Feather footed bantam, skin on legs is very red.

[b9135]

Hi,

Sorry if I'm not using the right terms, English isn't my native language.
One of my feather-footed bantams (Pekin bantam is what we call them here) has skin on her legs that is very pink, sometimes almost red and "raw" looking.

I first noticed it a couple of weeks ago, it was pinkish but not too bad. It seems it's gotten worse since.
She is eating, drinking, socializing and walking around just fine. She seems to walk around okay, she comes running for food. My other feather-footed bantam doesn't seem to have an issue (or any of my my non FF hens) but her skin is yellow, not pinkish-white.

It almost seems like there are scales missing on her legs, I don't know? I have to admit I've never really paid that much attention to this area before I noticed the redness.

I live in NW France so the weather is mild as far as temperatures (around 50° F / 10° C on an average day) but it rains a lot.

The hens have a coop with a small enclosed run, in which I use mulch, and we have put clear tarp over the sides of the run to keep the inside dry). It is only a small run though, a dry area for them to rest in when the weather is bad, but they have free access to our backyard with a lot of grass which stays wet because of the rain.

The hen is one year old, otherwise in perfect shape (she is also laying very regularly, about 6 eggs a week).

I put her in a large dog crate in my house for three days to keep her dry, put Betadine on the skin each night to help dry it out and heal, and it looked better this morning, when I put her back outside. A few hours later I checked on her and the feet were back to being very red.

It is not bleeding as far as I can see, just very irritated.

Is this normal for hens with feathers on their feet in fall / winter? It just looks painful. It is redder than the picture make it look.

Thank you for any help or information you can provide!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Please lay off the betadine... while good for initial treatment of a wound it can cause more irritation of used too often.

That looks like it *could* be just hormones or even cold feet turn red. The top doesn't look irritated to me like scaly leg mites... but, maybe take a peak under her vent and see if her skin is red and irritated there or standard light pink flesh colored? Doing so after dark with a flash light can give you the clearest picture. Checking here for evidence of mite or lice. See any "dirt clumps" hanging from the feathers under the vent or on the abdomen?

I do see what you are talking about... maybe some of the follicles are irritated. But that red as you describe it (reappearing shortly after release) can very much be temperature/circulation related in my experience.

Many folks will treat scaly leg mite (SLM) by coating the legs in vaseline or other thick substance to suffocate them. Some links for identification reference...
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

https://the-chicken-chick.com/scaly-leg-mites-in-chickens/

Using your other FF bantam is probably a good reference point since they are in the same conditions. If you do treat one bird, treat them all... as others may be fighting it off better (different bathing habits and immune systems) and simply not showing symptoms YET... but you don't wanna make them a target.

I try not to treat anything I can't verify... but I think you might have good cause for concern here.

 

[b9135]

@EggSighted4Life That was very helpful, thank you very much for taking the time to reply, and for the links you provided. I will be checking her (and the other hens) for lice / mite and see if I find anything.
No more Betadine. Thanks for your input about using it, I had no idea it was an irritant.

I have set an appointment with my vet for Monday just in case, thankfully it is very inexpensive here and it will put my mind at ease. I really don't want her to be in pain. Now off I go to check for nasty little bugs.

Edited to add : I checked the coop just now (it's dark here) with a flashlight, didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Ran a white tissue across the roosting bars and no trace of red mites / blood spots.
Checked the one hen's vent and it looked fine. Skin was pink, not irritated, no signs of lice or anything there.

I'm debating whether to apply vaseline to her legs just in case it is scaly leg mites, but I'm not sure if that might make her condition worse or not, so I'll wait until I see the vet and follow his advice on that, see what he thinks.
I'll post an update after seeing him Monday, just in case it helps anyone in the future.