New chick with "dead" damaged toe. Need advice!

[Wyorp Rock]

Most of the time the toe will self amputate. This thread is an excellent record of self amputation from the very first signs of frostbite through healing of the amputation site. It does include images of the neurotic feet (this hen lost both feet).

Your link is not working, can you fix it

 

[casportpony]

The chlorhexidine I have on hand is 2%.

That's what I use.

 

[casportpony]

Your link is not working, can you fix it

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

I thought that may be what was linked, but you never know.

It's one of the Best threads about Frostbite on feet, she also wrote an article based on her thread which is Very Good.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...to-know-about-injury-care-and-recovery.78168/

 

[The Yardbird Life]

Just thought I'd post a couple pics from 8/7 showing the progression of this chicks toe development.

Not seeing any damaged tissue inward of the proximal end of the necrotic boney structure. Interestingly, the toe pad has developed right at the union of the bad/good tissue and it seems as though inward progression has stopped. I'm hoping this eventually just absizes and the sift tissue calluses over. The chick is just as vigorous as her 3 like siblings. Perhaps her replacement was an overreaction after all. 3 Plymouths and now 4 Speckled Sussex in my new 'supposed to be' 6 bird flock!

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for the update, and it would be good to post another when the necrotic toe is gone.

 

[The Yardbird Life]

Absolutely will keep a photo progression here as this resolves!

Here's the progression from 8/2/25 and 8/7/25:

 

[azygous]

The photo of the tiny blackened toe just reminded me of the day old chick I had long ago that had a toe injury that I noticed after bringing the new chicks home from the feed store. Despite all my first aid attempts, it shriveled and fell off. The injury at first was very painful for her, but after it blackened, she seemed not to be bothered by it, and missing a toe never caused any further problems for her.

I had one other older chicken lose a toe like this. When it got to the stage where it was detaching from the foot, hanging by a thread of tissue, I just cut it off, and she was just fine from then on.

 

[The Yardbird Life]

The photo of the tiny blackened toe just reminded me of the day old chick I had long ago that had a toe injury that I noticed after bringing the new chicks home from the feed store. Despite all my first aid attempts, it shriveled and fell off. The injury at first was very painful for her, but after it blackened, she seemed not to be bothered by it, and missing a toe never caused any further problems for her.

I had one other older chicken lose a toe like this. When it got to the stage where it was detaching from the foot, hanging by a thread of tissue, I just cut it off, and she was just fine from then on.

That's inspiring to hear! I'm thinking and hoping that's what we're going to see from this case.

 

[azygous]

I think you will see a clean amputation as the toe looks like it's a classic auto amputation with no secondary infection. I think it's awesome chickens have this ability to jettison damaged tissue. We humans get infected, turns to gangrene, and we end up either dying from it or having to have the whole leg cut off. This is because chickens have been evolving for millions of years since the dinosaurs while we modern humans have only been on the planet less than a million years at best. We have lots of catching up to do to get to where our chickens are.