Ex-battery chicken toe and nail bent under foot

[Anonymous]

I had 6 ex-battery hens at the weekend and one of them has a bent nail and tip of her toe which is bent under the rest of her toe. She walks around but with abit of a limp but does not seem to be in pain. I have looked into what it could be but i cannot find anything which is like this. I know that ex-bats can have these problems and just learned to cope over time and that she could of had the problem all her life. Can anyone help me with this please.

 

[Anonymous]

hi,

i have some ex free range hens from a farm and a few of mine have stumpy toes with nails missing but not bent over. i would say if its not bothering her then dont worry but if it is bothering her maybe pop her down the vets to get it checked out. you will need to look for a poultry friendly vet. also it maybe worth ringing the place you got her from for advice they may have seen the same problem before?

 

[Anonymous]

I have checked her out and the nail is missing from that toe and she does not seem to be limping anymore. Is it common for a nail to be missing?

 

[Anonymous]

hi,

i have never known it in any of my other birds but as i said my hens from the free range farm have nails missing. maybe its from when they are hatched out as chicks and they get pecked by other chicks? i was wondering how they managed to have nails missing! any ideas people??

 

[ncotb]

One reason could be if the feet got really dirty & clumped, the nail can come off then. Or it can be genetic.

 

[Tim]

Ex battery hens are kept on wire floors so I would say her nail or toe and nail could have been damaged this way. Remember their nails grow very long and are easier to get wedged and trapped.

As for the free range girls... I'd go with the dirty / clumped nail. It happens to chicks alot, even if they are kept relatively clean.

I have a goose without a toe nail - I have no idea how she lost it but she does fine without it.

I wouldn't worry if it isn't sore or infected. All a vet can do is cut it off and then you've got to try to keep it clean until healed (possibly more time in confinement for her poor thing).

If she gets around on it, I would leave it alone.

 

[podstable]

---I have one with no toe nails---- a Copper Black Marans from the lovely eggs Tim let me have last year (bless him !!) . She took ages to hatch had all her nails but legs/toes all cyanosed/blue --- any way , after several days isolated in my ' Chicken ITU ' she survived but lost all her nails and toe ends. The ends of her toes are scarred and nail bed etc all gone -BUT she is a lovely chicken ,lays lovely eggs and has no problems. Ros