no emergency/HUGE toenail on ex batteryhen,some help required

[strangeanimal]

I honestly Never , NEVER EVER had to clip a chickens ' toenails so in the arrival from the new chickens I was kinda stunned today because these ex battery girls have first been living already in a yard and are pretty well taken care of , now I was kinda shocked to see that one of these has a HUGE toenail !
I mesured it really because this was like " woooooow how does she even manage to still scratch ???? " in total her toenail ( hopefully guiness recordbook reads this lol ) is , do all be prepared lol about 19.8cms Long !!!! wow my goodness ! ohm so how do you even start on that one ????
How can I cut her toenail back to normal ( dont say I need to take the chainsaw for this ? ) , ok to be serious here , she can still walk normal BUT I guess I just found out why this one refuses to climb up ramps , it further has not bothered her once but just for all safety and not only HER health but also the others it is best to get that large thing of back to a normal toe and again it shows how horrible her life has been in those desgusting cages ! shame shame ! I have never cutted a beak nor a toenail so how can I cut that one plse ?? and it is not only the issue of how to but also given the fact it is soooo long I do not think you can just cut it of in one time ??? really advice wanted so that I can take her out tonight and remove that nasty ugly thing ! I am far from an expert if it comes to this , I have clipped rabbitsteeth and so on but this ? no experience at all .
Thx in advance !!!

 

[apryl29]

I would do it like you do with a dog. There is a quik in their nail just like a dog or cat so you have to trim it back a little bit at a time.
I haven't done it personally Here's a link w/ some info about cutting chicken nails.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/trimming-your-chickens-nails-tutorial.64401/

 

[imnukensc]

If I had a chicken with a toenail nearly 8 inches long, I'd be calling the Guinness Book of World Records. I'd cut it back with a pair of side cutters/wire cutters. If it bleeds, slap some Super Glue on it.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I agree slow is better but with it being THAT long it may be impractical.
Doing it slowly the quick will shrink back a little. Then you can trim it again. And again, and again, and again.
I hate to say it because it sounds like torture but it may be better to just cut it off. It will hurt. It will bleed. But if you got it down to half that size in one fell swoop you could then go slow after that.
Be prepared with styptic powder or even super glue to stop the bleeding. It's a risk but may be easier on both on you in the long run.

 

[strangeanimal]

omg are you sure that she is going to bleed and be in pain ? no way , that is not good ! maybe I should wait or let someone else do this ... because they are so new and secondly I always start to shake if I know it is going to hurt and odd enough I only can do this with clients in the vetpractice , if I knew it will hurt , so now it shall be his turn to help me out , that way it is atleast done proper as I never did this before and HATE it when a creature has to suffer from it ... I did not even know that their toenails would bleed , stupid eggindustry !!! Ever since I see these chickens ? you guys dont have to think about me buying chicken anymore ,yikes no thanks

 

[strangeanimal]

I would do it like you do with a dog. There is a quik in their nail just like a dog or cat so you have to trim it back a little bit at a time.
I haven't done it personally Here's a link w/ some info about cutting chicken nails.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/trimming-your-chickens-nails-tutorial.64401/

yeah I got like this special clipper for the cat her nails but if it is gonna hurt ? I let a friend who is a vet do this , poor chicken ! she even has a crossbeak too and it is cut so badly she has issues drinking but when that one pecks feed out of the hand ? you will wear like superthick gloves !
thanks everyone for the replies , I gotta take a picture of the creature ! I'll take a close up by tomorrow from her in total and the nice looking nail , shoud add nailpolish !

O did like to mention this too : baking soda works better to stop bleeding , safer and even fast ! but you need a lot from it

 

[BantyChooks]

I want to see a picture of this monster nail.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

If you cut the kwik it will bleed. Just like a dog or cat. If you have someone in a vet practice that can help you get the help.
My suggestion of doing it the way I said was because she's an ex battery hen. I'm sure she's not used to be handled and doesn't like it.
Repeated attempts at trimming her nail would be stressful.

It's generally not life threating to cut the kwik. It happens on accident all the time.