Often the lesions will bleed severely. This problem is most commonly observed in birds raised on wire floors during the autumn season of the year. Many causes of these type foot problems have been suggested and include insect stings, nutritional deficiencies, injuries and diseases. Actually, the most common cause is a combination of these factors. The condition is usually started from the bites of mosquitoes while they suck blood from the birds.
Mosquitoes enter the house in larger numbers in the autumn when temperatures begin to fall.
The feet are the most exposed part of the body because the mosquitoes can attack from beneath the wire floor as the bird sleeps. Birds housed on dirt or litter floors do not have a high incidence of this problem. After the bite has occurred, the foot becomes inflamed from irritation of the bite or from quail pox virus that is injected by the mosquito. The irritation becomes a discomfort that the bird pecks at and the foot forms a scab from the constant pecking. A reaction to the quail pox disease may also complicate the problem.