Mysterious Chick Foot Illness...photos included.

festivefeet

Songster
10 Years
Apr 2, 2009
201
4
121
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This is a picture after I took the yellow scabbing off of my chick's feet.

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This is a picture I took this morning...showing the scabbing growing back.

Here's a recap of what has been happening:

I have contacted many chicken owners regarding a problem that I am having with my 6 day old chick. She is having an issue with her feet. No seems to have ever heard of something such as what I am dealing with. The photos attached will show you what the issue looks like. One shows the foot after I removed the yellow scabbing formations, the other shows how rapidly the growth returned the next morning. It's strange and I am not sure what to do.

My 6 day old Buff Orpington (hen) Chick has had a rough go from the start. She was lathargic when we got her and wouldn't eat, drink or huddle with the rest of the 5 chicks that we have. We are new to chicken raising. So my knowledge of fixing issues is limited. I was advised to give her pedialyte through a dropper every hour for a few days. This helped her to have energy to drink and eat and join the flock. The second day we had her I noticed something strange on her foot. It was only on one foot, between the toes. It looked like yellow scabbed growths of some sort. I thought maybe she had been pecked and this is what the scab looked like. I gently scratched some of it off. The next day it grew back. This went on for a couple of days. I then noticed that it started growing between the toes on the other foot as well. So now I know that it was not a scab. I have talked to many intelligent chicken raising friends and no one seems to know anything about this and finds it to be strange. I started the entire flock on antibiotics once a day, to avoid infecting the rest. She has been with the entire flock the whole time and still is. None of the others seem to bother her. She is still the smallest and least developed. All the others have long wing feathers now and tail feathers growing in. Her wing feathers are much shorter and she has no sign of tail feathers.

When the scabs are removed, they grow back the next day. It's odd. I have tried peroxide and neosporin. Nothing is helping. Maybe after today, I will see if she has improved from the antibiotic treatment. What is the correct treatment for 6 day old chicks anyway (antibiotics)? I put 1/4 tsp. in a gallon jug and filled it with water. I gave them that last night in the waterer. I then put new water in this morning and planned to put antibiotic water in again tonight. Is this right?

Please help. I want to save this chick if I can.
Jessica
 
Give a good vitamin supplement containing Panththenic Acid and Biotin and you will see an improvement within a week..I'ts either Chick Dermatitis or a Biotin Deficiency. both shows the same symptoms....
 
How long do I give the vitamin supplements? How many times a day? Do I treat the entire flock? Is it something I put in the water?

Should I stop the antibiotic treatments?

Is there somewhere online that I can read about these possible conditions?

Thanks so much for your help.
Jessica
 
Also, should I let the growths just continue and not take them off? And, would this have caused her to get a slow start? She is much smaller than the rest of them and her feather growth is slower as well.
 
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I know this sounds stupid on my part but those growths look like pine shavings stuck into sore feet.
Is she getting splinters and the goop is causing shavings to get stuck to her feet?
What kind of surface is she on?

Sorry she is having trouble.
 
I can surely attest that those are not shavings. Trust me. There were no sore feet to begin with....and then these growths started. I will admit, at first I thought it was shavings, until I took a closer look.

Anymore ideas?

Jessica
 
Quote:
I'ts Chick Dermatitis..If not already it will have crusty sores in the corner of the mouth as well as the vent..A water soluble vitamin supplement containing Pantothenic Acid and Biotin is what is needed..this will clear it up in 5 to 7 days........Durvet High Performance Poultry Pak, GQF Vitamins Plus and Avian Super Pack are good ones just to name a few..TSC usually has the Durvet Vitamins......
 
PINE GROVE: Thank you so much for your help. You are the only one that has come up with any kind of explanation. I will be going to tractor supply this morning to retrieve what I need.
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How long do I give the vitamin supplements? How many times a day? Do I treat the entire flock? Is it something I put in the water?

Should I stop the antibiotic treatments?
 

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