[Rochelle]

Hi, I have 'inherited' a lovely pekin bantam cockeral who is very poorly ? He has terrible scaly leg, extremely long claws and is not eating or drinking.
I have put ointment on his legs and trimmed his nails but am at a loss how to get him to eat and drink. Any ideas welcomed. I've tried him with mixed corn and growers pellets so far, with no luck. Tomorrw I'm going to dig some worms up for him.
Thanks in advance x

[Richmond]

Tbh it sounds like he has been terribly neglected and is maybe giving up on life. You don't say how old he is but the length of his spurs will give you a rough idea - growth rate is about 1 cm per year of age. It may be kinder to despatch him. Also unless you get the scaly leg eradicated it will spread to any existing hens you have so don't mix him with anyone else. There are 100s of young pekin cockerels out there looking for homes so why not take in a better specimen and let this guy go to chicken heaven.

[Rochelle]

Thank you for your advice, but I want to give the little fella a chance.
I'm going to try him with chopped up boiled egg in the morning, as I've read on here that it may get him to eat.
He is separated from the other birds, so they don't become infected.
He seems fine in himself, he's just not eating. Hopefully he will eat something tomorrow ?

[chrismahon]

He instinctively won't eat worms as they are bad for them- they carry intestinal worms I think?


We took in a little chap in the same condition. Keep him warm is important and make sure he drinks. You might have to very slowly trickle some water down into his beak. Egg may work, but just keep trying.


Scaley leg is a very painful condition as the mites are eating his legs under the scales. Try brushing his legs with olive oil, which capillaries under the scales and suffocates the mites. There are treatments available but he probably needs quicker relief and it may be the pain that has caused the loss of appetite. You are right to separate him as he may have other mites (Northern Fowl), lice and worms- they can be treated later? But check under his feathers for lice or scabs, particularly around the vent.

[landroverroy]

If you have, or can buy, borrow or steal some Ivomec pour on (or similar generic), then a pigeon fancier's trick is to stand the bird in a 10x diluted solution for a few minutes which will then soak into his feet and legs and kill the scaly leg mites. In addition, it gets into his body and also destroys any internal parasites (eg worms) and it spreads in the blood stream and will kill lice and mites.
 I use it on my hens for red mite treatment. I put a few drops on the skin, or comb at the top of the head - where the bird doesn't preen, and again it spreads to kill anything crawling about, and any worms. Because your's has scaly leg, I would also put a few drops on each leg. 
Because I keep cattle, I always have some Ivomec pour on in stock;  but you would probably be able to get it from a pet shop or internet, for use in pigeons. Do not say it's for poultry.