Scaly leg mites? Something else? Pic heavy

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Jiskra

Jiskra

Chirping
12 Years
Jun 15, 2010
58
1
94
Maryland
Hi everyone, I am pretty new to chickens and am slightly paranoid about my chicks being sick. I have 4 chicks around 26 weeks old. My marans started laying at 18 weeks, laid for about 2 weeks and then stopped. She acts pretty normal. The others are all laying. They all act normal. But I just have a feeling something is wrong. I've been researching pests and sicknesses like crazy, checking the girls daily for mites and lice. I am thinking maybe they have leg mites?

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I think I am just paranoid but I am just so worried about them. I am going to soak their legs and put castor oil on them today just in case. I will scrub the coop tomorrow and put new sand in their run and new bedding in the coop. I ordered DE for dusting.
Everything I read so far said they should all lay through the winter the first year. They were hatched on April 27th. I really don't care if I don't have eggs, but I want them to be as healthy as possible.
Thank you so much for reading and for replies.
 
Your hens look FANTASTIC! No, they don't appear to have scaly leg mites. The scales on their legs would be raised, and crusty if they had mites. Their faces look clean (no pox or swelling), their eyes are clear, and they don't appear to have any drainage coming out of their nostrils. If they are eating and drinking and breathing normally (no coughing, wheezing, rattling in their chests) and are being fed a layer food as 90% of their diet, and have free choice oyster shell, I don't think you have any reason to believe they are sick. The one thing I did notice on the 3rd picture down, is that brown thing on her feet just a little piece of poop? If it is a scab, she could have bumblefoot, but I doubt it.
Also, a great resource to have around is Gail Damerow's Chicken Health Handbook--It is a great reference book for chicken illnesses, with lots of information on symptoms and cures of both common and rare chicken diseases.
Hope you have good success with your hens! They really are gorgeous girls :)
 
Thank you for the reply! The reason I thought they might have leg mites was the scales on the marans (first 4 pictures) looked kinda loose to me and with a little bit jagged edges. But I panic over every little thing so I wanted to get another opinion :) the thing on the 3rd picture was poop/dirt, I cleaned it up later when I was washing their feet. There are 2 cuts or cracked skin visible on that same picture, is that normal? No coughing or wheezing, the marans did "sneeze" for few days about a month ago and kept shaking her head but it went away really fast. They are fed layer pellets mixed with flock raiser, oyster shells are available as well. They do free range all day, our coop/run is on the smaller side and I feel like they would be stressed locked in there so I let them out at 9am and lock them when they go in at dusk, I see them eating the feed a lot throughout the day, maybe not 90% of their diet worth though. They get small amount of freeze dried meal worms every day. So yeah, by theory, they should be healthy. I stress stuff too much :D
I ended up rubbing A&D on their legs tonight just in case. Can't hurt right?
 
Jiskra said:
Thank you for the reply! The reason I thought they might have leg mites was the scales on the marans (first 4 pictures) looked kinda loose to me and with a little bit jagged edges. But I panic over every little thing so I wanted to get another opinion :) the thing on the 3rd picture was poop/dirt, I cleaned it up later when I was washing their feet. There are 2 cuts or cracked skin visible on that same picture, is that normal? No coughing or wheezing, the marans did "sneeze" for few days about a month ago and kept shaking her head but it went away really fast. They are fed layer pellets mixed with flock raiser, oyster shells are available as well. They do free range all day, our coop/run is on the smaller side and I feel like they would be stressed locked in there so I let them out at 9am and lock them when they go in at dusk, I see them eating the feed a lot throughout the day, maybe not 90% of their diet worth though. They get small amount of freeze dried meal worms every day. So yeah, by theory, they should be healthy. I stress stuff too much :D
I ended up rubbing A&D on their legs tonight just in case. Can't hurt right?
Click to expand...
Since chickens' feet step in a lot of "unsavory" stuff, I'd recommend you spray some Veterycin wound and skin care on the cuts to help prevent infection, and to help them heal up fast. I'm sure you take care of them super well :)
 

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