Author Topic: Pekin feet mud balls (Read 2415 times)

plumseverywhere · « **on:** December 20, 2014, 08:35:22 am »

Just wondering the best way to deal with these? My cockerel has one. Am going to soak it off but does anyone do anything preventatively *apart from the trying to keep mud down side of things? Am wondering if feather trimming is out of the question for any reason? First time its happened and we've had them for a few years now

devonlady · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2014, 08:40:04 am »

Clip the feathers from their feet, just up where the blood supply is. Or keep them in a stable or similar for the winter. I've given up feathery legs for this reason!

Eve · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2014, 09:07:35 am »

We need to clip their feathers, too. They're also the only ones we ever had that suffer from scaly leg mite.

I tried cutting through a mud ball once thinking the rest might soak or wear off - rock hard it was.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2014, 10:20:57 am »

Get someone to hold the bird then hold the leg in a small container (yogurt pot?) of warm water. After about five minutes use a small, blunt knife (old penknife?) to chip off tiny bits of mud, then resoak. It can take twenty minutes to finish but provided you're quiet and gentle the bird will be fine.

plumseverywhere · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2014, 10:42:50 am »

All done. He's paddled his feet in my bathroom basin and eventually we managed to get the mudballs off (was a couple of tiny ones between toes and one bigger one) trimmed feathers back as far as a I could and gave hime a spray of scaly let mite stuff just in case (he looks thickened rather than scaly as he's had SLM before this looks different)
thanks for advice folks - the other 13 fluffy footed jobbies are all fine, just Zola!