hard round growths on chicks feet

[sandrainitaly]

To all who offered their help, thank you so much! However.......Just kidding! Problem resolved!! I am humbled by a wonderful and mysterious world, and also by the fact that I have to admit I am not the absolute authority in all areas! Good for me, and good for my chickens. My son and I spent an hour soaking, picking at, needle-nose-pliering, fingernail-clipping the dang balls of stuff and low and behold, underneath were lovely chicken feet and nails. It has made me infinitely happy. I suspect that the only variable which resulted in this condition would be the floury meal that I have been giving them. The hens love it in a mash and they fly into my lap looking for it, but when it dries it is like cement--my son says he could use it for mortar! I guess the little ones stepping in poop, water, meal, made their own cement.
Again, thatnk you all so much, and thank you Backyard Chickens!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I'm glad everything worked out for the good! Yes, sometimes chicks can get themselves into a fix, including making mortar out of their feed.

 

[ChooksChick]

I am constantly learning new things, despite all that I know and have already learned.

The wonderful thing is that we can all share and have a vast amount of accumulated knowledge together. Yay, BYC!!!

 

[Bigcreekpeafowl]

That is very good. It is hard to believe that poop along with other things can cause something like that.

You took some good pictures of it and as soon as I saw it I knew what it was. For I have seen it several times before on young birds.

It probably took a while to do it but was well worth it when you remove that last piece of poop and see those pretty little toes. And luckily it does not cause sores. I would clean the feet with a topical disinfectant and keep them clean.
Happens usually with youngsters.

Good news.

 

[Oobhakeb]

Just saw this post and see it was resolved but wanted to add my few cents in. I know using distilled vinegar to clean hard calcium deposits off things works very well....wonder if it would help make things easier in cases like this?

 

[sandrainitaly]

I used a dash of fabric softener in the saok water, it seemed to help. Update: today all are well and dry! Thanks again, all.

 

[arcadianacres]

Some of our hens have this as well. How critical is it to try and soak it or get it off? We only feed crumble and scratch and have strong and their parents so I'm not sure if there is a way to avoid it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Some of our hens have this as well. How critical is it to try and soak it or get it off? We only feed crumble and scratch and have strong and their parents so I'm not sure if there is a way to avoid it.

The reason being is that it will get bigger and bigger. The chickens can't scratch and find food, or scratch themselves if they itch. Poop is very irritating to the skin, and eventually they will get infected.