Weird gray hard lump on top of hen's ankle--PICTURES

[Eumeninae]

My husband just discovered a strange growth on one of our free range girls' legs. It's basically on top of her ankle. She doesn't limp and doesn't seem sick. I've included a picture of the bottom of her foot too, which looks healthy aside from all the dirt she's been scratching in. Any ideas? A wart? Infected injury? Bumblefoot? Scaly mites?

 

[M@M@2four]

It could be an injury, but that could also be scaly leg mites. It's basically "chicken lice" that will crawl under the scales of a chicken's leg, ankle, or foot. It causes their legs to look lumpy and it aggitates the chicken. The fastest way to get rid of them is to lather their legs in vaseline(this smothers the mites and the leg should then heal.) She may have chicken lice as well on her, so you'll want to dust her with Sevin dust, which you can buy at Wal-mart for under $5 in lawn and garden. I use the powder form and dust them all over including under the wings. Yes, everything will stick to her legs from the vaseline, but it's no big deal and it will wear off within a day.

Just my two cents!

 

[tiki244]

I am not so sure it is lice. It looks like an injury. I would clean it really well (soak in epsom salt water for 10 minutes), and then put antibiotic ointment on it. And bandage. Continue each day and after a few days put iodine solution (not straight iodine) on the owy and don't bandage.

 

[Eumeninae]

I'm pretty new to chickens and chicken medicine...is that pretty typical to for an injury on a leg to develop into a large hard lumpy scabbish thing like that?

One of my other chickens had swollen wattles two days ago and I was worried about Avian Cholera, until I noticed she had a cut or injury on one of the wattles (I think she got pecked 'cause she's low on the pecking order). She also looked and acted healthy aside from swollen wattles...her swelling has gone way down since then.

Thanks guys!

 

[kinnip]

It's not scaly leg mites. As we speak, I'm putting off going out to the coop to treat mine for them. The scaling spread out to other places on the legs before it started to really look scaly. It almost looks like something is wedged in there. I'd give a good wash with some mild soap and water and see what happens, it could come lose and give you a better idea of what's in there. Any time something is wrong with one of my animals I look into injuries first. Infection/infestation entails many variables. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

 

[heatheramack]

Hey neighbor,

How is the ankle doing? I don't have any advice as I'm a bit of a novice, but I wanted to say hi because I'm your neighbor in New Orleans. I've been looking for people in our area who raise chickens, too, and here you are!
I am in between flocks right now, but I'm chomping at the bit to get some new chicks, as long as I can make sure they're girls this time. We live in Mid City and the houses are a little too close for the noise our roosters were making at 5:30 every morning.
Anyway, please say hi and I'd love to hear more about your flock and your adventures.

Best wishes,
Heather

 

[yab]

it almost looks like a rock or something round got wedged into her foot

 

[silkiechicken]

My guess is she caught her foot on something and lifted a scale, and it's now a big ugly scab. I'd clean it up and see if anything comes out or off, and put some antibiotic ointment on it to heal.

Good luck!