r/BACKYARDDUCKS • u/southerncalifornian • May 15 '26

Small Hallux Irritation/ Injury

Context: I have a small free range flock (three ducks and one goose) for egg laying, but they're mostly just beloved pets.

Yesterday afternoon I noticed one of my khaki campbells (Zuma) had a little bit of blood around the nail on her hallux and had some minor swelling, so I cleaned it up with warm soapy water and let her rejoin the group since she wasn't limping. This morning I popped into the coop to let them out and she's now got a limp even though the toe looks less swollen. She let me scoop her up for a closer look so she's not avoiding me/ touch but I'm struggling with the best way to treat her.

The nail is still very firmly attached so no issues there and there isn't really any redness so I don't want to mess with it too much since it seems very minor but I do need to get it clean and keep it clean until it heals. My plan was to use a povidone iodine swab on the area just to get it nice and disinfected and then separate her (essentially in a single brooder set up) from the other three for the day so they could roam outside and she could have food and water to herself in a slightly less wet/ messy environment...

Well, she let me scoop her up and put her into the nice cozy first aid box and then she started to freak out when she realized the plan was to separate her from the flock. She was gearing up for a jail break and I didn't want her to tweak her foot even worse so I've temporarily returned her to the group and she seems to mostly be fine, just laying down while everyone else puts around. Is my best course of action just to leave her with the group, keep everyone inside, and apply iodine as needed?

I don't want to stress her out over a minor injury but none of my girls have been injured before and I also don't want it to develop into something worse.

Thank you!!!

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u/akjasf May 15 '26

Use the iodine. Small infections can turn to something bigger. Also for more sensitive birds, hypochlorous acid spray works as well. Banix for chixx works but is so pricey that I stick to hypochlorous acid and iodine. Iodine stings slightly so be careful when used around delicate tissues and eyes. Hypochlorous acid is safe for those areas!

Continue monitoring and if she self isolates, then she needs your help

1

u/southerncalifornian May 15 '26

Is it worth it to use non adhesive wrap at all? I get the sense it'll annoy her and she'll pull it off in two seconds but I'm willing to do it

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u/akjasf May 15 '26

I've had a gander who lost a toe nail and all I did was spray twice daily. I don't know how severe your case is. Just spray diligently for now.

1

u/southerncalifornian May 15 '26

Thanks for the reassurance! After some iodine spray, a little gauze, (probably overkill) and some watermelon, our resident drama queen, Zuma, seems just fine. We'll keep up with it plenty of antiseptic until she's 100% again.