Chicken has huge, weird growth on foot (mites?)

[Pickaduck]

How's Sick Chicken doing?

 

[welasharon]

I had to do this with some rescue chickens and you are right, the oil (mineral, baby, vegetable, doesn't matter) will help to soften and loosen the stuff. It is a build up of stuff from the mites and it gathers other stuff too! On the really hard places I had to take a pair of wire cutters and nip the surface to get the oil to soak in. Also around the edges where the stuff is attached to the leg I would put drops of oil and tease the edges to get it to go under. After a couple days I realized this was sufficient enough without having to soak them in water any more. Patience is the key in picking it all off without pulling into raw skin. I also got some pour on ivomec to treat the worse ones as some had them in their heads...so check there too.
sharon

 

[crj]

Something else you can do. I would sprinkle Seven Dust on the floor of the coop. That will help kill mites also. You don't want your other chickens getting them.

 

[birdlover]

When my chicken had scaly mites, I would come and get her at night when they had gone to roost. I filled a tall slim glass with mineral oil and would stick her whole foot and bottom part of leg in the oil and let it soak for about a minute. Then I'd put her back on the roost. I did this for about 10 days and it worked! In your chicken's case, you will probably have to do it longer.

 

[Lollipop]

Several good suggestions, but the truth is, any kind of oil will work as it drowns the mites. I would suggest WD40 spray and treat once a week. Treat all the birds you have. Leg mites attack the birds at night and hide in the cracks of the wooden roosts during the day, so you need to oil the roost real good also. You will see a good improvement in a month or less..........Pop

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

The easy way is to soak her feet in warm soapy water and scrub with a soft brush to remove as much as the crust as possible. Dry and apply Elimite or Acticin cream that they use for mites (scabies) in people. You only have to do this once. It is a topical preperation and does not enter the internal systems so you do not have to distroy her eggs. Ivermectin paste also works and it easier to get and is cheeper. If the infestation is to bad the scales may continue to be deformed but the mites will be gone. Scaley leg mites do not live long when off the host. Close contact is required for transmission to another host. Scrubing of the roosts and changing of the bedding is not nessessary. This is the difference between regular body mites and scaley leg mites.

 

[CityBumpkin]

Okay so I got back today (I spend the weekends at home in the big bad city). Straight after work I went out armed with vegetable oil (rapeseed) and the vaseline. Washed her foot in warm water, then dunked it in the oil and then slathered on vaseline for good measure. I'm not taking any chances! Sick Chicken wasn't thrilled. Here she is inspecting my handiwork:

I think her foot looks a lot better since the last time. I hope I'm right and that it's not just wishful thinking and the fact that her foot is now clean making me think that. I vaseline'd her other leg too just in case. Haven't been able to catch the healthy chicken (Dinosaur Chicken) because she makes velociraptor noises and scoots away the minute she sees me stretching out my arms.

Here's Sick Chicken's oiled and vaseline'd foot on the right:

I need to get a soft brush - some of the deformed parts look like they're at least a bit separate from the leg itself. Will it just fall off itself eventually do you think? Do I really need to try cutting it off? I'm afraid I'll hurt her!

Funnily, when I started taking photos, Dinosaur Chicken stalked over very interested and tried to peck the lens out of my camera. The other day when I was washing Sick Chicken's leg she started pecking at the soap! She'll peck at anything!

Dinosaur Chicken, starry-eyed over my flash:

Thanks guys for all your advice. Going to oil up the roost tonight. Sick Chicken sleeps on the floor because of her fungusfoot but hopefully soon she'll be mite-free and able to roost with the Dinosaur!

Oh also, slightly OT but Dinosaur Chicken very rarely lays and when she does, the eggs have hardly any shell. Does anybody know why this would be?

 

[Lollipop]

Yes, they will fall off by themselves. Best way to catch the other bird is at night, off the roost. Gitter done and don`t forget to oil the roost. Lots of opinions on this. Google leg mites and read it for yourself..........Pop

 

[CityBumpkin]

Today, as I washed Sick Chicken's foot in warm water, huge chunks of that stuff started to peel away from her foot. Her foot is now a little pink and in some places a bit red and raw, and there are still some stubborn chunks that still need to come off, but YOU CAN SEE HER FOOT AGAIN! And she can stand on it! And potter around a bit! And Dino Chicken laid an absolutely enormous egg today so thank you guys for everything! I wouldn't have been able to save her without you!! I tried to take a photo of her foot to show you but she was disgruntled with me and stuck her head in the corner and sulked after I was done oiling and vaselining her foot, so I'll have to try do it tomorrow instead.

 

[welasharon]

Yay for you and for her too!
sharon