regularly and have not seen any improvement in the last couple of weeks. I’m worried that if I stop bandaging and treating her toe then it will become infected through the exposed toe bone and she’ll lose a foot, her leg, or her life.

Will the skin on her toe eventually climb up and cover the bone to form a stump? I don’t relish the idea of keeping her foot bandaged for the rest of her life, but I’m willing to do it for as long as necessary for the toe to heal. Does anyone have any experience with something like this or any advice? Thanks!

 

[picklestheduck]

Holy moly! That’s a new one! Do you know why she pecked it so badly? Are you sure it was her and not the other chickens? And are you sure it’s bone or not just a nail head?

 

[Billy_WitchDoctor_Dot_Com]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/

Holy moly! That’s a new one! Do you know why she pecked it so badly? Are you sure it was her and not the other chickens? And are you sure it’s bone or not just a nail head?

I don’t know why she pecked it so badly, but I assume she got it caught/cut/injured somewhere and then pecked at the visible blood until it just…came off. I’ve walked the coop and the run repeatedly and never could find the cause of initial injury.

So, what happened is that I went up at dusk to tuck them in and she was on her roost bar sitting in a puddle of blood. At that time the tip of her toe was still attached by a shred of skin. I did consider one of the other hens was the culprit, but they were all giving her a wide berth and none of them had blood on their beaks or feathers. I freaked, and as a first time chicken ranger I rushed back inside to consult the BYC forum. By the time I got back outside to treat her the tip of her toe had disappeared. Never to be seen again. I cleaned, treated, and wrapped her toe, and have been ever since.

The reason the protruding bone looks black and might be mistaken for a nail head is because of Blu-Kote. When I change her bandage I wash the wound with warm soapy water, hit it with a layer of Vetericyn, let that dry then spray on some Blu-Kote in case she works the bandage off, then apply a thin layer of triple antibiotic, gauze, and wrap with 3M Vetrap.

I hope that clears up any confusion, I know my pictures and description weren’t the best, sorry.

 

[picklestheduck]

Before you treat it with bluekote next time could you get another picture? I’m interested to see what it looks like without it.

 

[Billy_WitchDoctor_Dot_Com]

Before you treat it with bluekote next time could you get another picture? I’m interested to see what it looks like without it.

Sure, will do, however at this point I’m pretty sure it’s permanently dyed purple. That Blu-Kote is serious stuff!

 

[Billy_WitchDoctor_Dot_Com]

Bump for visibility.

If the bone remains permanently exposed will I have to amputate further up the toe to get it to heal properly? Anyone knowledgable have some advice for me? Thanks!

 

[Billy_WitchDoctor_Dot_Com]

Sure, will do, however at this point I’m pretty sure it’s permanently dyed purple. That Blu-Kote is serious stuff!

I’ve changed the dressing twice since the last post and stopped using the Blu-Kote altogether since I’m now confident that she cant pick the bandage off. However the bit of exposed bone is still purple and looks the same so I didn’t take another picture.