Toenails torn off - help?

[annaraven]

Hi,
I have 10 chickens. Last Thursday, I had to run my Barred Rock to the vet because she tore her toenail off. The vet said she looked healthy otherwise, and gave me something to soak her foot twice a day (antibiotic). I call her the understudy to the head chicken.

Today, I look over and see another chicken with a bleeding toe - this one is missing the toenail - like the whole thing got torn out or something. I treated it and put her in quarantine to keep an eye on her for tomorrow.

I'm wondering what even to *look* for. Tomorrow, I'm going to check the yard for anything that might have caught their foot on when they freerange, but... I don't know. I checked the coop and don't see anything that could have done it. I'll check tonight regularly to see if something got in and is nibbling on their toes at night while they roost. Don't see how but...

Anything else I can check for? I mean, the vet (a bird doctor) looked over the first girl - wouldn't he have mentioned if he saw anything like mites or something that's making them tear their own toenails? Right?

Help?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I would check to see if they are walking on anything like hardware cloth somewhere, or fencing. Check to see if you have holes in your coop larger than 1/2 inch, as varmints such as rats and weasels can get through that.

I hope you find the reason!

 

[annaraven]

The chickens have a Faraday Coop. It's covered 360 degrees by hardware cloth. Ain't nothin' getting thru, not at night. During the day, we let them out to freerange and the doors are open. But I just recently cleaned out their coop and didn't see any evidence of mice or rats or anything else. Besides, it appears to be happening during the day when they're out freeranging.

 

[annaraven]

Quote:
Thanks. I'll look and see if there's fencing or something they're getting caught in. Maybe something got left lying in the bushes when our fence was redone recently.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Lol are you referring to a Faraday cage?

Or is there really such a thing as a brand name of Faraday?

 

[annaraven]

Quote:
Lol are you referring to a Faraday cage?

Yep.

 

[annaraven]

Oh, and it's not overcrowding as they have the whole backyard to freerange in. And the roost just got rebuilt from 5 feet to 10 feet, so there's plenty of room for them all.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

tonails ripped right off eh? Check ramps if you have any where they come and go. Old boards on the ground they might be scratching at for bugs, sharp corners of fencing, the possibilities are endless. Think like a chicken and check around for things they like to scratch at.

 

[egglicious]

I am no expert but could they be pecking each other's feet? I believe I have read about that happening...

 

[annaraven]

Well, so far, we haven't come up with anything that looks like a toetrap. OTOH - DS is doing a good job of helping me re-chickenproof the back yard. His theory is that it's the bale of hay that they love to sit on top of. There's some blood up there, but nothing that looks like it could have torn a toenail. So I don't think so. Nevertheless, we did move it in to the fenced off garden area.

I'm going to re-inspect the ramp - it's the same ramp they've been using for months so I doubt it, but maybe something came loose?