no toenails

[brigitte41]

Hi,

one of my Buff Orpington hens has no toenails on her middle toes, i have 11 of the same hatch and shes the only one with this. i was wondering if this is common and genetic. anyone know?

brigitte

 

[HS Pye]

I had the same problem once. She was probably overcrowded before you got her and another chick/s kept pecking at her toes. It isn't super common but does still happen, no genetic problems that I've heard of could possibly cause this.

HS Pye

 

[kstavert]

Hi,

one of my Buff Orpington hens has no toenails on her middle toes, i have 11 of the same hatch and shes the only one with this. i was wondering if this is common and genetic. anyone know?

brigitte

I don't know about Buffs....

I have NH Reds and Red and
Black Sex Links and many of
them are missing toe nails..

doesn't seem to hinder them in
any way...

 

[MamaCinCB]

I've been looking ALL OVER the web for the same problem with a Buff Orp rooster. I thought maybe the hatchery removed the middle toenails for some kind of safety reason or something. He's now 2 years old and has NO toenails. None of my other birds have had an issue until I noticed today. I hatched 2 chicks this summer that are his offspring. Both are male, not full bred. Today I noticed that one of them is missing a toenail on each foot.

While digging around, I've seen others mention the same issue, all with buff orps. I have had buff orps before, but never noticed missing toenails (doesn't mean I was paying much attention though). I'm wondering if it is a genetic/breed defect myself?

Did you ever get any answers anywhere else?

 

[lazy gardener]

I would guess that it's genetic. Especially since both of his sons are showing the same issue. A missing toe nail is not going to drastically affect his quality of life. However, a lot of genetic traits show up in a cluster of issues, so it might make me want to look very closely to see if there is anything else amiss with these roos. Are there any females who hatched from the same breeding, and if so, to they show the same trait?

 

[MamaCinCB]

No other offspring. I let a broody sit 3 eggs. She kicked one out, and I only have the 2 from him. Only one of them is missing toenails. But don't you think its peculiar they start out missing the middle one on each foot and then the big guy lost all his toenails altogether? I never saw any bleeding or scabbing - no apparent injury. He just had nice clean round toes with no nails. WIERD!

I considered maybe it was from frost bite. He lost the top tips of his comb last winter in an exceptionally brutal winter, but his feet seem otherwise healthy aside from the missing toenails - and besides, I'm pretty sure I noticed his first 2 missing nails as a chick not too awful long after I got him.

I suppose the hens won't mind him missing his toenails! He doesn't seem to have a problem taking care of business without them!

 

[lazy gardener]

You might want to keep him out of the gene pool!