Is there a disease makes chicks toe nails and toes fall off?

[nightowl223]

Mud balls (or poop balls, either one) will dry very hard and tight on the toes, cutting off the circulation and killing the toe parts inside the balls.

I constantly fight it wirh my quail, who manage to do it to themselves with poo, while on wire and only having their sandboxes to collect poo in. Every few weeks, when the full cage cleaning/scrubbing gets done, I have to check everyone closely, to catch the balls before they start to build up and around the toe. The ball starts under the nail, and grows out, up, and around from there, which is why it can be hard to notice before it starts around the whole toe... especially on tiny feet like quail have.

Hopefully that will help someone else notice it forming, by knowing where to check on the toe.

As far as then growing back, if the nail bed has been damaged, they often won't grow back, and of course, any toe part itself that died won't grow back. However, birds are often born with missing toe tips, anyway (Silkies, as mentioned, and Banty Cochins are bad about having that in their genes). They grow up fine, though, and live long, healthy lives without those toe tips. They just shouldn't be used for breeding (though they can still be fine broodies and mamas!).

 

[Clemmy]

frostbite? if frostbite gets to a point toes can fall off...

 

[nightowl223]

frostbite? if frostbite gets to a point toes can fall off...

That can cause lost toes, too, as well, but the OP said her birds hadn't been out in any cold weather. Generally, though, if a bird has a nice, wide place to roost on (I suggest 2 x 4s laid on their side to everyone), where their feet can completely be under them, they won't have frostbite problems on their toes.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

As for my experience, they are still in the brooder in the house. So not frostbite...I haven't had chickens for over 10 years. but I don't remember this ever happening before. So it was new to me, i am thankfull i noticed it in time to save the toes! We only had big chickens, no bantams back then. Except for a few we had got as an adult. So maybe thats why i never saw it before? That's interesting about the silkies and cochins being more prone to it as another person said mine might be cochins on a different thread. I would be happy if they are

 

[nightowl223]

As for my experience, they are still in the brooder in the house. So not frostbite...I haven't had chickens for over 10 years. but I don't remember this ever happening before. So it was new to me, i am thankfull i noticed it in time to save the toes! We only had big chickens, no bantams back then. Except for a few we had got as an adult. So maybe thats why i never saw it before? That's interesting about the silkies and cochins being more prone to it as another person said mine might be cochins on a different thread. I would be happy if they are

I've not ever noticed the toe-ball thing on any of my full size, adult, large fowl birds, only chicks and quail. Who knows, maybe the bigger birds are heavy enough that just walking around and scratching keeps their nails cleaner.

Banty Cochins are one of my very favorite breeds! They're wonderful mothers, and often very sweet to us humans, too.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

Maybe it's also that the adult chickens are able to scratch on dirt and sand, whereas in the brooder they are on other stuff. Like chips or paper. The litter I use is alfalfa since that's what we grow here on our farm. I never liked using wood chips and of course everyone knows the drawbacks to paper.

 

[nightowl223]

Maybe it's also that the adult chickens are able to scratch on dirt and sand, whereas in the brooder they are on other stuff. Like chips or paper. The litter I use is alfalfa since that's what we grow here on our farm. I never liked using wood chips and of course everyone knows the drawbacks to paper.

With chicks, that's quite possible. It's not what causes it wirh my quail, though, as they are on wire.

I use sand in my brooders. When the little ones are first hatched, I keep the sand covered with a pillowcase, which is changed out like every week or so, washed, then put back onto use as needed for the next batch of babies. I cover the sand when they're very young because, before I moved to sand, a friend had little ones eating the sand rather than the food, and they weren't growing like they should. The pillowcases are cheap as dirt at thrift stores or garage sales, and as long as they don't stay in there too long, they wash up pretty well. LOL, I bleach the *bleep* out of them, too, so they don't look very pretty, but it makes it easier to keep them separate from the ones we use on our beds.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

I'm thinking about switching to sand too, for my next batch I think I will try that. That's why I never had before, about them eating the sand. But that's a good simple idea just to cover it!

 

[srcarucci]

I just had a two week old chick with two of these on the toes of one foot. I soaked her foot in warm water and gently rubbed and picked the dirt off. Very carefully. Took about 45 minutes as they were the size of marbles and just as hard but they came off and her toes and feet are fine.