Inflamed bloody polyp like rash on roosters hock/area above shank

[Smmooney2589]

Hi there! First time poster and posting for my parents really who have a rooster (forgive me if any of my terminology with anatomy is off, as I am not too familiar with roosters but I will be attaching pics as well so that will hopefully help). The rooster is about 4 years old and about a month ago when visiting my dad I noticed the area above the featherless leg, right where the feathers start, was a bit red and inflamed. My mom chaulked it up to being from his spurs and trimmed them, the thing is though, it is on the front side of the hock joint, not the back.. and as I understand it, Injuries from spurs would likely occur on the sides and backs of the legs.anyway, one month later I notice the rash is now progressed to severe polyp like bloody lumps and it even extends way up into his chest and sides of his outer leg. I don’t live there so can’t attest to his eating habits and behavoiurs and seeing as how my parents didn’t even notice this rash, I don’t think they would be able to honestly tell me how his eating /drinking has been. I have reversed image search these pictures to no avail and done hours of research last night looking for anything similar on here but could not find anything so any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this if you made it this far also, was not able to get pics of the chest so much but the redness starts where the feather inserts( much like what you can see in the photo of the leg)

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I have seen the red and irritated skin in pictures on threads her before, but I am not sure of the exact cause. I will tag @Wyorp Rock @azygous and @coach723 in case they have any thoughts. He looks to have scaly leg mites which might be related. What type of bedding does he use, and is wet or muddy? Does he have any sore on his breast bone or keel? Have you ever seen Mareks disease in your flock before? I would look his skin over for the presence of an lice or mites. For scaly leg mites, you can soak his legs in warm water with a bit of Dawn or Epsom salts. Then after drying apply a thick oil (castor, petroleum jelly, mineral, Vicks, or Nustock sulfur and pine oil cream twice a week. If a vet is possible, they might recommend a steroid medication for the red sore legs. Hydrocortisone cream might help. If his spurs are too long, trimming and dulling them slightly might help.

 

[coach723]

I wonder if there are deplumbing mites as well. That would explain the feather loss in those area's as well as the irritation. Deplumbing mites are microscopic and burrow into the skin at the base of feather shafts, and into the feather shaft. Some birds will pull their own feathers trying to get relief from them. Ivermectin is the treatment for those.
I've also seen pictures of viral papilloma's on song birds that look something like that, but cannot find a picture of a chicken that resembles that.
https://btoringing.blogspot.com/2009/03/papilloma-in-chaffinches-not-for-faint.html

 

[Smmooney2589]

Thank you all so much for the replies so far! I am relaying info to my step mom and will get back to you on answers to your questions shortly! Really appreciate the response!!

 

[Eggcessive]

If using ivermectin pour on 5 mg per ml, dosage is 0.05 ml per pound or 0.1 ml per every 2 pounds of weight. It is applied to the back of the neck in the midline over the spine once and again in 14 days.

 

[azygous]

The fact that he has identical lesions in the exact same location on each shank, and stacked with possible lesions on his breast, indicates to me he may be injuring himself trying to reach a high perch at roosting time.

Being four years old, he's probably quite heavy. A heavy bird may injure their legs and breast as they jump to the perch and miss it, scraping body parts in the aborted effort.

Someone needs to check the roosts for height and roughness and especially observe this guy as he tries to roost.

 

[LaFleche]

Hi there! First time poster and posting for my parents really who have a rooster (forgive me if any of my terminology with anatomy is off, as I am not too familiar with roosters but I will be attaching pics as well so that will hopefully help). The rooster is about 4 years old and about a month ago when visiting my dad I noticed the area above the featherless leg, right where the feathers start, was a bit red and inflamed. My mom chaulked it up to being from his spurs and trimmed them, the thing is though, it is on the front side of the hock joint, not the back.. and as I understand it, Injuries from spurs would likely occur on the sides and backs of the legs.anyway, one month later I notice the rash is now progressed to severe polyp like bloody lumps and it even extends way up into his chest and sides of his outer leg. I don’t live there so can’t attest to his eating habits and behavoiurs and seeing as how my parents didn’t even notice this rash, I don’t think they would be able to honestly tell me how his eating /drinking has been. I have reversed image search these pictures to no avail and done hours of research last night looking for anything similar on here but could not find anything so any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this if you made it this far also, was not able to get pics of the chest so much but the redness starts where the feather inserts( much like what you can see in the photo of the leg)

This kind of injuries in exactly the same place are most often caused by the constant friction/cutting of sharp overgrown spurs that will not allow the wounds to heal as they will cut into them with every step the rooster takes.

He will also have trouble roosting comfartably as he gets stabbed by his own spurs when trying to lower down and getting comfortable.

Here is what I did when I first discovered this issue many years ago with one of my older rooster:

Cutting off the spurs using a Dremel too which will cauterize ar the same time, so no oain, no bleeding, no infection and the legs get plenty time to heal until it is time to cut the spurs again.

Disinfecting thoroughly and cover with triple antibiotic ointment daily.

Adding some poultry vitamins to the water for up to four consecutive days.

Feeding freshly grated carrots with greek yoghurt and germ oil and twice a week scrambled eggs.