Hen with a hurt foot

[SomeChookLover]

Hi everyone, I’ve recently noticed one of my hens, Eva, has some sort of foot injury. There is no outside cut or blood but her middle toe looks blue/purple. There is also much less resistance when you bend the toe, and Eva doesn’t seem able (or willing) to bend it, though she doesn’t seem in pain when it is bent. Also, when one toe is bent, all the others bend too, but only on her injured foot.
She’s quite obviously limping and hasn’t been moving much, although she generally stays on the composter away from the flock, so I didn’t notice she wasn’t moving much.
She was bullied quite badly in the past, to the point that almost all the feathers had been ripped off her back. Obviously we separated her from the flock but due to recent events we’ve needed to lock them up (the main chooks are usually free range) so she’s usually staying on the composter away from the other chickens.
The bullying has not been an issue, however Eva does have a vision issue that I believe she was born with, which makes her quite skittish, in addition to her trauma. Probably more background than you need, but I think it’s worth understanding she is quite scared of the other chickens, so it wouldn’t surprise me if when running away or jumping off the compost she had caught and fractured her foot, or something along those lines.
I’m going to seperate her from the others tomorrow (night time right now) and see if I can can some pictures for you.
Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Eggcessive]

Pictures of the foot, and if something is going on with her eye, that helps too. Resting her foot inside a covered dog crate with bedding, food and water within reach for a couple of weeks may help. Keeping that crate near the others will help when placing her back. Some chickens will get picked on if there is over crowding, if they are not getting outside to roam, or not getting a balanced chicken feed with 16-20% protein. Too much light in laying areas also may add to it.

 

[SomeChookLover]

Pictures of the foot, and if something is going on with her eye, that helps too. Resting her foot inside a covered dog crate with bedding, food and water within reach for a couple of weeks may help. Keeping that crate near the others will help when placing her back. Some chickens will get picked on if there is over crowding, if they are not getting outside to roam, or not getting a balanced chicken feed with 16-20% protein. Too much light in laying areas also may add to it.

Thank you very much! It is still dark outside but I’ll get some pictures as soon as possible. The eye issue has been around for the majority of her life, and she’s now around 4 so she’s doing alright with that. The bullying was quite unusual, as our chickens are usually free range, and were at the time of the bullying, but Eva often won’t notice other chickens coming up behind her, which I think made her an easy target. The main perpetrator has died recently though, so I wasn’t as worried having her in with the others for a little while, and I can seperate them again now. Thinking about it, it really was one hen doing the majority of the damage, and she was quite mean to the other hens, just never to the extent she was with Eva.
But anyway, thank you very much, I’ll be doing that!

 

[SomeChookLover]

Ok I have some photos, the first one is of her healthy foot, the second one is her injured foot, and the third one is showing her vision issues/how she struggles to see (she is pecking my hand, not the corn). She’s still limping and is holding her foot off the ground when she can, but was moving around quite well.

 

[Eggcessive]

The toe is swollen, and could be sprained or broken. I would not even bother splinting it, but just not running around or jumping up and dow for a roost for a few weeks might help it to heal. She has some slight scaly leg mites from the lifted scales, so you could use some Vaseline or Nustock cream and rub it into the scales a couple of times a week for several weeks to smother the mites.

 

[SomeChookLover]

The toe is swollen, and could be sprained or broken. I would not even bother splinting it, but just not running around or jumping up and dow for a roost for a few weeks might help it to heal. She has some slight scaly leg mites from the lifted scales, so you could use some Vaseline or Nustock cream and rub it into the scales a couple of times a week for several weeks to smother the mites.

Thanks so much! I had a feeling it was broken or something but wasn’t sure. A couple of other hens have scaly leg too so I’ll be treating them all with some Vaseline.

 

[Loving my girls]

I would get a magnifying glass too and check for foreign objects, thorns and stuff.
One time I found a teeny tiny something and, after removing it, I kept her in a Guinea pig run for a week so she couldn’t get up. She was none too happy but nothing compared to the moaning from the guinea pig.

 

[SomeChookLover]

I would get a magnifying glass too and check for foreign objects, thorns and stuff.
One time I found a teeny tiny something and, after removing it, I kept her in a Guinea pig run for a week so she couldn’t get up. She was none too happy but nothing compared to the moaning from the guinea pig.

Didn’t think of that, but I’ll definitely check it out. I actually do have a Guinea pig hutch that I’ve kept chooks in before when treating foot-related injuries, but that somehow slipped my mind. Thanks so much for the advice!