Help! Hen not walking much and has black spots on legs. Scaley leg mites or???

[TTracy]

Just a thought, could they be bruises? I mean she could have hurt herself somehow, jumping down landing wrong from a perch? Most of the black appears to be around her ankle, which for any of us who have hurt our ankle in the past, makes it very painful to walk. Like I said, just a thought!

 

[Eggcessive]

How is she doing today?

 

[casportpony]

I hate to bring up the M word again, but was she vaccinated for Marek's?

Source: http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease


-Kathy

 

[casunbum]

I'm truly hoping they are just bruises, she seems to be doing ok.. she wasn't having it in confinement and she was eating and drinking perfectly so I did put her back with the flock so she didn't get picked on after a long absense. I figured she would have already passed it to one of them if it is something contagious. She still seems to lay down more than normal, but her comb is still bright red and her legs aren't swollen or anything. She was vaccinated with Mareks, but could she still possibly have it? A couple of the other members of the flock were not vaccinated, they were hatched from my brothers eggs.. but they are not acting out of the norm.

 

[TTracy]

How is she doing?

 

[spikennipper]

How old is she? I'm thinking that the marks may be urine scald from all the sitting, her breast feathers look wet in the photo, what do her poops look like? do you have a full body pic of her when she is standing?

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm truly hoping they are just bruises, she seems to be doing ok.. she wasn't having it in confinement and she was eating and drinking perfectly so I did put her back with the flock so she didn't get picked on after a long absense. I figured she would have already passed it to one of them if it is something contagious. She still seems to lay down more than normal, but her comb is still bright red and her legs aren't swollen or anything. She was vaccinated with Mareks, but could she still possibly have it? A couple of the other members of the flock were not vaccinated, they were hatched from my brothers eggs.. but they are not acting out of the norm.

It is possible to get Mareks after having the vaccine. If there was Mareks in your environment for instance, and they could have been exposed in the 2 weeks period before the vaccine provides immunity. Also if the vaccine was not properly given. Hopefully the spots are bruises, so there could be hope. For answers to many questions about Mareks disease look at this ongoing thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/741957/not-an-emergency-mareks-in-the-flock

 

[casunbum]

She is about 2 years old now, she had just received a warm bath with olive oil before I took that pic. She isn't normally wet around the vent, although her vent does look irritated/red and she constantly flexes it when I'm checking which makes me go back to my original worry that she is egg bound. However she doesn't seem interested in the nest area like my other hens and I have felt all around for eggs up there and found none. (Which seems impossible since she hasn't laid an egg for close to 2 months!) I even used a glove and felt around up inside her (yuck!) to see if I could feel any, but found none. Nonetheless I squirt some olive oil up her butt a few days ago, but it doesn't seemed to have done anything. Still no egg. Wouldn't she be dead by now if she were egg bound this whole time that she's been acting off? Other than that, she's been doing a lot better. She doesn't lay down so much now and I see her cruising around with her buddies all the time now - she just doesn't seem quite as spunky as before and doesn't hold her tail up like normal all of the time. I've been putting Neosporine on her chest scab which is almost completely healed now. I did find that she and my other 3 hens had a mild case of scaley leg mites a couple weeks back when I first posted. I did a very thorough cleaning of the coop and have been squirting the roosts with an oil concoction to ward off the mites. I have also been rubbing vaseline on their legs at night about every other night for the last couple of weeks and a lot of the damaged scales have started to slough off. It seems this solved the issue of the black spots on her legs, either that or they were bruises and healed. She eats well and drinks well, I have been giving her and the others extra treats with black strapp molasses and yogurt.

Honestly I'm not certain what the main problem has been but I think it's been an assortment of things, I really don't think she has Mareks or MS - I read up a lot on both. I know that she had just finished molting when I found the lice - because the girls hadn't been allowed out to free range for a bit and were unable to take dust bathes. When I finally got rid of the lice her friend was killed in a dog attack (the hen had escaped her pen - the others were untouched), then she got leg mites and I think she might have fallen off the roost and hit her chest creating the scab on her chest. I think it's just been a really crumby couple of months for her and she's not quite herself. Im posting a couple of recent pics I took today. Tell me what you think. Has anyone had their chicken mourn the loss of another? Could this be a contributing factor?

I just had a dozen chicks hatch that are in the brooder right now, I really hope she is thriving before she deals with the stress of a changing flock. Not only that, but so I don't worry about adding new chicks in with a sick hen!

 

[Eggcessive]

It's good to hear that she is doing well and almost back to normal. Her symptoms may have just been some red herrings. Vaseline applied once a week is good for the leg mites, and I've heard that castor oil lasts even longer when rubbed into the scales. Good luck with your new chicks.

 

[casunbum]

Thanks Eggcessive! She is finally holding her tail erect today. Makes me happy to see her like that after so long. The droopy tail just made her look so sad.. hopefully she starts giving me eggs here before too long. She was such a good layer before all this!