Silkies missing toes, could it be Scaley Leg Mites? See Pics below

[Chickie'sMoma]

i have a sizzle with one of her toes missing like that. she was perfect as a couple month old pullet-now 6mo, but i noticed a few weeks ago while checking her over that her toe looked like it had been nipped off and healed with no trace. she had been outside for the last few months with other girls and i figured she had been getting picked on by some of them since she stays away from them most of the time.

 

[TreeHugger]

Are you sure they had all of their toes when they were chicks?

I purchased eggs from a silkie breeder a few years back & all of the chicks were born without the "proper" feet. They weren't crippled or anything, but their feet looked like your silkies feet. They either had a few extra toes (in addition to the extra toe a silkie is suppose to have) or the toe to the outside of the foot was short & stubby. I only had issues with the birds that came from that one breeder.

 

[mypicklebird]

I love the silkie's expression in the first photo!
These don't look like scaly leg mite feet. They look like funny silkie feet. The missing toes/nails look like they were born like that, or it happened long enough ago that the ends have healed. It may have been toes getting stuck in brooder wire, or rats or anything- but unless you start seeing new damage or loss- you may not ever know where they went, or if they were ever there at all...

 

[Carol.in.WV]

Chickie'sMoma :

i have a sizzle with one of her toes missing like that. she was perfect as a couple month old pullet-now 6mo, but i noticed a few weeks ago while checking her over that her toe looked like it had been nipped off and healed with no trace. she had been outside for the last few months with other girls and i figured she had been getting picked on by some of them since she stays away from them most of the time.

I wondered if something could have bit it off but each chicken is missing the outside or outside and inside toes and I really think I would have noticed blood if it had been pecked at or something. In fact the reason I looked so closely at the first one was because I brought him in the house and first thing is to get their feet washed. Then I noticed the nails were too long and sort of crooked or weird so I clipped them using the cat nail clipper. I put him back outside but noticed blood on the paper under the roost so brought him in to stop the bleeding from the nail and that is when I took a really good look at his feet. So I would imagine a toe or 4 or so would cause a lot of blood from an injury but these just seem to have disappeared like leprosy does. The one that is not missing toes has a nail that looks odd, like it has turned black while the others are light colored and I'm afraid it might mean that toe is dying.

Has anyone seen a chicken that lost toes from scaley leg mites or anything else?​

 

[Carol.in.WV]

Quote:
The first thing I checked when I opened the box of chicks was for 5 toes and black skin (having never seen a silkie in person but having studied many pictures).

 

[naakte]

This is an old post, but I feel I must reply in case someone else has this issue. On Mothers day about 3 weeks ago I hatched my first shipped clutch of eggs. I got 5 little seramas from that first clutch. at a week old i noticed what I thought was poop on one of the chickies feet. I soaked the foot in water for about 5 minutes then gently brushed the toe with a childs toothbrush. the toe nail fell off. I was horrified. there was no blood at all. I dabbed it with iodine and did nothing else. a few days later I noticed that a lot of toes were looking the same. I sat for 2 whole hours before i saw what was going on. one chick was pecking on toes of the others. I was mad but just put the offending chick in a separate brooder for 4 days the chicks affected 3 of them are all healed over and The offending chick is now back in the brooder. I have not seen any more damage and hopefully i wont. if I do see any more i think i will cull the meanie. But I want to give it a chance. If you want eggs that are packaged to make it, and a high fertility rate contact Lisa in Aiken SC. She does a great job

Donna in branson