Damaged foot - Bleeding!

[mandyballantyne]

Hi All,

Can anyone help??

one of my girls rings was cutting into her leg so we removed it but her rear toe? was severed and has now come off and her foot is bleeding.

Should I try to bandage it or is this one for a vet? I have cleaned and used anticeptic but she is not happy.

Thanks, Mandy

[RedThorn]

Ouch poor girl! My gut would have said take to the vet, but as the "rear toe" is severed (I'm assuming completely detached), besides keeping it clean and bandaged, the only thing a vet will be able to do is give antibiotics....

Perhaps salt water baths a few times a day for the affected foot would also help?

[Bramble-Poultry]

The ususal as with humans - clean the affected site and apply pressure to stem the bleeding.

Iodine will stop the bleeding if you can;t stop it any other way, this will also help with any infection.

If it is infected then its a vet job to get antibiotics, however if it isn't then use wound powder or other similar product, or even iodine spray if you have it. Tea tree is a great antiseptic but will really bloody sting on an open cut. You can try to bandage it or sticky plaster it but I will place money on her having it off in no time.

Keep it clean and antiseptic applied and you should be fine - any sign of infection down to the vet, it will heal itself in a couple of days anyway, she will probably be grumpy for a day or 2 as it will be tender but apart from that should suffer no ill effects.

[mandyballantyne]

Hi Folks,

Yes Red Thorn, completley off! Gave me quite a scare.

Bleeding has stopped and all are now in the coop with no one pecking etc.

It seems clean and I have treated her, will give salt bath and tea tree (thanks Bramble Poultry) ago and will go to vet first thing Monday if it looks at all infected. She gets handled loads so this should help with treatments.

Thanks for your help, Mandy

[RedThorn]

Here's hoping things keep go well and that there'll be no infections going forward

[Bramble-Poultry]

Hopefully she will be fine as long as its clean and no ones pecking she will be ok

No need for a costly vet trip if you don;t need one.

[mandyballantyne]

Thanks again both of you, I just felt so worried about her

If she needs a vet she will get one, I just cant believe those little rings are made off metal! I had not looked at them before I just (wrongly) assumed they were rubber. Poor girl must have been sore for a few days

Any new additions will be having rings removed as soon as they get home.

Mandy

[Bramble-Poultry]

we have had birds come in with missing toes before all healed over, so it is possible. we have also had some birds when they come in with their feet clarted up with crud and straw. set like concrete and when you remove it, sometimes there is an infection underneath all that lot and you invariably take the toe nail with it. Styptic powder, wound powder or even corn flour at a push, will help coagulate the bleeding.

keep it clean, and most importantly keep the litter on the floor clean as otherwise she will walk dirt up into the wound. ive her a few days and all is well. I am used to foot injuries as (as jennie will tell you) one of my "fetishes" when we get rescue birds in is to give them a full MOT, which includes foot cleaning, delousing, de-miting, scaly leg cleaning (inc removal of hard crusts) removal of balls fo crud cemented into the feet etc.

I often feel that the whole thing is a stress for the bird, so might as well get it all over and done with in on go, then they can have 3 - 4 days of purely obs, before i go back and check again. This way they get chance to settle.

we see all sorts here when it comes to foot injuries, so dont pain, the vet will probably tell you to keep it dry, keep it clean, change the litter and and pay him £40 for the privelidge of giving you a large dose of common sense!

keep in touch, speak soon

Mike

[mandyballantyne]

Hi Mike,


Thanks again for your help and reasurrance, my girls all come from a free range place and I get the old girls who are 'past there best' so have seen a few missing toe nails. I just paniced because it was the whole rear toe!

Today she is back to her usual self, if hobbeling a little. I clean there shed daily anyway so that should be fine. She has th erun of the garden so earth may be a problem but at least it is dry here at last.

I will clean it twice daily and keep a close eye on her, the bleeding stopped last night and the others were not bothering her. ( I have put off picking up new girls till next week though)

I have just started a new job, supplying vets with drugs so I might see if I can pick up some antibiotics tomorrow just in case.

Mandy

[RedThorn]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that she's on the mend! Please keep a running diary on here so we can see how she gets on

[its hilly]

I use Summer Fly Cream (developed for cows udders) on neds, is bright yellow and flys hate it plus antiseptic, does anyone know if you can use it on chooks? Mike???

[mandyballantyne]

Quick update and word of warning!!

Thanks again for all of your replies, Rio is back to normal and managing fine even minus a toe! The salt baths have kept out any infections and she is now ruling the roost again.

Word of warning though for anyone rehoming. !!!!!!!!

Picked up some new girls on Sunday, from a freind who has free range. New girls very skittish but starting to settle in. Had a good look over them today and one of them has the same metal ring on which again is completley through the leg She seems ok for now so will have to cut it out/off at the weekend when there is more light and hopefuly she will be less stressed than when she arrived on Sunday.

These bands look like plastic but have metal enclosed ......Please check your girls!!!!!!

Mandy

[RedThorn]

good to hear she's back to her usual self! Fingers crossed that ring comes off with no hassles or further trauma!

[Bramble-Poultry]

Happy shes doing fine, I always remove the rings when they get here - I rarely use rings, no real need - I have a Charlotte she knows all of the hens visually and can tell you their names - personally I have no clue except for a distinct few but they all just merge into one big mass of birds

[RedThorn]

lol and I bet you get told off too if you make a mistake!