I have a SQ bantam Columbian Cochin that has extreme feathering on his legs and feet. I have had him for about 2 or 2 and 1/2 month now and he is magnificent. He is housed with his hen of the same age who is showing no similar problems on her feet or anywhere else that I have found yet. They are being kept on hay in a very large cage (2x6) which is temporary housing until their coop is completed which is very close, (within days) but up to this point that is what he has been on. I tried very hard to keep their quarters clean and I change the bedding often to insure that it is dry and clean. Of course that doesn't mean that he never steps in poo because he does, but so does everybody and they don't have any problems. For the life of me, I can't figure what has happened for or to him that is different and why he has this and no one else does.........so far. Of course he's complete separate from everyone else except his hen, and as I've said she does not have this. I don't know if the pictures show this well enough or not, but he of course has yellow feet and when I was working with him today and handling his feet, I noticed the pink on the inside of one of his toes. When I spread his toes out then and separated the feathers then I could see that the pink area was much more extensive and went all the way up his hocks. They are not bleeding, but are very irritated looking. It just looks like it either itches or it burns. I'm thinking its a fungus, but I'm lost. I'm relatively new to chickens (not animals in general) but chickens are so different than dogs and cats and fish for that matter. (I've had to doctor fish for injuries in the past). The weather is very chilly here. It's dropping down to below freezing at night and during the day it's only going up into the 50's, maybe near 60 and we're getting ready to have a string of rainy days which we've had a lot of recently. I thought about bringing him in and giving him a bath, or at the very least washing his feet, and it went through my mind to try some kind of foot powder on him. ???? Does that sound completely crazy. If you could see how thick the feathering is on his legs, I guess I'm not too surprised. I know I'd have to make sure that I got this feet COMPLETELY dry, and that makes me a little nervous. Like what if I misjudge and don't get it good enough, or get his belly damp and miss it, blah, blah, blah.........the list goes on.
Anybody got any ideas?
The image below is off the point of his hock. You can see how red and angry looking it is.
How can that not be hurting him? It looks miserable.
Anybody got any ideas?
The image below is off the point of his hock. You can see how red and angry looking it is.
How can that not be hurting him? It looks miserable.
