Just got 4 week old chicks...scabs?

[amkuska]

Just got the chicks medicated and inspected for mites etc. during the inspection I found this!



It makes me cringe and feel sick to my stomach just thinking of it. That is the poor chicks CLAW twisted UPSIDE DOWN! :S It looks very swollen and painful, but chick is not limping and running around just fine on it. Yikes. Read in previous broken toe threads that you can twist it back upright, but it looks like it's not properly connected anymore. What a horrible thing to happen to a chick! Should I try...um...turning that upright?

 

[Eggcessive]

The toenal is probably just hanging by a thread of tissue. I had a hen that did the same thing continually jumpig over a 4 FT chainlink fence last year. The nail came off, but never grew back. My girl's toe stayed a little swollen. I would probably put some Neosporin on it until it falls off.

 

[amkuska]

You were right. It came right off.

The poor thing doesn't seem to be doing very well. I put neosporin on it. Dwkuska says there was a lot of puss in it. Poor thing. :S Should she be on antibiotics?

 

[Eggcessive]

You were right. It came right off.

The poor thing doesn't seem to be doing very well. I put neosporin on it. Dwkuska says there was a lot of puss in it. Poor thing. :S Should she be on antibiotics?

Unless you can get some antibiotics from a vet, about the only one you would find for wounds at the feedstore would be injectable penicillin which is used sometimes to treat bumblefoot and animal bites. You could try soaking the foot in warm epsom salts or betadine, and making sure there is no more pus in it.

 

[casportpony]

X2, get all pus out.

-Kathy

 

[amkuska]

Just a quick update on the chicks:

The chick who had the missing toe is finally healed up, but the ones with scabs on their back are getting worse. 3 of them now have what we guess are abscesses at the base of their tail. We were able to treat this by draining it and treating the top, and separating the affected chicks. They currently have two corn cobs nailed upright on a board, and a big piece of drift wood for entertainment which seems to be reducing the peck rate.

The guy at the feedstore suggested we use tetracycline in their water, but I'm not sure if he was misunderstanding or if that is actually helpful with all these walking wounded.

Thanks so much all of you for the help. I appreciate the responses!