Rooster toe problem?

[The Chickens' Maid]

Hi, I'm new here. My rooster, Spok, has had an odd shell sort of thing on the tip of his toe for a while now. It's been the same size, but it has caused a pocket of fluid just above it on the toe to appear twice. It doesn't smell. I can't figure out what it is, and it doesn't seem to be hurting him. I tried to pick some of it off. The skin underneath seemed to be mostly intact, but the casing also seemed to be attached to his toe is some places, kind of like bumblefoot. I didn't want to dig into it and risk hurting him. Please, could anyone help with ideas?

 

[Judy]

I don't know the answer but this will give you a bump. And a little more info would help: what did the fluid look like? Could it have been pus? Was it clear? Do you see any redness? Does he act like it hurts when you touch the area?

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Thanks for responding! The fluid is clear, and the foot was normal color. He was moderately sensitive about it, but not very much.
However, just this evening it came off. Disgusting! It was a little bloody, but it stopped quickly when I doctored it. It seemed to have been bleeding for a little while, he had scratched his head with that foot and there was some blood on the feathers. The flesh underneath the casing looked raw and a little eaten away around the toenail. There was no odor; it looked very pale, he seemed uncomfortable when I first saw him when I went out to feed. He brightened up a lot, though, while and after I bandaged his foot. I put antibiotic ointment on it with cotton and medical tape. Also, it was not like bumblefoot as I had thought before. No pus or clear fluid in the wound. I used peroxide on it, but only to clean off the dirt.
There is also a tiny piece of the casing still attached to the toe. I tried to gently take it off, but it wouldn't come out without taking some of the toe with it. I think that may be what happened to the top of the toe around the nail, but I am not sure as it still looked very eaten away. I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Here are the pictures; sorry I'm late with them.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Here's an update on the rooster's foot: the tip of the toe (the nail and the toe surrounding it) came off. It looked like it was going to come off for about a day or so; it was hanging by a thread. Nothing cut it off or anything like that, I think it was the infection. It's a pretty clean cut. No blood, pus, or fluid of any kind, and the cut has sealed up. We've been soaking his foot in warm, salty water and bandaging it as usual. The salt water does the job of the peroxide, so I don't have to use that to clean the dirt off anymore. The swelling in his toe has gone down after the first soaking. The toe is warm and difficult to bend. The rest of his foot seems to be fine so far. By his demeanor, you would think nothing was happening. I think he can feel the toe, but he is not especially sensitive about it. This may just be normal for him, though; he's not usually sensitive about cuts on his feet unless they're deep.
Oh, and we have some antibiotic powder that we used on another of our birds. If he needs it, we can separate him and give him this, but the infection has not (he's had it for a while) spread to the hens. I would rather not separate him if he doesn't need the antibiotic because he gets unhappy when he is away from his hens for too long.
Please, if anyone has any idea about what this could be, I'd appreciate it.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Oh boy that looks infected! Try to drain the wound and clean it. Put him on some antibiotics too.

 

[NotTheMomma]

In a person, we would call that cellulitis. Not sure if chickens have the same thing. Basically it's infection of the skin and that rooster should be on antibiotics with daily cleansing of the legs, in my opinion. I'd check for mites as well.

Best of luck!

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Thanks a lot for the replies!
Spok's doing much better, the swelling in his toe has gone down. The toe is bending easier and it is not as warm. We are still cleaning his legs with salt water and bandaging the toe. We've just started the antibiotic, he's such a good boy about it that we don't have to separate him! We mixed it with water so I just use a syringe to dribble it down his beak and he licks it up without fussing. The best thing is that the infection does not seem to be going into the rest of his foot. It's just confined to the toe.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Good news! We've been giving Spok the antibiotic for some time now, but the toe didn't look like it was getting better. At least it wasn't getting worse. We asked our neighbor who used to keep chickens, and he said that we should stop bandaging it now that it was no longer an open wound. We did that, while still giving him antibiotic, and his toe is now cooler, the tip (which was the problem spot) is now shrinking. Hopefully the dead (scab?) tissue will fall off soon. We're all very happy. Thanks for your help!

 

[NotTheMomma]

YAHOO!! This is the kind of update I love reading!

So glad that Spok is feeling much better, and doing so well!

Congratulations to yourself for being so deligent and catching this early enough to heal him. Well done and worth a pat on the back!

HUGGLES!