Foot disease?

[lauramarie123]

Hi everyone! I have owned chickens for more than 10 years, and just until recently two of my chickens have been having foot problems. I have never once had an issue with illness or sickness in my flock. These are my only two chickens left I’ve had them for about 5 years now. Recently they have been showing signs of not being able to walk so I looked at their feet and this is what I found. I have no clue what to do, how to even find out what the problem is. I’m hoping someone on here can figure it out. The chicken in the last two photos feet have never looked like this. I have no clue what would make them look this way. I have clipped her toenails too. It looks like their toes are about to fall off. They always have food and water. They have multiple bowls of water inside and outside. I lock them up every night, clean their coop out. I hope someone can help me. Thank you

 

[Eggcessive]

That is severe scaly leg mites, and it can result open loss of toes. I would begin soaking the feet in warm Epsom salts water daily, and you can gently scrub off any loose material. Then dry the legs and apply vaseline, Vicks, castor oil, or other thick ointment or oil rubbing it into scales. Once you do this eventually, you will see healthy tissue growing in.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a good article:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/scaly-leg-mites-in-chickens/

 

[lauramarie123]

That is severe scaly leg mites, and it can result open loss of toes. I would begin soaking the feet in warm Epsom salts water daily, and you can gently scrub off any loose material. Then dry the legs and apply vaseline, Vicks, castor oil, or other thick ointment or oil rubbing it into scales. Once you do this eventually, you will see healthy tissue growing in.

Thank you!!! I will start doing this asap

 

[MamaFox78]

Yep - severe case of scaly leg mites! In addition to treating their feet, you also need to completely clean & disinfect their coop. I would check their vents for lice too, just to be safe... if you've got one pest, you might have another.

My first flock was rescued and had this as well - a couple girls had already lost toes by the time I got them. I treated their feet by scrubbing with a toothbrush & warm soapy water, all under the scales... then dried them, and applied tea tree oil & Vaseline.

I completely emptied the coop, scrubbed everything & disinfected with vinegar, and after it dried I applied diatomaceous earth over the floor (I've heard First Saturday Lime is better, but haven't tried it myself yet). I also switched to coarse construction sand for the substrate instead of pine shavings, as it's easier to keep clean & parasite free.

You'll have to treat their feet daily for about 3-4 weeks, and disinfect the coop weekly to prevent reinfestation. Fortunately you've only got the 2 of them, not like the 11 birds I had to treat! After the initial treatment, just keep up with the DE/ lime every time you clean the coop, and maybe every week scrub & apply Vaseline to their feet to soften the scales. Good luck!

 

[lauramarie123]

Yep - severe case of scaly leg mites! In addition to treating their feet, you also need to completely clean & disinfect their coop. I would check their vents for lice too, just to be safe... if you've got one pest, you might have another.

My first flock was rescued and had this as well - a couple girls had already lost toes by the time I got them. I treated their feet by scrubbing with a toothbrush & warm soapy water, all under the scales... then dried them, and applied tea tree oil & Vaseline.

I completely emptied the coop, scrubbed everything & disinfected with vinegar, and after it dried I applied diatomaceous earth over the floor (I've heard First Saturday Lime is better, but haven't tried it myself yet). I also switched to coarse construction sand for the substrate instead of pine shavings, as it's easier to keep clean & parasite free.

You'll have to treat their feet daily for about 3-4 weeks, and disinfect the coop weekly to prevent reinfestation. Fortunately you've only got the 2 of them, not like the 11 birds I had to treat! After the initial treatment, just keep up with the DE/ lime every time you clean the coop, and maybe every week scrub & apply Vaseline to their feet to soften the scales. Good luck!

Thank you so much! It’s definitely something I can accomplish since it’s only them two. Since you fixed your problem you give me some hope haha

 

[MamaFox78]

Thank you so much! It’s definitely something I can accomplish since it’s only them two. Since you fixed your problem you give me some hope haha

Yes there's definitely hope! It'll take a while to recover their feet, but it can be done! My old Brahma Henrietta had it the worst, and after several months she finally started losing the gnarly scales to reveal clean scales underneath... and after about a year, she started growing feathers again (we were told the feathers would never come back, but they eventually did). Just keep at it, and they'll be OK!