SORE FEET AND LEGS
As with many conditions that differ from normal, sore feet and legs are generally only the end result of conditions which may have no apparent connection. However, if the cage and perches are not kept clean, if the bird does not bathe regularly, or if the perches are the wrong size or are coated with gravel, it becomes necessary to correct these obvious errors in management. When a bird is ailing it will often refuse its bath, and its feet are likely to become quite dirty. The corrective measure here is to put the bird on a normal seed and green food diet with rich additions such as egg food only during the moulting and breeding seasons.
In older birds, scales on the legs and toes will very often build up rather than slough off, causing an unsightly and sometimes a painful condition. These can be softened with a little olive oil and gently removed without injury to the bird. Heavy callouses on the bottom of a bird’s feet may be due to improper perching or to a fungus growth. In hot, humid climates the latter is a possibility, and it is suggested that you ask your druggist for a small amount of one of the new fungicides for trial. Perches should be made of soft wood and should never be gravel coated.
If the sore feet are accompanied by overgrown claws it may be that a joint was strained due to the claw catching somewhere in the cage. The remedy, of course, is to keep the claws properly trimmed.