Injured, Necrotic Toes on ISA Brown Chick - I Would Love Some Advice

[Upstartish]

So, earlier today I bought a few ISA Browns from a local store chain. I've only been raising chickens now for a little less than a year, and I didn't have this problem with my first batch of chicks I bought, so I have no experience with it. On top of this, I have even less experience with few-day-old chicks because I bought my ISAs relatively late last year so they were about 2 weeks old, probably a little older.

I didn't notice it when I was in the store as only the store attendants are allowed to handle the chicks before they're bought (which I understand why, but still, it's a pain in these kinds of situations), but one of my chick's toes on her right foot appear to have been crushed or cut deeply between hatching and today. Obviously, this is really worrying, especially because she's so young.

The toe tips are black and dry-looking (necrotic) on 2 of her toes, and her foot overall is swollen and reddish. The injury has made her talons/nails completely necrotic on these toes, one even fell off earlier. So far she's been walking around (not as much as the other chicks because her foot's in pain, obviously) and drinking/eating, but prefers not to rest her weight on the injured foot and tucks it up against her body when drinking/eating.

I don't currently have any medicine I could give her but am willing to go get medicine (antibiotics, vitamins, etc.) and I don't know what to do in this kind of situation (Let the tissue fall off on its own? Amputate it? Hope she's strong enough to work through it? Put her out of her misery?) or whether or not it's a lost cause to try and help her.

Please, I just want advice on how to best handle this situation and, if at all possible, help her recover.

(P.S., I'll try to upload pictures of the injury in the morning.)

 

[Wyorp Rock]

earlier today I bought a few ISA Browns

about 2 weeks old, probably a little older.

one of my chick's toes on her right foot appear to have been crushed or cut deeply between hatching and today

toe tips are black and dry-looking (necrotic) on 2 of her toes, and her foot overall is swollen and reddish. The injury has made her talons/nails completely necrotic on these toes, one even fell off earlier.

drinking/eating, but prefers not to rest her weight on the injured foot and tucks it up against her body when drinking/eating.

If you can post the photos those would be helpful.

 

[Mosey2003]

The good news is, birds with missing toes do just fine.

What to do in the meantime....Not sure. I'd probably just watch it for more signs of infection like swelling. You could take it to a vet if you have one that does birds well, they could tell more about infection and possible amputation. If they're black, they will fall off eventually.

 

[bobbi-j]

Personally, I would not amputate it.

 

[Upstartish]

If you can post the photos those would be helpful.

Unfortunately, she passed away this morning. However, I'm still going to seek advice in case I (or anyone else in this community, for that matter) experience this kind of problem again.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Unfortunately, she passed away this morning. However, I'm still going to seek advice in case I (or anyone else in this community, for that matter) experience this kind of problem again.

View attachment 1705763 View attachment 1705751

I'm so sorry to hear you lost her

Thank you for taking the time to post photos as requested.
The toes were probably mashed somehow. I wouldn't think frostbite since these came from the feed store.
Something else must have been going on with her besides the toes since you lost her - just speculation, but maybe suffered other injuries since the toes were damaged(?)

Anyway, if she were still alive, eating/drinking - those tips would eventually fall off. She most likely would have done fine without them. Every year there's many people that post here on BYC with birds that have severe frostbite or injury and lose whole toes, sometimes a feet and they learn to adapt. This of course is barring infection and the bird is healthy with no other problems.
Foot injuries like this - you can soak in epsom salts to help reduce swelling. Dry the foot well and keep the bird on clean dry bedding. Monitor the foot daily for signs of infection, but if kept clean nothing else is usually needed.

So sorry about your chick, I hope the others continue to do well.

 

[Upstartish]

I'm so sorry to hear you lost her

Thank you for taking the time to post photos as requested.
The toes were probably mashed somehow. I wouldn't think frostbite since these came from the feed store.
Something else must have been going on with her besides the toes since you lost her - just speculation, but maybe suffered other injuries since the toes were damaged(?)

Anyway, if she were still alive, eating/drinking - those tips would eventually fall off. She most likely would have done fine without them. Every year there's many people that post here on BYC with birds that have severe frostbite or injury and lose whole toes, sometimes a feet and they learn to adapt. This of course is barring infection and the bird is healthy with no other problems.
Foot injuries like this - you can soak in epsom salts to help reduce swelling. Dry the foot well and keep the bird on clean dry bedding. Monitor the foot daily for signs of infection, but if kept clean nothing else is usually needed.

So sorry about your chick, I hope the others continue to do well.

Thank you, and I'm happy to help you educate me best anyway I can. (By the way, I think I might've worded it weirdly in my initial post, but these chicks are at the very most a week old, probably just a few days. I wanted to make that clear.)

I know for certain it wasn't frostbite as I'd had them less than half a day when I noticed this, and as far as I'm aware they were not exposed to extreme cold. I had them under a heat lamp as soon as I brought them home and even switched to a warmer bulb as they were grouped up pretty closely and standing to get closer to the heat source. The store had a standard brooder with an on par heat lamp. On top of this, the toes definitely looked like they'd been crushed.

She may have sustained other injuries, but other than the toes she looked outwardly fine. She wasn't struggling to breath, her wings weren't injured as far as I could tell, there was no blood, she squirmed and chirped when I handled her to get a better look, and she acted pretty similar to all the other chicks other than being slightly lethargic because of her foot being in pain.

It may have been an infection or blood poisoning. After all, the foot as a whole was pretty swollen and reddish (you can see the swelling in the pics above, but because they're post-mortem I can't show how red they were), and these could've been a symptom of infection.

Again, I really appreciate your advice for the future, and my other chicks seem to be doing well.

Here's one of them taking a nap. I really hope the rest of them make it.