what is going on with this feather

[bossfrog]

my silkie chicken has curled toes and as a result walks on some of her foot feather follicles. was looking at her foot this morning, noticed a little fuzz that seemed out of place and pulled on it with tweezers and this monstrosity came out. is this how deep quills go? the bristly part at the end of it is the only thing that was showing above skin. its position in the second picture is approximately where I pulled it out. is it an ingrown feather? I'm starting therapy to get her foot back to normal soon, I put styptic and vetericyn and wrapped it so it should be okay, but what is it and how can I help her?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Probably just an embedded/extra long feather follicle.

 

[bossfrog]

should i pull any more if i find them? i don’t want them to get infected like an ingrown nail/hair

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I wouldn't necessarily pull them unless they seem to be really embedded or if there's pus/irritation around the follicle.

 

[bossfrog]

ok thanks! i’ll post pics of the affected foot when i unwrap it just for information’s sake

 

[Banana01]

No they will regrow feathers from that root. I sometimes trim feathers to above that root folicle and they grow back. Maybe pulling it is okay too, but not necessary.

 

[bossfrog]

well i forgot to take pictures of her foot- i’ll do it on sunday- but the feather cyst was still swollen today so i dug around a bit with clean tweezers and lo and behold, another nasty ingrown bigger than the first!! poor chicken. sprayed with vet spray and wrapped it again. wasn’t gonna pull any more but it looked inflamed so i figured it’s better to get it out than let it fester.