[Katiecat]

I'm in a total panic having just trimmed my hen’s claws. She was reluctant to walk on the paved area of her run where her food was, preferring to stay on the softer, Aubiose base, so my husband suggested that it might because her claws were too long. I duly looked up how to gently trim claws, which I did, but obviously caught the blood vessel. They are now bleeding and I am terrified that I might have caused her a lot of pain, although she didn’t flinch at all. I have put ointment on her claws and used cornflour to stop the bleeding and put her back in her nest box. Is there anything else I can do to make her more comfortable (other than shoot myself)? Advice please! I'd be very grateful as I feel so terrible about this.....

[New shoot]

Oh dear    Hopefully your hen is OK now Katie.  I don't think you hurt her.  The blood vessels run quite far down the claw and can be hard to see.  I always trim back bit by bit if any hen needs a pedicure.

The cornflour was a good idea to stop the bleeding.  The hen may be a bit subdued for a day or she may bounce straight back.  She'll need to make that blood back up, but access to good food will do that.  A few greens wouldn't go amiss either.

Its a really easy mistake to make the first time you cut claws, so stop beating yourself up 

[mumofstig]

 Katiecat sent a private message saying

Many thanks, it was bleeding again today but I managed to get some antiseptic powder on to her,,,

[danfinn1]

Hmmm Lesson for us all here. I heard about that problem with rabbits, as ours were always kept on soft bedding.

My hens get swapped most days from a slab based run to a Soil based so they can dirt bath and/or scratch , stops them getting bored too,  although our Barred Rock came with a poop caked claw and sharp nails this soon got filed down naturally

Hopefully by the end of this week they will be destroying the garden again