Hens feet have lost scales and are all dried out and stiff! HELP!

[Elvenpotter]

I have a chicken who has something really wrong with her feet! My mom and brother brought her in cause she wasnt looking very good and was having trouble walking. According to my brother (hes the chicken expert, and this is his chicken) shes had problems with her feet for a while but he never did anything. Anyway, they soaked her feet in warm water and Epsom salts and a whole ton of dead, and decaying skin and scales came off. They then put iodine on her feet and left her in a little cage by herself for the night. The next day we looked at her feet, and her toes were stiff, and almost like they are all dried out. What must of happened is that they managed to take off all her scales on her feet, and now they are stiff and cant bend at all. I'm really worried, and I cant find anything on the internet that helps me with this, and I'm at a total loss of what to do.

Will her scales grow back and her feet then become flexible? Should we be trying to intensely hydrate her feet somehow to hopefully get them flexible again? Or do we need to just put her out of her misery? Her feet don't seem to cause her pain, but its very hard for her to walk and move around.

ANY advice would be greatly appreciated!!! I can post a picture if that would be helpful.

 

[Sonya9]

A picture would be good.

 

[Elvenpotter]

Here are some photos of her feet. The colour is from the iodine.

 

[Sonya9]

Get other opinions but it looks a lot like scaley leg mites. See here: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/03/scaly-leg-mites-in-chickens.html

Her nails are really really long, has she been walking around normally outside?

Do any of the other birds have odd looking scales on their feet?

 

[Elvenpotter]

I think she did have scaly leg mite. I'm most concerned about the fact that her feet are rigid and her toes wont bend.

I think she has been struggling to walk, should I clip her nails?

Some of my other birds have scaly leg mite, but there's nothing else unusual.

 

[Sonya9]

Quote: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/03/scaly-leg-mites-in-chickens.html

If you know they have it then this is likely related to the mites. You might want to think about treating the birds before they start losing toes.

As far as this bird, if she has not been treated the mites are not gone. Even if she is treated and the mites disappear it will take a while for the damage to heal.

Hopefully someone else can give advice on this.

 

[Elvenpotter]

Ok, we'll treat her then.

 

[Sonya9]

Treat all of them otherwise they too will suffer and end up with the same serious problems.

I would be careful with the one that is ill though, use the safest most effective treatment that won't hurt as she has to be suffering.

 

[Suzie]

You did everything right but you did not put vaseline on her feet after cleaning her feet...vaseline will smother the existing mites..it also helps to add some moisture with the drying out of their feet after an epsom salt or betadine soak...both of which have a drying effect..as her toe nails are so long..they need a soak and trimming...do the trimming in stages as there is a blood supply to her toe nails...if you by chance see any blood you can put some sugar or flour on the area if you do not have any antibiotic powder...the blood supply will diminish after a few days so trimming can be done again..

With scaly leg mites...you will need to apply a liberal amount of vaseline to the feet...use in an upward direction from the base of the leg scales..the vaseline smothers the mites...apply up to where the feathers start on her legs...ALL chickens will need the same treatment..after a few days treat all chickens again...it may take a few weeks until you can eradicate the problem...treatment is easier at nightfall...when all of them are on the roost...

Good luck!

 

[Elvenpotter]

Thanks for the advice! Its all very helpful! I'll work on taking good care of them now!