rooster with bum foot

[Amastacia]

i recently noticed that my almost-11 month old Polish rooster has an issue with his foot. now that i'm starting to let them out of the coop, i can see that he is limping and favoring that foot. it does seem to be getting worse, but when he is in the coop it didn't seem to be a problem.




as you can see, his one toe is swollen at the end. i also noticed that most of his nails are broken and messed up.

any suggestions for what i should do about the swollen toe? and any idea why his nails are all messed up and what i can do about that?


and on a complete side note, look at those little spurs he's got growing in already! was not expecting that...

 

[Amastacia]

a new bit of detail i just noticed. it has gotten a bit worse than in the pics. the tip of the toe is now about to fall off. i'm pretty sure there is no way to save it, i just want to save the bird. the tip is at about a 90 degree angle to the rest of the toe and only attached by a thin bit of something near the middle. it is definitely hurting him worse, he is mostly just laying out in the yard rather than walking around with the hens. any advice would be great.

thanks

 

[Janet Pesaturo]

I would say either frostbite or injury caused this problem. What has the weather been like where you live, and what is their living situation like (litter? moisture in coop?)? Could he have injured his toes in some way? I don't think it was toe picking, because the lesions appear to be on the undersides of the toes.

 

[Amastacia]

until this month it has been ridiculously cold and wet, and i know i went longer than i should have without cleaning out the coop, but i really couldn't get my wheelbarrow out of the barn to do it. i am inclined to suspect it is frostbite, which makes me feel terrible since that is something i could theoretically prevented.

i suppose the important question is what do i do now to take care of the toe and make sure he doesn't get any worse. the tip is still hanging on, and the swelling isn't getting any worse, but he is still limping pretty badly.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree that it looks like the tips of the toes were frostbitten. Spraying with BluKote or applying Betadine or iodine would help to dry them out and prevent infection. Aspirin 80 mg low dose or baby aspiring twice a day could help the pain. Here is a picture of another chicken with frostbite on toes to show the swelling above the dark tips: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/504492/swollen-legs-frostbite-losing-toes