Nacktschnecken omlet Cube

[catherinedon]

just looked at my beautiful white silkie tonight and her legs look terrible. I feel really bad now as I dont generally inspect their legs. I have been keeping chickens for a year and have learned so much but this seems to be my next challange. Legs look dry with raised scales. Is this scaley leg mite? Should I be able to se mites. The other 10 girls seem ok but the silkie sleeps seperate to them (her choice) each night in the run and not the cube/ eglu. I have put her in the eglu tonight and closed the door while the others sleep in the cube. Do you think its scaley leg how do I traet will she be ok She seems very well and in fact is quite bossy. Her nails also look too long. Should I be cutting the girls nails?? If I should then I now feel really bad that I havent done this. On a seperate issue I have a girl who has gone from limping to completly non weight bearing on one foot. She does not appear to have scaley leg. She is very well other than hopping aroung but has done so for months?? Any idea what happened her thanks

[loumabel]

I am no expert but a couple of my chooks have had scaley leg before,it is easy to treat if you buy some scaley leg treatment and just squirt it on.The omlet shop sell it or many online sources sell various different ones,I have the 'nettex' one and this is very good. You can also apply a thick layer of vaseline to the legs making sure you get it under the scales and this suffocates the mites, Sudocrem can be used in this way too. Don't pick the scales off,they will drop of when the chook moults although they never really look the same again. With regard to the limping chicken I don't think scaley leg can make them limp but someone more experienced than me would know better.I had a pekin with a limp a few months ago and I took her to the vets and he prescribed metacam, a couple of weeks of this sorted out the problem and it hasnt come back since.

[Egghead68]

Check the underside of the foot of the one limping.

 

If you see a black lump it's bumblefoot.

 

Instructions for bumblefoot:

Put gloves on and see if you can remove the lump without hurting the chicken or touching it yourself (you can catch the germ - can't remember if streptococcus or staphylococcus). You then need to wipe the foot twice a day with iodine diluted in water to the colour of weak tea. If the foot is puss-y and hot she will need to see a vet for antibiotics. She should probably see a vet in any case unless you are really sure what you are doing.

 

There are many other causes of limping, but this is the one I find is most common in my hens.

[Egghead68]

Re nails - they should keep them down themselves if they are freeranging.

 

I second what loumabel says about scaley leg. Johnson's scaley leg spray is also good.

[Redwing]

Pekins and Silkies often suffer with scaley leg as their feathered feet mean its not obvious and so not spotted

 

Severe cases will make the chicken limp

 

Johnsons lice and mite spray is good, spray it all over the legs. if you want something to rub on Vaseline works well but is messy, sudocreme is better as it contains benzyl benzoate which kills the mites so has a double effect

 

If you look closely you'll see a yellow crust between the scales, when this starts to go you know you are winning, the scales will remain crusty until the next moult though and the legs will never be beautifully smooth again

 

Scales can rise normally when the bird is in moult and feather legged breeds do look worse in this respect as the feathers grow from between the scales so they will have naturally risen scales

 

For reference these are risen scales (the chook was moulting, you can see the new clean yellow scales on the left)

 

 

This is scaley leg (some months after the worst of it)

 

[catherinedon]

thanks so much Tillys legs look much worse than that picture really crusty. will buy some treatment today. I feel really bad ow as everyone keeps sawing that their nails shouldnt need cutting:( Her nails look terrible one is currled around. They have a lovely big run with a wood shaving floor reccomended by the hatchery. Under nesth is concreate and in parts earth. they have a constant supply of food in their grubs so maybe i need to make her search for food more ? They get out i the garden probably 5 times a week for over an hour each time. what am i doing wrong. Tilly has never made any attempt to sleep in either the cube or the eglu and can be found curled up in a corner behind the eglu every night. THe run is completly covered. I have now started lifting her in to the eglu every night. Have been bust=y putting down all new winter bedding so havent had a proper look at her feet. Im pretty sure when i picked her up thet they smell