Infection in my sister's chicken's right foot.

[Syllogism]

Hello All

My sister was given a chicken to keep as a pet a couple of months ago. Because the chicken is a gift I don't any specifics about it's age, breed, etc. All I can tell you is it's a chicken in South Africa, Cape Town and it's allowed to roam freely in her yard and generally appear to be healthy.

So recently we've noticed that the chicken's right foot has something funky going on, it appears there's some sort of weird black gunk collecting around it and what looks like weird growths. Please have a look at the pictures by following this link:
http://imgur.com/22d0N4x,MbU8mL7#0

As you can see the right foot(the chicken's right) has what looks like a extra growth just above where the toes meet the stem of the foot. It also has this black stuff(not dirt)

Anyone know what this is and if it's serious?

Thanks for any help!

Syllogism

 

[foxy]

Hello and welcome Syllogism 99

Looking at your photograph it does look like a case of scaley leg mite. These are an external burrowing mite that does cause a lot of discomfort to the bird. The ink below contains more information and how to treat

http://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/scaly-leg-mite

 

[Marigold]

Hi Syllogism, just to add that, as with redmite, one treatment won't be enough to cure the problem. Badly affected birds in particular will need repeated treatments to break the cycle of egglaying from the mites. The trouble is that this feels like rather a useless task for a while, because as Tim says in his article on Poultrykeeper, no change will be noticed until the bird moults and then grows replacement scales on her legs.
If your friend gets a companion for her hen, (which would be a good idea, they don't like living on their own) the new bird or birds would need to be treated at the same time, because any mites which hatched on the original bird would spread to the newbies.
You can get spray cans of anti-scaley-mite stuff, which may be less painful than surgical spirit for the bird. The instructions suggest using the spray regularly on apparently unaffected birds, to avoid an infestation getting out of hand as the early signs are hard to detect until the hen is in considerable discomfort. I use it on my hens and so far it seems to do the job, ie I've not had apparent scaley mite on any of them, but whether or not this would have happened if they were not being treated is an open question. I don't know how effective it is at curing actual bad infestations but you could tell your friend about it anyway as its easy to apply. I think the idea of supplementing treatment with a coating of Vaseline to suffocate the mites sounds as if it might also help to soften and lubricate the raised and uncomfortable scales as well.
A really bad infestation such as in your picture does need very urgent treatment and I think the option of a trip to the vet for Ivermectin would be the best thing to do, to hit it as hard as possible. There's a danger that if she gets a crack in the base of her foot this may get infected also, and a problem called bumble foot will result.
I couldn't help wondering whether perhaps your sister doesn't know very much about parasite control in chickens, and therefore her coop may also be infested with untreated redmite, and its possible that her hen isn't being wormed regularly either. Perhaps she would like to join the Forum herself when she gets back, she would be very welcome, and lots of friendly help is freely available here.

 

[chrismahon]

Very bad case (and very old as well) of scaly leg mite. The scales above have dropped off and regrown so probably a year since visible infection. Benzole benzoate is the vet treatment but dunking in vegetable oil three times for 5 minutes a week apart may do the job -never tried it. So a weekly check Syllogism is a good idea. Vent, lice, feet, beak etc. Catches problems early so easier to treat.

 

[Icemaiden]

What would the vet do with the benzyl benzoate, Chris? Would they just wipe the neat liquid onto the hen's legs?

 

[Chuck]

Benzyl Benzoate was traditionally applied with a shaving brush on humans and is that's the way I've always applied it. Also with humans, a hot bath to soften the skin before applying the lotion. I used to use it on my goats for scaly heel which is also mites and always applied it with a shaving brush and put the heels in warm water first. Any medium brush or cotton wool/gauze should do the objective being to get it as far down into the scales as poss. BB is not readily available from Chemists any more (EU again I suspect) but can be bought via the net.

 

[chrismahon]

As Chuck says. We use a paint brush to force it up under the scales. The stuff from the vet was diluted with water 50% according to instructions (incredibly cheap to buy). The stuff we bought here in the Chemist (expensive, but the vet didn't stock it) was the human version for Scabies which we used neat. Stand the bird in a tray with the solution and brush vigorously -discard the remainder.

 

[BabyBantam]

How do you tell if a bird with feathered legs has this problem - just asking

 

[Icemaiden]

I can't imagine any of my girls taking a hot bath without a fight- what's the secret? Do you have to fill it wilth mealworms??

 

[chrismahon]

Feathered footed birds are usually a problem, simply because the leg mite can't be seen easily and it gets really bad before it is obvious. They are more susceptible anyway BB so they should be checked regularly.

It's not a hot bath Icemaiden. The solution is at ambient temperature and just a few mm deep, just enough to dip the brush in. Two person job obviously. One holds and one brushes. Sometime they won't stand still so they are picked up and the tray and brush moved to them.