Frostbitten feet

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sillygrilla

sillygrilla

Songster
7 Years
Feb 23, 2014
37
16
109
One of my new hens was having trouble walking this morning. I looked at her feet and they looked and felt like dry oak twigs. Black and completely stiff. I brought her in to warm up and have soaked her feet a couple of times in warm water. The bottoms of her feet now have some pink and soft skin but otherwise they are still stiff, and a bit of skin fell off the last time I soaked her feet. She's standing up but is obviously not using her toes to balance. I read up on frozen feet here but from what I read I'm afraid they might be too far gone.
Any advice or suggestions?
400

400
 
Those are heartbreaking photos. Your chicken is in considerable pain. Here's a link to a good article http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/12/frostbit-in-backyard-chickens-causes.html describing treatment for frostbite. You can give her half a baby aspirin twice a day to help relieve her pain.

Don't jump to the conclusion your chicken's feet are "too far gone" to save. Most of the damage may be superficial. You won't know for sure until several weeks from now. The blackened tissue will slough off. If the toes were frozen through and through, it is entirely possible she can lose tips of a toe or two, maybe even an entire toe. It will auto-amputate eventually. First there will be swelling just behind the dead portion, the body's attempt to wall off the dead part. Then it will atrophy and fall off. This process can take weeks.

Meanwhile, keep your hen indoors in a crate lined with several layers of old towels to cushion and protect her sore feet. You will want to soak her feet every day to keep infection at bay. Spray several times a day with Vetericyn to encourage new tissue growth.

Most chickens with frostbite survive and resume normal life, but it may take several months to complete a full recovery.
 
All toes likely to be lost on both feet based on what I can see. To realize long life bird will need to be babied a bit even after necrosis runs its course. If only expectation is keeping with general population without some additional care, then I suggest euthanizing her.
 
centrarchid said:
All toes likely to be lost on both feet based on what I can see. To realize long life bird will need to be babied a bit even after necrosis runs its course. If only expectation is keeping with general population without some additional care, then I suggest euthanizing her.
Click to expand...
Wow....This is actually bringing me to tears......How sad...............


Happy New Years to all that do not get me!?



Cheers!
 
Thank you all so much for the input. I will euthanize her. She is one of 5 hens I was given recently by someone who thought they were chanteclers; they are obviously not. They're *very* sweet but aren't they type of bird I want to produce, so I won't breed them. It breaks my heart that she's hurting. :-(
 
sillygrilla said:
Thank you all so much for the input. I will euthanize her. She is one of 5 hens I was given recently by someone who thought they were chanteclers; they are obviously not. They're *very* sweet but aren't they type of bird I want to produce, so I won't breed them. It breaks my heart that she's hurting. :-(
Click to expand...
So sad.......Big Hugs......
hugs.gif




Cheers!
 

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