Hen with pale legs and wings droping forward?

[markangie28]

I am new here. I have a 2 year old Barred Rock who is showing unusual signs. In the last 2 days, her legs have gone from yellow to a pale pink. Sometimes when she leans forward to eat, her wings collapse forward with her. She is not sneezing or acting sick. She still lays every few days (which is a little less than before). I did recently treat the entire crew (12) with seven dust for mites (and coup) and used vaseline on her legs. I also cleaned out and powdered her coup. I was wondering if the treatment for mites may have not worked, maybe these are the signs? I was considering spraying their coup with a poultry mite spray. She has started getting very broody lately, so maybe the extra time in the coop is making her mites worse? I was concerned that the ghostly pale legs could be a symptom of something else. The wings falling forward makes me worried their may be something else going on. Any ideas as to what is going on with her?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi and

sounds like you might have had a pretty bad infestation of mites, if so and you treated her and the rest, you might just be seeing the after affects of what they can do. Try giving them some extra protein right now to build them back up. Yogurt [the really good kind] buttermilk, kefir, scrambled eggs, even canned salmon or tuna, high quality canned cat food, all of this a couple of times a week. I take yogurt or kefir and their regular feed and make a mash of it, mine love it. also even cooked chicken is good to help build them up right now. especially since you say she is acting broody. which could be another reason why she is acting like she is, I have several broodys right now and when they walk they have their wings out, feathers all puffed out which is usually telling everyone leave me alone. Did you treat you chickens again in 10 days for the mites and do the coop again, thats very important so you get the mites that hatch out in that time. I hope i haven't overwhelmed you with all that I've said, good luck and come back and let us know how she is doing.

 

[markangie28]

Miss Lydia,
Thank you for your warm welcome. I did retreat my hens after 10 days, but I did not retreat the coup. We cleaned it out very thoroughly today and sprayed it with Permectrin II. I absolutely didn't want to use harmful sprays, but I fear my birds will only get worse if this comes back. I am thankful for your suggestion to up the protein. I will try that. Nice to hear from a fellow Christian who loves her birds.
Thank You,
Angie

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi Angie, I know how you feel about using chemicals, I hated to have to do it too, but It's really the only way to get rid of them. Hopefully after some extra TLC you will see her perk up. Let us know how she is doing.

Blessing, Trish ♥