Foot disease, or just aging?

[jewelg]

Hello! I volunteer with a local garden that has chickens, and I have my own first flock but they’re only 3 years old. One of the hens at the garden is considerably older and her feet look a bit gnarled, dragonny, thickened and scaly to me. Is this a normal part of aging for chickens or is there a health issue that hasn’t yet been addressed?

First I thought it might be scaly leg mites, but there is no crusty keratin ooze. This looks more like overgrowth of scales to me…

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

ooh, that's almost certainly scaly leg! try massaging the feet in vegetable oil.

 

[jewelg]

ooh, that's almost certainly scaly leg! try massaging the feet in vegetable oil.

Thank you! I’ll do some research as I haven’t treated it before.

 

[Eggcessive]

Initially you may want to soak the legs in warm Epsom salts water, and scrub with an old toothbrush. The you will want to coat the legs 1-2 times a week with a thick oil. Those include Vicks, vaseline, mineral or castor oil. You also can mix sulfur powder with vaseline, since the sulfur kills the mites. They sell Nustock cream in feed stores and online which contains the sulfur and oils. Don’t forget to remove old bedding in the coop, and you can spray the coop, nests, and roosts with Permethrin if you wish.