Feet ailment, black spots on feet, please take a look and see if you can identify this.

[p1cklen2s]

Please help....if anyone has an idea of what this is or how to treat it.

I found my chickens had been pecking on the toe of another overnight. I separated the injured bird, and her toe has remained black. That was about a week and 1/2 ago.

I have now discovered that all 3 of my other chickens of that same breed have also developed the same black areas of their toes. It is only in this particular breed though. They were in a pen with 5 other chickens of another breed, and all 5 of those chickens' feet are healthy.

I am attaching a picture, can anyone tell me what this might be and how to treat? I have searched online and haven't been able to find a description that fits the condition. I am at the point of having to cull these birds, as I have no idea of what is it is or how to treat it! The spots are not healing or going away on their own.

 

[Eggcessive]

I can't get your picture enlarged, but it looks like tissue damage that could have been from bites, crushing, or frostbite if it winter where you live. Can rats get into your coop? You can try soaking the feet in epsom salts or soapy water, and applying iodine or BluKote to them after drying. Do not soak if it is very cold where you live, though.

 

[p1cklen2s]

Thanks for the reply eggcessive.

Not cold enough for frostbite currently. We have not seen any signs of rats or mice in our coop, it is off the ground but the door is open during the day so possible they could get in.

I will try the soaking and BluKote tonight and see if I have luck with that. The first hen definitely could have been from biting, as she was bloody on her toe where the large spot is in the picture, so I am assuming the other hens had started pecking at it. It seemed to heal up and then started oozing around the edges again. The second hen had the end of her toe completely pecked off. The other two just have black spots like the foot on the right in the picture.

I'm completely stumped as to the cause, other than the pecking once the black spots appeared. These 4 hens are in a smaller enclosed brooding pen as they are only 7 weeks old, so not really exposed to much of anything at this point.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have seen where a chick has gotten it's toe or foot crushed underneath something in the coop before, and it could also look like that. Look around for sharp edges on some of the metal feeders. I hope it's not rats because they can do some damage to chicks. Let us know if you figure it out.