Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: maria gandy on September 07, 2011, 15:40

Title: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: maria gandy on September 07, 2011, 15:40: dear all,
this is my first message on this site!
i have a pair of barbu d'uccle bantams and lately one of them is looking increasingly sad.
her comb is deflated, she no longer lays, hardly moves and seems actually quite lame.
the other one is fine.
i have washed her feet which were clogged up with earth, but she didn't seem to be in any discomfort when i was holding her.
is there anything i should be checking for?
i am quite new to chickens but have never experienced a sick one before.
any advice would be very welcome,
thanks,
maria
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: joyfull on September 07, 2011, 15:57: when washing her feet did you see any lumps, swellings, cuts or dark areas?
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: bantam novice on September 07, 2011, 20:01: Welcome to the forum, Maria, and good luck with your hen :)
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: maria gandy on September 08, 2011, 15:33: thank you for your question,
yes her feet have got white lumpy barnacle looking bits on them, and they do look rather misshapen - do you know what this could be?
thanks again,
maria
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: Casey76 on September 09, 2011, 08:48: It sounds like scaley leg mite (without seeing photos). It can be treated using a spot-on flea killer (you will need to buy a pharmaceutical one, not a herbal one) - this isn't licensed for chickens, so you may have to sign a waiver if you buy from a vet.

Or... it could be an infection of the feather quills. Does the chicken have many broken feathers on her feet?
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: Helenaj on September 09, 2011, 15:07: Sorry to hear about your hen. Can you possibly post a close up picture of her feet, so that we can have a look. It does sound a lot like scaly leg which looks like this - http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/health/scaly-leg-mite.html

If it is it's fairly easy to get rid of and there are many ready made sprays you can use for it.
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: maria gandy on September 09, 2011, 17:30: yes it does look like that picture, but worse unfortunately! i have ordered some spray from omlet for this now which hopefully might work.
also in answer to the previous response her feet feathers are all broken and not looking so good - could she have a feather infection as well?
i am not very computer savvy so i will see if i can get someone to show me how to upload a photo,
thanks for all your help on this,
maria
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: kegs on September 09, 2011, 18:49: Quote from: maria gandy on September 09, 2011, 17:30
i am not very computer savvy so i will see if i can get someone to show me how to upload a photo,

Here's some information on uploading photos

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19476.0
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: maria gandy on September 22, 2011, 11:25: dear all,
i have been treating her feet with scaley leg mite spray - and she is much recovered!
thank you so much for all your help and suggestions,
this is a great site!
maria
Title: Re: rather sad lame chicken
Post by: compostqueen on September 22, 2011, 13:36: I hope she's picking up now and feeling much more comfy. You could do with finding a good poultry vet near you as with hens you might need one in a hurry as they get ill quite suddenly and might need nipping off to the vet. There is a list of one on this forum, put together from recommendations from ourselves :)