Properly treating foot injuries in chickens is very important. Cleaning wounds and a bumble foot treatment plan should be started promptly. The chicken may not eat or drink enough if it has a foot injury. This will weaken the bird and could lead to infection and death
A good habit to get into is looking at each one of your animals every day. Learning on the homestead never stops. Every day there is a new issue to resolve or roadblock to scale. Knowing all of your animals, and what is normal behavior for each one, is important and can make a difference in their health or even survival. Keeping a good first aid kit helps you start a bumble foot treatment or clean an injury promptly.
Weird things can happen on a farm, especially when you throw animals into the mix. You may think your fences are pig tight, horse high, and bull strong, you may think that you have built the most secure pen or made the enclosed area extremely safe, but there is always that animal who manages to thwart your best efforts at keeping them safe and secure.
Most of the animal keepers I know just seem to have a sense of when things just aren’t right. For me, without even consciously thinking about it, I take a head count so to speak. I know my animals habits, behaviors, who hangs out with who, that sort of thing. And here is another example of why this is an important habit to get into.
Finding Foot Injuries in Chickens
One evening, I noticed that Mr.Tweet was not walking normally. I went to pick him up and instead of trying to run away he just waited for me to lift him up. Animals know when they need help. This is what I found.
At first glance I was not sure if it was a wire or thread, but it turned out to be a long shredded piece of plastic from one of the shade covers over the run. It had probably only been on Mr.Tweet’s feet for that day. He had been acting normally the night before and had no signs of being picked on by the flock. But, in that short time, he had managed to wrap the thread of plastic very tightly around his feet and individual toes. This was going to take a few minutes to untangle.
Mr. Tweet and I left the coop area to get some help and to find some scissors.
Not As Bad As Expected
We soon had Mr. Tweet’s feet free from the tangled mess. The plastic had tightened so much in some areas that it was hard to get the scissors in to make a cut.
There was some mild swelling on some parts of his feet but nothing serious. I sprayed his feet with Vetrycin Wound Spray just to be safe. Having a good general purpose antiseptic spray on hand is the first step in treating foot injuries in chickens, or any wound for that matter. I am keeping a closer eye on his feet for now to make sure an abscess is not forming from the tight bands of plastic. I had a feeling he was a little hungry and thirsty since he was not able to run around freely as usual. So I gave him some time with just a few of the hens and some fresh food and water to enjoy without any of the alpha personalities being present.
Soon, he was enjoying the freedom of movement and was acting normally. He seemed ready to head in for the night so we put everyone to bed. In the morning, there were no further issues from the foot entanglement. We are keeping a close eye on his feet to make sure any small cut we may have missed, does not become infected.
Other Foot Injuries in Chickens
Bumble foot
Bumble foot is a staph infection of the foot. One of the first signs of this will be the chicken not willing to put it’s foot down or put pressure on the foot while walking. It may walk around a lot less or be hopping around on one leg. Mine often become depressed and just sit in one spot, in the cases I have had to treat. Bumble foot treatment is a specialized treatment plan and requires a good antiseptic wash, and antibiotic cream and lots of gauze and vet wrap to keep it clean.
Educate First
I suggest you find a few videos or articles on Bumble foot treatment before starting treatment. I have described our treatment plan in this article. Everyone has a slightly different method of removing the infection. The end result should be a removal of the abscess causing the pain, and a well healed chicken foot.
(it’s hard to get a good picture of a bumble foot treatment when you are also holding the chicken!)
Splay Leg in Chicks
Splay leg or spraddle leg in chicks can often be repaired. There are a lot of videos on the internet with directions to make splints, and bandages to secure the legs while the hip joints grow. I liked this out of the box idea from The 104 Homestead using a drinking glass.
Another hatching issue causing foot injuries in chickens is crooked or bent toes at hatching. Forming a small support from a pipe cleaner and securing it to the chick’s foot is often suggested. Both Splay Leg and crooked toes can often be fixed and the chick will grow normally.
Scaly Leg Mites
The tiny mite, Cnemidocoptes Mutans, is the cause behind scaly leg mite. You will first notice that the scales on your birds feet look raised. This escalates until the foot and leg are covered in raised scales and white dusty patches. The mite harbors in the damp chicken litter or bedding and burrows into the wood of the roost bars, waiting for a nice soft chicken foot to happen by.
Treatment involves soaking the feet and legs, loosening the scales with a soft brush, and coating the legs and feet in coconut oil or olive oil a few times a week for four weeks. Dust bathes with added wood ash help eliminate scaley leg mites too. You can read more about treating scaly leg mites in this post.
