Bantam Cochin feet knobby and tough.....mite, age, calcium, or normal??

[travl4me1]

Hi there, this is my best egg producing hen, best personality and really the one I have a heart for. She is a touch older than my 2 other cochins (30 weeks), and I am guessing in the 40 weeks mark....maybe 60 weeks. She out drinks and out works the others, combined. She lays 6 out of 7 days like clockwork, and never stops scratching the ground.

Her feet are much different than the other 2. They have a barnacle look and feel to them.

Im hoping someone says "calm down newbie, its normal."

They eat a blend of flockraiser and Layena Omega. A little scrtach on cold mornings. Oyster and grit on the side at will & Free range several hours a day. They drink water with AVC. Roost, Coop and bath gets sprinkled with DE weekly.

Can you determine if she looks .....Normal, to much protein, calcium, mites ? This would be my first bout of playing Dr since Sept when we purchased. Maybe they always looked this way on cochins, but all of a sudden stood out as different and knobby.

Any tell tale signs of what I am dealing with ? She seems to have a touch of respiratory as well, and giving her probitics in water and thinking of buying Tylane 50 tomorrow.....but her feet caught my attention this evening. If you have the time and insight, please let me know. Most are replaceable, but Simone' is the leader and a tough one to replace. .

thanks,
travis, middle tennessee
hendersonville

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Looks like could be scaly leg mites to me. You will see lifted scales and crusting.

What I do to get rid of them is to dip each leg in mineral oil (veg oil works too) every day for 2 weeks straight to smother the mites. You can get a vet's prescription for ivermectin pour on to kill the scaly leg mite too- they sell it without a prescription and there are lots of threads on BYC about it.

Some also use vaseline but I didn't think it worked as well as oil when I tried it. You may need to gently brush the legs with a brush also after soaking them in epsom salts to get down to the lower layers.

If the mites have caused enough damage, some chickens lose parts of the feet and hop around toeless. Sometimes you have to wait until the scales on the legs molt in order to have them look smooth again.

From my experience, I sometimes need to treat longer than 2 weeks in order to eradicate them. They also can attack the face and thus smearing some oil on the comb and wattles is good too. They will spread through the flock unless eradicated. Google them to see pics of scaly leg mite if needed. It is always tricky with photos but that sure looks like it to me.