My rooster has a black, broken claw and swollen toe.

[sylviethecochin]

So I've had Chester for a little less than five years, and this winter, he ran off to join the neighbor's flock. We thought a coon got him (one of our pullets was taken by a coon a week earlier) so we didn't look too hard.

Apparently, the neighbors took about as much care as you'd expect of an elderly, non-laying chicken, and Chester finally decided to return for some feed tonight, just when I happened to be closing the coop door. I promptly captured him and found that he was absolutely infested with mites. One bath later, I was going over him with a blow-dryer and noticed that Chester's back claw on his right foot was broken off right where the skin ends.

The claw is broken off flush with the skin. The end of the claw is black. The skin around the claw and toe is pinker than normal, and the toe is swollen to about twice normal size. The swelling does not appear to extend anywhere else, and the toe is not warm to the touch. It feels solid.

I'll post pictures later, but I would really appreciate some suggestions on causes and possible cures.

 

[Emojikitten]

I am so sorry! Honestly, I've never had this happen to one of my chickens beacause they are still small and my place is fenced in. What I would do is wrap it in a little cast for now, and then try to find a local vet (must have help for chickens too) They'll know what to do!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @sylviethecochin

Photos will be helpful

I hope the bath took care of most of the mites, but you may want to consider treating with a permethrin based poultry spray or dust as well.

There's no way to know what happened to the toe - hopefully the photos will give us a clue. Injury and frostbite are a couple of common causes of for foot problems. Take a look at the bottom of the foot to see if there is a noticeable scab.

General treatment for foot issues would be to soak in epsom salts to help reduce inflammation and hopefully heal. Depending on what it looks like, using something like Tricide Neo to help with infection may be in order.

Keep us posted.


http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1151513/pesticides-approved-for-poultry

 

[sylviethecochin]

Still no pictures--but I mis-wrote the problem. The claw is broken off, not the toe. Sorry about that. The toe is swollen to twice normal size.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I am so sorry! Honestly, I've never had this happen to one of my chickens beacause they are still small and my place is fenced in. What I would do is wrap it in a little cast for now, and then try to find a local vet (must have help for chickens too) They'll know what to do!

I would love to take Chester to a vet. However, I live on a working farm, and none of the vets in my area 'do' chickens. I'd have to drive upwards of two hundred miles, pay upwards of a fifty dollar exotic fee, and probably get an antibiotic that I could have gotten at TSC. All for a five year-old Rhode Island Red rooster when I already have two young, healthy roosters who aren't likely to infect my flock with odd diseases from the neighbors. Chester's my baby boy, but he's not worth an eighty dollar vet fee.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Still no pictures--but I mis-wrote the problem. The claw is broken off, not the toe. Sorry about that. The toe is swollen to twice normal size.

LOL

A broken claw could introduce bacteria which would cause infection. Course of treatment would still be soaking, but it depends on how much swelling/infection there is. You may need to administer some Penicillin along with the soakings to see some results.

 

[sylviethecochin]

LOL

A broken claw could introduce bacteria which would cause infection. Course of treatment would still be soaking, but it depends on how much swelling/infection there is. You may need to administer some Penicillin along with the soakings to see some results.

Thank you. I treated him this morning with a corona hoof ointment and a brief salt soak.

I've heard that you can use 0.25 cc of penicillin g for four days in succession, injected into the breast muscle, but we've always injected penicillin subcutaneously. Any reasons why one would be more effective than the other?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you. I treated him this morning with a corona hoof ointment and a brief salt soak.

I've heard that you can use 0.25 cc of penicillin g for four days in succession, injected into the breast muscle, but we've always injected penicillin subcutaneously. Any reasons why one would be more effective than the other?

0.25cc for 4 days is correct from my notes. I had to look up any reason why you couldn't give SQ - looks like you can if that's the preferred method of administration.

I found this for you - it's #10
https://sites.google.com/a/poultryp...oultry-podiatry#chickens_penicillin_injection

""" Give injection, following instructions in previous "Give Injection" section.

• Giving intramuscularly will get medicine circulating in system soonest and is often recommended for Penicillin. Alternatively, you can choose to give subcutaneously. Don't give in vein.
  • Intramuscular Penicillin injections sting a lot for people, cats, and some other animals, but do not seem to for chickens, though they may cause soreness."""

 

[sylviethecochin]

And here are pictures, finally!

Chester.

Toe (middle-end and back toe) are definitely swollen. The foot is also a little swollen now, and pinker.

Pay no mid to the baler-twine tied around his foot. I used it as for a lead to let him out during the day, since there's no guarantee that he won't run off again, and because I can't confine him the the chicken run.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for the photos.

He's handsome and looks to be in pretty good shape to have been visiting the neighbors for such a long time

My guess would be he broke or hung up his nail on something and it pulled off. This allow bacteria to enter, resulting in infection.

You've cleaned the foot very well. It would be up to you to decide what method of treatment to try. Penicillin along with daily soaks of epsom salts may take care of it or just soaking daily in Tricide Neo may do the trick. It may come to having to do some probing, but if you can get away with a "non-invasive" method it would probably be best and less stressful for him.