Overgrown Spurs
Now, you might wonder how I could possibly miss this issue. Aren’t spurs fairly visible? Most times the answer is yes, the intimidating spurs are very apparent. However, some of our Brahma and Cochin roosters have had heavily feathered bodies and legs. The spurs have grown undetected until they are interfering with natural walking for the bird.
When spurs need to be trimmed, grab some garden pruners or hoof trimmer shears. Work slowly taking off small increments of the spur at a time. The closer you get to the leg, the closer you also are to the quick. If you cut the quick, bleeding will occur. It is always good to have a blood stop powder ready. See more on that in the next section.
With light colored chicken legs, the “live” portion of the spur is easier to see. I take small portions off at time, so that the spur no longer hampers walking. If additional trims are needed, repeat in a few days.
Broken Toes and Toenail Injuries
Broken toes may need to be splinted. A pipe cleaner, vet wrap and electric tape may be all you need in this case. Watch for pieces of exposed chicken wire where your chicken may get it’s toe trapped and need to struggle to be free. Also, if your chickens are very friendly and used to being underfoot while you feed and clean, you could accidentally step on a foot and break a bone.
Cuts and other open wounds can potentially lead to serious infections. Clean the wound with sterile saline, apply a wound dressing and antibiotic ointment. Keep a close eye on it. If it is getting worse instead of better, then a Veterinarian may need to be called for a stronger antibiotic. Keeping the wound clean and dry will go a long way towards not having to call the vet.
Broken toenails and spurs also can lead to limping and further infection. And bleeding can invite pecking at the wound from the flock, since chickens are attracted to the red blood. We use cornstarch to stop bleeding but there are commercial products such as Wonderdust available also. Once the bleeding has stopped, treat the wound as mentioned above. You may need to isolate the injured bird if the injury is more severe and the bleeding recurs.
Steps You Can Take When Discovering Foot Injuries in Chickens
- Prepare the materials and first aid products before you catch the chicken. Removing the chicken from the flock causes stress. Reduce the amount of time you will be working on the bird by being prepared.
- Have a first aid kit ready!
- Know your individual flock members. You don’t have to pick up each chicken every day to observe for odd behavior that may be the result of a foot injuries in chickens scenario.
- Stay calm. Your stress and panic will transfer to your chicken. If others around you are not able to stay calm and quiet, move to a more secluded location.
- Isolate any cases of foot injuries in chickens if the bird is being bullied, picked on or not able to get to food and water.
- Clean dressings and wounds daily. Wear disposable gloves to protect yourself as some infections are transmissible to humans.
- Keep products on hand that help with your bumble foot treatment plan
For more information on preparing a first aid kit for your farm check out this post.
Nice overview of foot problems in chickens. For bumblefoot, I’ve had great luck (3 out of 3 cases cured) with TricideNeo soaks. There is no surgery involved, and therefore no wrapping needed. It is an antibiotic that is effective against staph, often used to treat staph infections on the skin of koi fish. Not sure if it’s okay to leave the link to my post about it here. I’ll copy it in, but just delete it if that’s not cool :-). Here is the link: http://ouroneacrefarm.com/bumblefoot-treatment-tricideneo/
Janet, thank you for sharing your link. I am glad you did because it is good info to add to possible treatments. I will go back and edit your link into the post. thanks- Janet
Hi, what do you do when you suddenly notice a young chicken, about 2 months old, has a splayed leg?
That is very interesting. Do you think it was injured? I haven”t seen this happen in my flock
Marek’s disease. Was she vaccinated?
This just happened to us recently. And we were just talking about how important it is to pay attention to your flock and know their behaviors too. Last week we noticed one of our oldest girls limping. That night, I plucked her off the roost and we checked her foot. She had something sharp, like a small piece of a rock in a crease between the foot pad and a toe. we had some tweezers in our chicken first aid kit and got it out of there and doused it liberally with iodine. She hasn’t limped since. We’re so glad we discovered it and got it our of their quickly, before it became a much more serious infection!
We keep needing reminder lessons! I am so glad your hen was better quickly Good catch!
