Pullet with badly broken toes....

[Nohoka]

The pullet we thought had bumble foot actually has badly broken toes

What is the best way to treat them? We have removed the scabs and washed her foot with epsom salts. We applied polysporin and wrapped them with vet wrap. The bones are showing through the flesh. We wrapped the two toes individually and then together for support. My husband is wondering if we should let them go and hope they heal or amputate them? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Judy]

The fractures will never heal with the bone coming through the flesh. Do you mean you can see bone, or the bone is through the skin? If you can just see a bit of bone and the skin can grow over it, she may be OK.

Good luck.

 

[Nohoka]

You can see the bone but it's not sharp or poking through the skin, it's an open wound where the break is. It had a black scab over it. It bled when we removed the scab. The flesh under the scab looks healthy to me. We removed all the scab, cleaned the wound and put polysporin on it. We are also giving her anitbiotics. She was very quiet while we worked on it. Poor girl, we have no idea what happened, they free-range so it's hard to say what she got into. We're going to keep her in a holding cage seperate from the rest so they don't pick on her. We bought purple vet wrap but they're still attracked to it.

 

[Judy]

Ah, well then, let's hope she comes through well. Sounds like you are taking good care of her.

If she forms another scab, though, I'd leave it alone, just protect it this time, since the wound has been cleaned now.

Best of luck.

 

[drumstick diva]

poor thing, somebody or something must have stepped on her toes. If it was a mousetrap, it would have still be stuck to her.

 

[Judy]

Mine have had a few foot injuries, nothing that serious but enough that the others started pecking the blood. I was amazed at how fast they healed. In one case, I was able to return the bird to the flock with no further pecking in about 8 hours.