My chicken ate a nail cap

[Sampet]

So I have one chicken that I’ve separated from the flock twice. As a chick she had splay leg and we helped her strengthen her leg and corrected it but she walks pigeon toed. As she grew it became a problem cuz she cuts her feet with her claws. We separated her again and I placed kitty nail caps on her but I’m afraid she ate one. Is she going to be ok?

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Most of those are supposed to be biodegradable and non toxic. Do you happen to know the brand? Unfortunately chicken digestive tracts don't work exactly the same way as another animals, so I can foresee a possible problem or two, but there's been some amazing luck with things other chickens have passed through and out of their systems, so there's definitely hope!

 

[Sampet]

They were well and good cat caps from petco. Is there anything I can give her to help pass it?

 

[LateBirdFarms]

They were well and good cat caps from petco. Is there anything I can give her to help pass it?

To be honest, I'm not sure. My first thought would be to offer her some cold coconut oil, but I don't know if that would do more harm than good, or if the best bet would be to just wait it out and see. I think it only takes somewhere between 4 and 12 hrs depending on the age of the bird for a full run of her digestive tract... but I could be remembering my reading wrong. It's super late here, so my brain is even less clear than usual, but I wanted to at least reply to you before trying to wrestle myself to sleep.

 

[Hei 20]

So I have one chicken that I’ve separated from the flock twice. As a chick she had splay leg and we helped her strengthen her leg and corrected it but she walks pigeon toed. As she grew it became a problem cuz she cuts her feet with her claws. We separated her again and I placed kitty nail caps on her but I’m afraid she ate one. Is she going to be ok?

 

[Isaac 0]

Do you have any pictures of the hen's feet?

A small piece of plastic should pass on its own without too many problems; if you want to be precautious, you could offer some cold coconut oil, or add some mineral oil into her feed to promote the passage of the piece. A bulking agent such as Metamucil is sometimes used by vets to rid things of the GI tract. Otherwise, I'd probably just leave her be, and monitor her/feces.

 

[Sampet]

Thank you so much for your reply I’ll definitely try a small amount of coconut oil. She’s about 15-16 weeks old. She’s the runt of the flock. My six NH red hens are my first backyard flock and it’s been a real struggle. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Sampet]

The toe caps are roughly the size of a pea. I put them on her claws because as she grew her claws got bigger and sharper and despite my trimming them her feet would still get cut up by them. I have her in her own coop away from the others and her feet are healing quite well. I’ll give her some coconut oil and monitor her little poops. Thank you for the response