Pullet with injured/broken(?) toe

[mcshamerock]

I'm a new chicken owner, this is our first batch. I'm very concerned for our girl. I hope you'll forgive the clinical nature of this post, I just want to get all the information out there and didn't want to start with a vague post. So here it is:

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
She's an Easter Egger, about 8-10 weeks old

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Her middle toe is bent at the base, and running alongside one of her other toes. She keeps lifting and replacing her foot as though she is trying to straighten out the toe and make it sit right. She has been walking slowly but when I tossed in the corn, she got going pretty fast. She also flew up to her roost and back down a few times. She seems stressed but not miserable. Even as my husband was (gently) feeling her foot to see if it felt broken or just dislocated, she wasn't super-uncomfortable.

3) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
answered above, plus some damaged feathers but wings seem fine, no blood.

4) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
About 5 hours ago, dog got in our yard and cornered her.

5) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She normally has grow mash and pickings from our garden (she especially loves cabbage) as well as free-ranging in the yard for a few hours a day. Since the incident she has had the mash and also some fresh corn, she has been eating but not with quite as much zeal. She has been drinking water.

6) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Normal poop so far

7) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
After browsing your site, we borrowed the advice given earlier posters to splint the toe with a popsicle stick. It is now sitting correctly but she is still lifting and replacing it, standing on one leg or simply sitting down most of the time.

8 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
We would like to treat her as much as possible ourselves but only if the care she needs is within our abilities.

9) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I'm sorry I don't have a picture.

10) Describe the housing/bedding in use
She lives in an outdoor coop with straw bedding.

 

[Judy]

You might have more success with a piece of lightweight cardboard and duct tape. Put the foot on the cardboard in the correct position and wrap with the tape.

She is still going to walk "funny" with this, or any splint. She may need separating if the others start picking on her, til you can get the splint off. Was she walking oddly before you splinted it, or is it the result of splinting?

I have a roo with a toe that is bent sideways. It has never bothered him. Actually, he is the head roo.

 

[mcshamerock]

Thanks so much for your reply.

Before this incident (the dog had her pinned down), I never noticed anything unusual about her foot and she certainly never fussed with her foot the way she is now. That is to say, she starting walking funny once she was hurt and since the splinting, it's been the same.

Just to clarify, we should tape down the whole foot?

So far, the rest of the flock are treating her fine.

Again, I really really appreciate your advice. We are the only chicken owner we know!

 

[Matt A NC]

Splinting it will simply help it heal straight. Other then that it should heal just fine with time.

Oh, and taping it up with other toes just helps support the toe.

There is not really much else to do. Just watch for infection, but since the skin is not broken that shouldn't be a problem. It may take her a good day to get over the shock of being attacked, but should most likely be back to normal tomorrow(except the toe).

It will take several weeks to heal. In about 2-3 weeks the splint will no longer be needed, but she will probably still favor the foot for a couple weeks after that.

I had a grown Welsummer hen that broke her middle toe up in her foot. I made her a sort of boot with pipe cleaners and med-tape. She ended up with a permanent nodule where the break was, but recovered just fine.

Matt