Limping Chicken With a Weak Middle Toe - PLEASE HELP!

Anna W

In the Brooder
Apr 29, 2019
16
5
16
Hello all!

I am new to this forum, but have followed it for about a year now. Many of the posts were so helpful in treating my chickens--thank you! Unfortunately, I am in need of your help once again with my one year old chicken who is limping. That said, this is not her first time limping, she did have bumble foot (right) once and I did the surgery (passing out in the middle of it, but I did finish when I came to). She is limping on her left foot, just started yesterday. What is strange is that her middle toe is so weak that she does not curl it up when I put my finger to it. The foot does not seem to be super swollen or hot either, but it does hurt her to step on it. I have given her foot bath last night and treated with Vetericyn and bandaged her up just incase it is a beginning stage of bumblefoot (but the toe is odd). She is otherwise a healthy eater, nothing is drooping or any other symptoms are present. I heard somewhere that a particular disease attacks mostly left foot and that antibiotic treatment is needed? Any suggestions, please? Thank you!
 
Hello! No swollen joints. She prefers to stand on the other leg and keep this one up. I can take the pictures, but there seem nothing different as far as color going on. Both legs appear to be the same.
 
I have examined her again and see that now her left foot is a bit swollen on the outside side. I also noticed that the bottoms of her feet are rougher than usual and kind of scaly (?). Here are pics of the bottom of her left foot.
Sparkles - Bottom Left Foot.jpg
Sparkles - Left Foot.jpg
 
I just checked the feet of my other chickens and their feet are nice, soft, and smooth without blemishes or any roughness. Sparkles (my sick chicken), however, has this roughness that is on the photo.
 
Welcome to BYC. Do you have any pictures of the top and bottom of the chicken’s foot that you can post here? Do both legs appear the same size and are there any swollen joints?
I am not sure if my posts reach anyone and hope they are posting. Not sure yet how to reply, so hope my other posts with photos have reached you. Thank you!
 
A simple thing you can do is to soak her feet and legs in warm Epsom salts for 20 minutes each day to soothe her foot.

I started doing just that last night, as soon as I saw she is having a limp--soaked her feet in warm Epsom salt water, then applied Vetericyn and bandaged. I also put her away from the coop onto our screened in porch in a large cage--so she slept separately last night. She seems worse off this morning, though. I have soaked her feet again today, applied Neosporin (regular kind) to soften her feet, put Vetericyn with gauze and wrapped it in a bandage again. I have released her into our large coop area that is fenced in, so she will not be roaming around all over the yard. How long should I do the baths before I need to try antibiotics?
 
If her foot is sprained, I don’t think antibiotics would help. In early bumblefoot, they usually are not necessary. Most antibiotics are not approved for egglaying poultry anyway, so if you use one, there would need to be a proper egg withdrawal time. Fish Mox (amoxicillin) which is found online would be an appropriate one to use if there is a need. Most people don’t use antibiotics for bumblefoot, but try to treat it with soaks or surgery. Some people have had luck using a gauze pad with betadine and sugar as a dressing to help draw out infection.
 

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