Help with diagnosis

Michbraning

In the Brooder
Jul 12, 2025
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I have a 1.5 yr old chicken that has developed this white substance on her face also crust around her beak. Her face and feet swollen and feet are cracked open. I picked a spot of the crust off around her beak and it bled. She doesn’t want to eat and is weak.
 

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I have a 1.5 yr old chicken that has developed this white substance on her face also crust around her beak. Her face and feet swollen and feet are cracked open. I picked a spot of the crust off around her beak and it bled. She doesn’t want to eat and is weak.
Welcome To BYC

Hopefully @dawg53 and @Eggcessive can both chime in too.

It looks like she may have Favus which is a fungal infection. You can try applying an anti-fungal cream that contains Miconazole or Clotrimazole to see if that helps. Wear gloves when applying the cream since the fungal infection could be contagious.

As for the feet becoming puffy and swollen, I'm not sure what may be causing that. Perhaps Gout. Can you get some photos of her standing so we can see both feet?
 
Welcome To BYC

Hopefully @dawg53 and @Eggcessive can both chime in too.

It looks like she may have Favus which is a fungal infection. You can try applying an anti-fungal cream that contains Miconazole or Clotrimazole to see if that helps. Wear gloves when applying the cream since the fungal infection could be contagious.

As for the feet becoming puffy and swollen, I'm not sure what may be causing that. Perhaps Gout. Can you get some photos of her standing so we can see both feet?
Thank you, I can get standing pictures in the daylight
 

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It appears to be scaly face mites. Ivermectin will treat them. Purchase Ivermectin Pour On and put 4-5 drops on bare skin on the back of the neck, repeat again in 7-10 days. It will also treat scaly leg mites. Provide vitamin A.
Keep the bird separate/away from other birds.
 
I agree that it looks like favus on the head and face, and gout (the articular form of gout) in the feet, which is a type of arthritis. Interestingly, when a chicken with gout is necropsied, the organs will have a white filmy substance covering each organ and each joint.
The one thing that looks different for the face is the swelling and crusted drainage around the eye and beak. Have you looked inside her beak for any yellow material or smelled a bad odor that could be canker? The swelling and eye drainage/crust is common with a respiratory disease called MG. I would clean her face and eye, and apply some Terramycin ointment to her eye twice a day. The miconazole can treat the favus. If she has faces mites, vaseline applied to those can smother them. Let us know if there is any yellow gunk or material inside the beak.
 
Welcome To BYC

Hopefully @dawg53 and @Eggcessive can both chime in too.

It looks like she may have Favus which is a fungal infection. You can try applying an anti-fungal cream that contains Miconazole or Clotrimazole to see if that helps. Wear gloves when applying the cream since the fungal infection could be contagious.

As for the feet becoming puffy and swollen, I'm not sure what may be causing that. Perhaps Gout. Can you get some photos of her standing so we can see both feet?
 

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Her feet look really bad. Is the black material mud or her skin? She has scaly leg mites as well. I would begin soaking her feet and legs in warm Epsom salts water for 20 minutes a day. Coat the legs in a thick oil like vaseline or castor oil, mineral oil etc. The ivermectin pour-on may be a good thing too, especially for mites.
 
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