Rescued baby from Feed Store, toe half torn off, what to do? *UPDATE*

[lilbreeches]

Ok here is a baby turken we got today. Me and the kids were in the feed store and one of the baby chicks in a huge bin of about 150 chicks had this little one by the toe and was dragging it around. My son finally got the bad chick to let go, it was determined to hang on, and we got the hurt baby out. The woman at the store said they were gonna kill it and my son had a fit. So, I bought it. Yeah, I had to buy it even though they were gonna kill it, but oh well. Anyway, it is eating and drinking, everything is ok except the end of its toe is literally hanging on by a bit of skin. What can I do to help it until it is better? I have babies hatching today and will have to put them in with it. What is safe to cover it's toe with so they won't pick at it?

 

[JennsPeeps]

Clean the wound with saline and pack it with neosporin. Don't put any ointments that have a painkiller - any ingredient that ends in -caine.

When you're done, you can put a small bandage on it. You might want to try the liquid skin stuff from the drug store.

If possible, you may just wish to cut off the toe with sterile scissors, since you waid it's hanging by a tiny piece of skin anyway.

Thank you for saving this baby. With a little TLC she will make it & have a productive, happy life. this is not a life-threatening injury.

 

[Judy]

I don't know how you would keep it covered well enough for a dressing to stay on to avoid its being pecked by others. Maybe a bandaid secured with a bunch of duct tape?????

 

[JennsPeeps]

You can cut the bandage part off a bandaid & sandwich the chick's foot between the 2 pieces.

Or you can use those dinky bandaids that come in the box and are never good for anything because they're too small for anything.

 

[lilbreeches]

I wondered about cutting the toe off. It is barely on there and I do not see any way it can heal back on. I just didn't want to hurt the little fella.

 

[thebritt]

I agree with Jennspeeps - I would take a sterile toenail clipper and cut off the toe. That would have the best chance of healing quickly. Just clean the toe 3 times/day and apply a little Neosporin-type ointment and it should be fine quite quickly (a couple days). Good luck.

 

[deenamr]

If you are certain that the toe is no longer attached by the bone you should cut it off. It will be fine I have a cockatiel and an Amazon parrot who are both missing toes and it has never been an issue.

Thank you for rescuing it.

 

[Patchesnposies]

One of my EE'er hens lost half a toe (that's her in my avatar with my son while she was inside convalescing) and I just cleaned it and bandaged it up. I kept her indoors and away from the rest of the flock until it healed so they wouldn't pester her.

She is doing great now. Thanks for taking this baby home-good on you!

Deb

 

[Pumpkinpup]

I too would remove the end of the toe and treat the stump as you would any other serious wound. It should be fine. I think perfaps I would keep the baby seperate for about two weeks and give it time to heal some before putting back with other babies it's age.
Good Luck

 

[lilbreeches]

ok i looked really close and it looks like the bone is still intact but no tissue at all is intact. What do I do? Should I go ahead and cut it off?