Autumn has a problem

I am telling Autumn’s story in hind sight because there was a point we were sure we were going to lose her and I just couldn’t write this at that point. I am afraid this is a rather long post because in hind sight means there is a lot of background to tell.

Last year Dot had scaly mite which was the first time we had experienced this. I treated all the girls with scaly mite spray every three days for three weeks. I deep cleaned the chicken shed. Shortly after I realised Dot had them I realised Sugar did too but I had treated the whole flock. I vowed to keep a regular check on their feet from then on.

I used vaseline on both Dot’s and Sugar’s feet to help soften the scales while healing. It takes a year for the scales to completely heal and the sad thing was that Dot’s had completely healed when we lost her.

This spring when checking their feet I realised Sugar had them again and Autumn had a mild case of them. I had caught it much earlier this time. I again sprayed the whole flock every three days for three weeks and cleaned the chicken shed and sprayed the shed.

I didn’t bother blogging about this because with red mite and scaly mite once you have them you have to be vigilant for ever and treat at the first sign. I had caught it early so there wasn’t really anything much to say or so I thought at the time.

Sugar’s feet are really gnarled as she has had it twice but again I used vaseline and she coped fine. I also used vaseline on Autumn and she healed well.

Quite a while after this I saw one morning that Autumn had pecked a scale off her leg and made it bleed. I googled what was the best thing to do and it says to spray three or four times a day with antimicrobal spray. I ordered vetericyn spray. It’s antimicrobal poultry care for healing aid and skin repair and doesn’t sting.

Within a week Autumn was healed so I didn’t bother blogging about it. Soon after Autumn was healed she pecked another scale off. This pattern continued with Autumn pecking another part of her leg every time one bit had healed. It was frustrating but it didn’t seem to hamper her and every time I sprayed the wound three times a day until it healed.

Autumn continued to do this probably about a dozen times and I kept spraying each wound until it healed. I had hoped that she would eventually stop doing this. It was really frustrating but manageable and it didn’t seem to be effecting her too much.

Then one morning Autumn pecked a bigger than usual wound on one leg. I felt really frustrated that she had done this when she was so nicely healed and used the spray again. Later that day she pecked another bigger than usual wound on the other leg. The next morning Autumn hadn’t come out of the chicken shed. When I went to get her I saw that she had pecked several wounds on both feet and more on her legs. I was horrified. She looked a mess and it was obviously painful. She also had a feather stuck to one of the wounds on her foot.

I bought Autumn indoors and stood her in a bowl of warm water. I soaked the wounds and managed to remove the feather. I dried her feet and put savlon on her wounds. I then put her in the dog crate with water, mash, sunflower hearts and chopped tomato.

While handling Autumn I could tell she was lighter and realised that she may have stopped eating. She refused to eat anything while in the crate.

By now I was worried about her not eating. I sprayed her wounds again and returned her to the run and she sat on top of the nest box as in the photo above. I put food in front of her but she didn’t eat. She continued to peck more wounds. At this point I felt sure we were going to lose her. There were two things that could be her downfall. She wouldn’t heal if she kept pecking more wounds and she wouldn’t gain strength if she didn’t eat.

I dreaded what I would find next morning but the next morning she was out in the run. I put dishes of mash on the patio area. I have put vitamins in the water and will continue to do that until this is over. I found that Autumn wouldn’t eat if I separated her but as long as she was in the run she would eat if I dropped bits in front of her.

I dropped corn, sunflower hearts, bits of spinach and chopped tomato in front of her through out the day. At one point when she was on the patio I put a dish of mash and chopped tomato in front of her and she ate some of that.

I have done loads of research about this. I had wondered about somehow covering her feet to stop her pecking them. The information says you can use vet wrap if a chicken has bumble foot which is a sore on the base of the foot which must be kept clean. It would be very difficult to wrap both feet. If it’s too tight the foot can die. If it’s too loose they will peck it off or it may catch on something or dirt may get in.

The advice is not to wrap unless it’s a wound on the base of the foot. It says even deep wounds will heal as long as they are kept clean with the spray several times a day.

I feel that all I can do is to keep doing what I am doing. I am feeling more positive now that she can get better. The odd thing is that her legs and feet were nothing like as bad as Dot’s and Sugar’s. But it seemed as if it had become a habit to keep on pecking them. Then she just went into a frenzy of two days of pecking them in many places.

I have seen photos of rescue chickens with very much worse feet and legs from scaly mite and they have got better. Autumn’s legs and feet looked barely effected and yet she just kept pecking away at them. This is a horrible experience.

I had just sprayed her again at this point. And again this is a new problem that we have never encountered before. I have just bought another spray as I can’t risk running out of it.

Over the last few days we were certain we going to lose Autumn. We have a long way to go yet but she is eating and gaining strength. She is limping though as it obviously hurts but we just really need her to stop pecking at it and that’s down to her because we can’t do any more than we are.

I am just keeping everything crossed and will continue to spray her and drop food in front of her and do all I can to keep her going.