Hurt Toenails

tsperry88

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I set up a bunch of clutter in my run to let my young pullets keep away from my roosters. It works great except now one of my roosters broke his toenail off, and one of my hens has blood around her toenail and she is limping. They love climbing on all the stuff, but I only assume is cashing the problems. I might tweak a few things, otherwise is it normal for chickens to hurt their toenails?
 

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Chickens adore playground equipment. Even baby chicks do. I have a swing in my run, and the younger chickens love to swing on it and it's also a get-away to rest from the predations of the older bullies.

However, you need to consider two things. Do you have any heavy breeds? And, do you have adequate bedding to cushion dismounts from higher perches? Maybe a third, do you regularly trim toe nails?

Heavy breeds, more than standard breeds, will break and lose toe nails altogether. The cause is almost always breaking a nail or tearing it from its quick by hopping off a high perch. It hurts just as much as it does when you tear a nail off below the quick, but it's not a crisis situation, even if it bleeds a lot. Just remove the hang nail and spray Vetericyn on it.

But you do need to consider a suitable bedding under the play equipment. I have sand in both coops and runs. It works just as well as it does under children's playground equipment.
 
All my birds are great flyers. None are heavy breeds. My run is just dirt. Typically they fly to a lower perch before jumping to the ground. I have a few sketchy areas like the boards nailed to the pallet and blocks nailed to the plywood. I have seen them get tripped up on those.
 

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