My pullet has a foot injury or something

[Candy11]

My 5 month old pullet has not been walking for several days and I now her outer toe is blackish. She holds it up and hops on one leg. I don't know how to post the photo on this site otherwise I'd post a close-up. I don't have any clue as to what happened and I don't see any obvious difinitive injury. I soaked her foot in epsome salt water for 15 minutes. Is that good? The vet here doesn't see poultry so I'm on my own. Please, if anyone can help? She is eating and drinking so she doesn't appear ill at this time.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Ooh. Black? Like the whole toe? No lumps or anything? It might have got infected, but it sounds like the flesh is dead. Could you confine her to a dog crate so she doesn't have to move around so much?

To post a photo, there is a little mountain icon that you can use to post photos. Try that. Make sure the photo is downloaded to your device.

 

[Candy11]

 

[extrememainer]

It looks infected and like Fanci Feathers said the flesh could be dead. Would anti bacterial ointment be bad for a chicken? You could wrap it up and change it when it needs to be changed and clean it out gently. You can look up poultry specialists on google and see if there is anything else in your community. You should keep her in a place she can lay down and not be on the foot that much and then keep an eye on her.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Keep a close eye on it. Make sure it doesn't spread. You can refer back to that photo in the future. I wish you the best.

 

[KentuckyRooster]

Soaking it is good. But it sounds like gangrene. We really need a photo if you can figure out how to get one posted to see if the toe has died, and what all is going on. If it is self limited gangrene the toe should fall off by itself but if not it will spread through the leg.

You need to get her on antibiotics ASAP. Do you have any on hand?

 

[KentuckyRooster]

Okay I see your post now. Part of that toe lives but part is dead. The skin is gangrenous that is black.

You need to do daily epsom salt soaks. That needs to be wrapped with a strong ointment on it at all times and cleaned after the soaks with alcohol. I like corona ointment, sold for horses. The stuff reeks and it softens dead stuff like this up really well. Vetricin is another excellent one. You can put the vetricin spray on, then the corona, then gauze and wrap it up.

You must get antibiotics on board. That's got pus in it.

What we hope will happen is the gangrene will stop spreading, and good skin will grow under and the dead will slough off, so she can keep the toe.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Soaking it is good. But it sounds like gangrene. We really need a photo if you can figure out how to get one posted to see if the toe has died, and what all is going on. If it is self limited gangrene the toe should fall off by itself but if not it will spread through the leg.

You need to get her on antibiotics ASAP. Do you have any on hand?

I was worried about amputation, but it sounds like it will sort itself out. X2 on the antibiotics.

 

[KentuckyRooster]

I was worried about amputation, but it sounds like it will sort itself out. X2 on the antibiotics.

It's too soon to make that call yet based on the photo. Give it a few days, see what develops. Yes, the chicken may loose the toe. But most of the toe is still alive it appears the gangrenous bit is skin mostly right now- it's still early on. That is good for the chicken. If it does not get better, then the toe may either die and fall off, or need to be removed.