hen spending time lying on the ground.. swelling/growth between toes

[DownEastChickens]

I've got a 3-year old Buff Orpington with a health condition I can't track down in my _Chicken Health Handbook_:

At least three weeks ago, the hen started looking mopey, head and tail down, looking peaked. She hung around the coop but was still eating, could walk OK when she did... I knew that was bad sign, but she started to come around. The main persisting symptoms were that she no longer flew up to the main roost at night, either staying in the shavings on the floor or roosting on another perch, at an intermediate height. She had trouble getting up to her feet, appearing to be off balance or favoring one side as she got up.

I picked her up up a couple of weeks ago and felt around: no hard bumps, no visible injuries, (including no cuts on feet).

Today, in the morning, she really seemed to be fading. She seemed dramatically more listless, was lying down with her head on breast. I scrutinized her feet one more time: they are not swollen overall and do not have the sort of bumps on the pads that I've seen in guides as associated with Bumblefoot. However, there are, I see -- on *both* feet -- growths/tumors/swellings (?) the size of a large pea or small bean between several of her toes. I don't see these on the other birds' feet.

W hen I saw another hen peck at her head, I separated her from the other birds and brought her out in a plastic hamper into our yard, on the grass, outside of the coop fence. I figured she was going to die by nightfall, but it then occurred to me on this hot day that perhaps dehydration was the acute crisis. And, yes!, even though she had been in the coop hardly a yard from the waterer, it appears she had stopped drinking -- she just drank up from the dish of water I gave her, perked up dramaticallly, and walked around the yard a little when I lifted her from the basket.

She is just standing in the grass now, with her head retracted into her shoulders. I know there's a still a problem, and suspect the swelling/growth between her toes -- again, on Both feet -- is key diagnostic.

The other 13 hens are fine! Thanks for any advice you might have!

 

[chickenhick]

the only thing I can think of would be scaly leg mites. Have you checked for them?

 

[Wynette]

If you could post a picture, that would be VERY helpful. It seems a bit odd to me that she's presenting with lethargy if it's simply a foot or leg issue, but I'm not a vet, either. I hope she recovers! I would keep her separated for now.

 

[DownEastChickens]

Scaly leg mites.... just checked for more descriptions in my chicken book: I'm not seeing overall swelling of leg/foot and definitely not seeing any sort of crusting as pictured.

While I am always concerned about mites of different sorts, if the symptoms I read about are key, I don't think that's it...

 

[DownEastChickens]

My husband's got the digital camera today, but may be back before much longer, so I can take pictures then...

Just checked on her again: she's moved about twenty feet to lay down in the shade of another tree. Head's up and a little perkier.

I think the extreme listlessness earlier today was dehydration. However, yes, listlessness has definitely been involved, and was the presenting symptom weeks ago!

Given this has had a vague multi-week course, what I was wondering is if the two swellings/growths are sign of some underlying infection. However, I've been really stumped as well, including with how she sometimes seemed to have mechanical/balance(?) issues in getting up from the ground and also, maybe, re: flying up to the intermediate ledge to the roost, but not hopping up the last bit to join other hens... Or, again, maybe it's just sore/painful feet?...

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I would say with her age and the cysts between the toes she has been fed some crumbles with arsenic in the feed
the common additive to chicken feed it says

An estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million pounds of roxarsone, a single arsenic
feed additive, are given each year to chickens. Much of this ends up in
chicken litter and the broader environment.
Arsenic causes cancer and contributes to other diseases including heart
disease, diabetes and declines in intellectual function. While none of the
chicken products tested had arsenic levels above federal standards, much has

I studied much articles on the cysts and it says they are caused in chickens and humans
Consumers Beware: Dangerous Levels of Arsenic Found in Non-Organic Chicken
³Adding arsenic to chicken feed is a needless and ultimately avoidable ... Consumers should seek out chicken raised without arsenic in its feed, ...www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/arsenic060405


I don't know if your feed has this additive
but the cysts seem to be there as you said

probably just keep her comfortable and give her some
wet mash probiotic
to build up her system
it will help all the chickens
for one chicken use 3 tbsp of the mix

 

[DownEastChickens]

I'm trying to paste in photos of the hens feet [may have to try a second time as I'm not sure I'm doing it right!].

The hen went on later this afternoon to start roaming in the yard and digging in some dirt -- what turned out to be my effort to give the chicken a peaceful Last Day ended up to be a new lease on life -- I can hope!

Photo of the top of the hen's feet -- one of the lumps between her toes is very visible in the foot in the foreground. However, the other foot has a very similar lump in same location:

view of the undersides of her feet -- the dark brown streak on each foot is from her recent digging in the dirt. There is a puffy section on the balls of her feet, but I *think* that's the same look as the rest of the hens' feet. It's the lumps between her toes [not really so visible in underside view] that are definitely not "normal":

 

[DownEastChickens]

Glenda -- I was busy posting the pictures while your message came in, so our postings "crossed"!

The lumps do look cyst-like...that was one term that hadn't come to mind!

We raised our flock on organic feed for over the first two years of their lives and then, about six months ago, the organic feed price shot up and it was harder to find... I am going to check for roxarsone in the ingredient list of the feed we're using, for sure. No matter what the possible link to this one's chicken's condition, the press release and report the link you provided leads me to want to go back to organic!

However, what I didn't see in the website/press release was mention of cysts re: arsenic. I also wonder, given all the birds had the same diet over their lives, if individual sensitivities could be so different...

One more *general* question about arsenic and chickens: I see the focus on the IATP report is chicken meat. Is anything known about how much arsenic makes it through reproductive tract's membranes in the course of *eggs*? If that's a risk comparable to meat, then does it "clear out" of eggs dependent on current diet or is will there be evidence of bio-accumulation in egg production as in meat?

We've not used any sort of sprays or pesticides in the coop... I will track down some probiotic mash. That sounds like a good idea, including, as you say, for the whole flock.

Thanks for adding in these other considerations!

 

[DownEastChickens]

re: follow-up on question of feed and roxarsone/arsenic: I'm not seeing that roxarsone is listed in the ingredient list of Blue Seal Layer Pellets...