Hi Janet
Thank you for you post it has been very helpful, I am new at all this I have 6 beautiful Sussex hens they are about 8 months old and all doing fine. I have them in a large coop and they have a very big fenced run with a roof on it. Yesterday I noticed that their feet were a little pink I believe that is due to the very cold wet and cold weather we have had. After all that my question is what can I put on their feet that will help but also will not freeze? Run is sand and wood shavings, Coop is wood shavings. Thank You So Much
Hi Connie
The easiest way to prevent frostbite is to coat the skin with a product called waxlene. I am including a link to the product so you know what to look for. Usually, the hens will cover their feet when roosting, to keep the feet warm. The comb and wattles are a problem in very cold weather, and good ventilation in the coop is necessary to prevent accumulation of condensation and lead to frostbite. We don’t often get below 20 degrees F. So I rarely have to prevent frostbite from happening. But I keep the waxlene on hand all the time because it is also the cure for any scaly leg mites that may happen.
http://amzn.to/1ZF2Eg2
My Cochin rooster, Sunshine Fluffy Pants, has very messed up feet. His toes are curled under his feet and look deformed. He limps severely. This has happened as recently as the last couple of weeks. Also, on one foot he has some swelling. It’s hard to tell what exactly is going on due to his thick feathers, though. What should I do?
Katie, I really can’t tell without seeing your rooster’s feet but it sounds like they need some immediate attention. Could there be matted feathers and ice? Can you handle him well enough to bring him in a warm room and soak his feet in epsom salt and water? I would call a vet if you can’t see anything after cleaning his feet – Janet
We think he has leg mites. We dipped his legs in gasoline & covered them in diaper rash cream. We’ll see how that goes :/
One of my chickens escaped his cage and went and fought another one of my chickens throught the fence i wasnt there to prevent any of it PLEASE what can i use that has been proven to help them heal from their feet i heard about blue kote and using neosporin ointment or vaseline please can someone answer my question i will really appreciate
Eli all of those ointments should help the wounds heal. When ever in doubt please call a veterinarian for advice
My lovely little dolly got he claw caught we think trying to get over the fence, she has been limping for a day, then this morning her claw started to bleed, I’ve managed to clean up the claw, and although, floppy is still attached. I have strapped it and it seems to have stopped bleeding, should I seek a vets advice?
Laurel, I hesitate to give any type of veterinary advice, especially since I can’t see the injury in person and I would not want to give you bad health advice. But if it was me, and there was no evidence of infection, I would probably keep it clean, wrapped in antibacterial soaked gauze pads, over wrap with vet wrap and keep an eye on it. But that is just what I would do. Can you isolate her?
I have a very brave, fearless rooster who has somehow managed to what I think… is break a toe. He is now not sure on his feet when mounting my hens and is hurting them inadvertently. I do not want to lose this guy but I don’t want my hens to be all torn up either. Can a toe be amputatedwithout affecting his life drastically?
hi
As to the toe amputation, I don’t have any experience to share. I would suggest you ask a vet. I would wrap up the toe and foot with vet wrap to give the injured toe some support. Maybe even add a piece of pipecleaner for support. Good luck. I hope it all works out well for all.
I am taking care of a friend’s dog & bees & chickens – a hawk attacked a hen and she fought very hard and got away – the nail is gone on her spur toe – I have bandaged it up – took the bandage off after 2 days and the bleeding started again – have bandaged it again – I think the bandage should stay on a week, maybe longer – how long would you leave it on?
Hi Dana I would leave the bandage on until it stops bleeding. Packing some cornstartch onto the bleeding part will help it stop bleeding. good luck – Janet
My 7 year old golden wyhndot? had been limping for a few weeks before I realized she needed help. Poor thing why did I take so long to heip her? I brought her in the house and cleaned and soaked her feet in warm water. Then I placed her on her back in my lap and gently stroked her until she relaxed into a bit of a trance and examined her feet. I found a black spot in the center of her old yellow palm in each foot. With twezers I started pulling and gently squezing a hard substance about the size of tiny pea that poped out leaving a small hole but no blood in her foot. I but a bit of antibiotic in the holes and am keeping an eye on her.
sounds like you have things under control She is lucky to have you caring for her
Hello I am now to keeping chickens and just had 4 delivered about 3 months ago and I’m really enjoying them … sadly Red I think has a broken toe. I have put on a makeshift splint from matchsticks (with the ends cut off) and some band aids. She is not moving around much but has come out of the coop to eat and drink and seems fine otherwise … since the splint is impeding her movement, it will be difficult to tell when the toe is healed … how long should I leave the splint on for and are there arey signs to look out for that she might be “getting worse” health-wise ???
I am not sure but the bones should heal within a couple of weeks would be my guess. Especially in a young chicken that is still growing
My rooster has large spurs. It is affecting the way he walks. They could use trimming. What is the best way to do this?