Soft lumps on multiple roosters’ legs

[SuperFluffyChickens]

Hello, I first noticed this issue in my 1-yr-old EE rooster’s leg, he has a swollen spot around where his “ankle” would be, although it wasn’t hot or reddened. I noticed he was sitting down a lot, but is still able to walk normally, and seemed to behave normally otherwise - crowing, mating with hens, he can roost and run around, so I wasn’t terribly worried.

Then, I noticed a similar lump, in a similar place, on my 4-month-old cockerel, I noticed him lying down more than his siblings so I decided to check him more thoroughly. He’s a lot more cooperative than the older roo!

The lump isn’t hot or red, it feels squishy like a water balloon.

My main concern is, my flock is positive for Marek’s and Avian Leukosis. Both birds mentioned above were vaccinated for Marek’s. I’ve heard of Leukosis causing hemangiomas, but this doesn’t really look like that. It’s just odd that two of my birds, who are completely unrelated, would have such similar issues. Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

 

[azygous]

The only thing that comes to mind is scaly leg mites. While the scales appear to be mostly healthy appearing, it's possible that mites are getting an early start in that particular spot.

To treat, you can soak the legs in warm water with a dash of Dawn detergent for fifteen minutes, dry and apply a thick coating of petroleum jelly or castor oil to suffocate the mites. It can take a couple weeks of treatment to be successful.

Or you can get some Elector PSP (spinosad insecticide) and soak the legs for ten minutes and be done with it. This is much easier than the other treatment when dealing with multiple chickens.

Clean and treat the coop as well.