sicilian buttercup with broken spur

[pollitochicken]

Advice needed:

One of our two Sicilian Buttercups got her foot tangled in some chicken wire trying to jump over the fence yesterday.

After she was freed, her spur was bloody (the bleeding has since stopped) and "loose" the way a loose tooth feels. There is a small cut on the skin holding the spur in place, but other than that, the spur seems to be attached to the flesh, even if it's no longer anchored to the bone.

We cleaned the wound and put antibiotic ointment on it, but are wondering if the spur needs to be removed (either by us or by a vet), or if it will eventually just fall off by itself.

To be honest, the idea of removing the spur ourselves (as several threads on BYC have suggested for roosters in similar circumstances) is a little intimidating. But I don't want to pay a vet to do it if the spur will eventually fall off like a dead nail.

Thoughts on how to proceed? Any advice is welcome.

 

[sourland]

If the spur is only attached by a flap of skin, it could readily be removed with a pair of wire cutters. The blunt nature of the wire cutters should result in minimal bleeding. Conceivably if no longer attached it might 'dry up' and fall off or it might result in a constant irritation for your hen. Good luck at reaching a resolution.

 

[pollitochicken]

Thanks for the advice. She's still limping around, and we're trying to keep it clean. Still not sure if I'm up for the home extraction of the loose spur.

 

[sourland]

If it is just hanging on by a flap of skin, it will be quick and relatively painless. One person to hold the hen and another to carry out the procedure. You can do this!

 

[pollitochicken]

The problem is, I wouldn't say it's hanging on by a flap of skin. The spur is very much still attached to the SKIN, if not to whatever underlying bone or cartilage it used to be attached to beneath the skin.

In fact, maybe I'm making the wrong assumption here. Is the spur anchored in some sort of bone or cartilage? Or just held so firmly by skin?

My current plan of action is to encourage the cut in the skin to heal (we have cleaned it twice and used antibiotic ointment--without painkillers--and now have a bandage wrapped around that part of her foot/leg). My hope is that the spur with either firm up again (as the skin heals and/or the spur fuses back to whatever it's attached to underneath) or that it will fall off when it's ready.