One of our little Silkie hens has a toe that looks like it is partially cut off. The only thing we can think of that happened is she got it caught in the fence. The toe looks swollen of course and yukky. We put her in some warm water to clean the dirt out of it. What can we put on it or do to it to hold it together. Will it grow back together?
The cut looks like it is down to the bone, is it? what will happen depends on if there is still tissue enough connected at the back to support blood flow to the tip of the toe. If there is then there is a chance it will heal back together. If this is the case, you need to pack it full of neosporin or other antibiotic and then wrap it with gauze and then tape to keep it stable and CLEAN. Clean is the most important thing. Have you removed her from the others? Never use full stregnth peroxide to clean it out, but diluted would be good before you pack and bandage
If there is not enough tissue still connected, then the tip of the toe needs to be amputated so gangreen does not set in. Personaly, I use sterilized garden or kitchen shears for light amputations, but then I've rehabbed for years and am probably not as squeemish as most. There should be a vet around that would look at it and treat it, but depending on how much your chickens mean to you (pets or poultry) it could get expensive... If it is amputated, load it with neo and bandage to keep clean and dry. Check and change it daily. As for an oral antibiotic, it depends on how long it happened before you found her. I usually wait to see if there is a need for it before I give anything antibiotics.
I hope someone else has some better advice! Good luck with her.
Ouch! That looks like it hurts. I personally would amputate it. She won't be any the less the beauty with out it. Hay.
I think it needs to come off. My husband said it looks like it is all the way through the bone and only held on by the meat and skin underneath. We did put a bandage around it today and seperated her from the other Silkies. Tomorrow we will take off the bandage and check if there is any tissue like you say and if not take it off. I need to get neosprin though, I'm out. Thanks for the info jylgaskin.
And yes Hay, it does look painful and is painful to look at. Poor little Silkie
Thankfully, birds do not have the same pain sensors in their feet as we do. That's how they can walk in snow or ice cold water.
That's good to know. I'll be sure to tell my kids because I know they are going to be thinking the poor thing will be in excruciating pain.
We so far have not taken the tip of the toe off. It is warm and seems to have life so we have just cleaned and put neosporin on it and wrapped it. This morning we soaked it in a mild peroxide solution and wrapped her up again. So far no signs of infection, hope we are getting all the dirt out.
I sure hope it work. Glad the baby isn't feeling pain in it
We have had plenty of chickens loose their toe tips to frostbite. They do not seem the worse for it. As long as you keep it clean as already suggested, that should prevent infection and she should be just fine. Keep us updated!
Something very similar happened to one of my silkie roosters in the past fall, I don't know how it happened, but we clipped it with nail clippers and with naut her in the tub with warm water and peroxide for a week... it grew back.
-joe-
It grew back like reptile limbs?? Wow
