my sweetest chicken has hurt toe, what do I do?

[dontknownothn]

I have a chicken with a hurt toe. It is red, and other chickens are pecking it. She is pecking too. I separated her and she seems very stressed about being away from the other chickens. The rooster is crowing at the door that separates them.

How do I treat this wound?

dontknownothn

 

[Judy]

BluKote is a handy product to have. It turns things purple and is an antiseptic. The color hides the red therefore discourages pecking. Unfortunately it seems to work better with some chickens than others, but has worked for me.

You really don't have to do much if anything to minor wounds. A little soap and water and any antiseptic or antibiotic ointment are fine, whether sold for people or other animals. Just be sure there is no "caine" drug in it, such as cetacaine or benzocaine. Of course with a foot, a clean area is a good idea. You might have to try a bandaid since she is pecking it; usually ou don't try to dress a chicken's wound. She will try to peck the Bandaid off, of course. Maybe tape it on with a bit of duct tape so it will at least take longer.

If you can figure out a way to keep her and the others from pecking it, they don't need to be separated. Fortunately thse things heal remarkably fast. i once separated one with a bloody toe for much the same reason. I separated her in the morning and it was healed (not visible) enogh by evening to put her back. You could also try one of the others in with her, maybe even the rooster. They are often quite nurturing.

 

[RedDrgn]

I'm guessing from your description of the pecking that the wound in on top of the toe and readily visible?

If so, clean it thoroughly with warm, soapy water; scrub gently and get all visible dirt out of the wound. Rinse well and apply iodine and/or a triple antibiotic ointment (with NO painkiller/numbing agents; they can kill your chicken). Put a clean sterile pad (you can find this for cheap at any local pharmacy and it can be cut to size), and then wrap with vet wrap (you can find this at TSC and most agricultural supply stores in the vet/med section); wrap only tight enough to keep the pad in place and wound covered, but not so tight as to restrict circulation. Then set her loose with everyone again. I'd check it in two days and if it shows no signs of infection, it should be scabbed over/closed well enough to just rewrap in vet wrap, without a pad, to keep curious beaks at bay until fully healed.

 

[dontknownothn]

Hey Reddragon and Flockwatcher, thank you sooo much for your quick advice! I got the Blukote. I have her separated. I put and antibiotic on it right away. It did have pain killer in it. I washed it all off, but I'm pretty sure she pecked at it after. She seems fine though. I hope I didn't poison her.

My chickens are 2 months old, so I'm not really sure which are the rooster yet. I have my guesses, but not sure. Should I grab the one who was crowing at the door when I separated them? If he's crowing, I assume it's a rooster. Will the flock pick on her when we put her back if she is separated from them for too long?

 

[dontknownothn]

I got blukote, separated her for two days. She stills favors that foot, but I don't see any blood. But, when I put her back with the flock they peck at her pretty bad. The blukote makes it really hard to see the condition of the wound, but if they are still pecking her, I assume it's not healed. I'm afraid to leave her with the flock, but can't keep her separated forever either. I'm a little frustrated.

 

[dontknownothn]

Now when I hold the hurt foot, it's warm and the other foot is clearly colder. I am going to take her to the vet tomorrow. Is there something I can buy at Farm and Family in the mean time, like and antibiotic for her to ingest? Man, I gotta tell ya', I'm a little sorry my husband gave in to the, "oh daddy, can we get chickens?!!"

 

[RedDrgn]

Now when I hold the hurt foot, it's warm and the other foot is clearly colder. I am going to take her to the vet tomorrow. Is there something I can buy at Farm and Family in the mean time, like and antibiotic for her to ingest? Man, I gotta tell ya', I'm a little sorry my husband gave in to the, "oh daddy, can we get chickens?!!"

It sounds like the wound may be infected. When chickens get foot wounds, it's not uncommon for them to get a staph infection as a result, which typically occurs on the bottom of the foot (look up bumble foot). Oral/injected antibiotics usually are not very effective at treating these foot infections, especially if they are deep or well established and it is never advised to blindly shoot in the dark when it comes to choosing an antibiotic; not all antibiotics are created equal and misuse of any can create antibiotic resistent infectious agents and cause a lot more harm than good.

Like I recommended before, if they won't stop picking a wound, treat it like a cut on your own hand and make a banadage with a sterile pad and vet wrap; vet wrap adheres to itself and is extremely chicken resilient; I'm using it as the binding agent for a splint on my rooster's broken toe at the moment and have used it extensively for various foot wounds/infections in the past.

However, if the foot is hot and you don't see what the issue is or don't want to perform the foot surgery (e.g. cut foot open and drain infection, etc. if that's the problem), then your plan to go to vet is an excellent one and they should be able to help and direct you on care after treatment. Hope you get it taken care of and try to be patient! Chickens are easier to keep than it probably seems right now.

 

[dontknownothn]

Thank you for your reply. I went and purchased something to use to wrap the foot. I still have her separated from the flock though. I also read about bumble foot on this sight, but the foot isn't swollen, and there's no black spot on the bottom of her foot. Now both feet seem to be the same temperature. They're hotter than my hand, but I don't know if that means they're too hot for normal chicken temp. She's eating and she drank some water. She's alert. I may still take her to the vet though.

A gentleman at the store (another chicken owner) said the flock has singled her out as the weakest and will probably kill her. He said we should probably just put her down ourselves. I read the ideas for bullying on this sight. I will try that first. What if I gave away the chickens that seem to be the most aggressive, and only kept those that behave more docile? I know we have multiple breeds. I'm a teacher, and one of the 1st grade teachers got the eggs from a farmer friend and hatched them in the classroom. He gave her eggs from multiple hens. I read some breeds are more docile than others. I've read they may be bored. If I let them free range they will be less likely to act like this. I'm pretty nervous about predators though. We live in the woods and have coyotes, hawks, etc.. I would also like to keep my garden, but they may have plenty to occupy them with just our grass. Do you think I should try that?

I really do appreciate you taking the time to give me advice. I haven't got a clue what I'm doing.

 

[nab58]

free ranging really does keep them occupied. Was the chicken with the infected toe always picked on or did it just start when the toe was injured? If it just started when the injury happened, try getting the infection healed before giving away your chickens.
I've never dealt with an injury as mine are just 13 weeks but I've read here that chickens can recover incredibly fast from am injury with just some cleaning and bandaging. Good luck!

 

[dontknownothn]

We let her sleep with the flock last night. She seems to be much better. I wonder if now it's just an issue of being singled out by the flock? I read about bullies, and took out the biggest 2 bullies in the flock. I read that they will loose their status when I let them back with the flock. I let one back in with the flock when I let them out this morning, but kept the worst one separate. I have also read that you don't want to have too many roosters. I have 11 chickens. Though I can't be sure yet which is a rooster, from behavior, it seems like I may have 4 or 5 hens tops and the rest are roosters. I think first of all, we have too many chickens for our space (and experience), and definitely too many roosters.

I thought of the free ranging idea to keep them less bored. But I think our first issue may be too many roosters. I also tried to learn if there's any way to keep them out of your garden besides a big fence (which we don't have), and it doesn't look like you can keep them from eating anything. They have a pretty big outdoor area, but maybe not for 11 and potentially 6 roosters.

Outside of killing the ones I don't want to keep, any suggestions on how I can find people who may want them?