Weird skin issue? I’d love some help!

[vbell259]

Hi! This is my first time posting to BYC. Thanks in advance for your help

A couple weeks ago I noticed my 1 year old mystic maran hen has what looks like pink, scaleless lines down the outside of each leg. I’ll post a picture for clarity. On both legs, only this small outside strip is affected and the rest look normal. I tried to do some research to see if this might be caused by leg mites, but I haven’t seen them before in person and wasn’t entirely sure if that what is causing her issue.

The pink lines haven’t improved or gotten worse over the last couple weeks. I tried to gently probe them with my fingers and my hen didn’t seem overly bothered, like they were painful. I haven’t seen her or the other hens trying to pick at them. She is eating well (grower feed with open access to oyster shell due to mixed age flock), drinking, laying, and moving around like normal. If I couldn’t see the issue, I wouldn’t know anything was wrong. I have a flock of 8 and none have developed similar issues.

Any idea what this might be? Is it mites after all?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

Looks like the line is where feathers would normally grow in a feather footed birds. Looks like some of the feathers are either missing or just haven't grown in, I do see a few pin feathers. The pink color looks healthy and doesn't raise any alarms to me.

If she's eating/drinking - happy, then I'd just monitor her for a while.

 

[vbell259]

Welcome To BYC

Looks like the line is where feathers would normally grow in a feather footed birds. Looks like some of the feathers are either missing or just haven't grown in, I do see a few pin feathers. The pink color looks healthy and doesn't raise any alarms to me.

If she's eating/drinking - happy, then I'd just monitor her for a while.

Thanks for the reply! The pin feathers have been like that for as long she’s had the pink line. No real growth or change. If nothing changes in a couple weeks should I get it checked out?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks for the reply! The pin feathers have been like that for as long she’s had the pink line. No real growth or change. If nothing changes in a couple weeks should I get it checked out?

I don't see a reason to have it checked out, it looks o.k. to me.