Scaly Leg Mites - Need Best / Easiest / Quickest Solution - Scaley - Page 7

One of my chickens was very badly affected.  I didnt notice till they were really bad and she was limping.  It only took about a week to sort out the problem though. I washed her legs every other night in warm water and apple cider vinegar then coated with vaseline.  towards the end of the week great lumps of stuff were coming off her legs and within 10 days she looked fine again.

I was avoiding scrubbing the legs at all because of a comment I read about it being painful for the chicken.  So just to clarify; the nails of your chicken went back to their original state within 10 days??  I hope that is accurate, that is much sooner than I was expecting!

hi there i had the same problem but not that bad i used a powder form in the nest and its called pestene which costs 15 dollars nz thou but be cheaper everywhere else lol, which pestene is a insect powder and it kills mites and lices and its safe with the eggs as i use it everyday for my girls as i place the pestene in there nest in a heavy dose which work as they lay in the nest while laying there eggs the mites and lice leave the chicken and go straight for the pestene which destroys the mites and lice straight away and i dose under there wings and bum just to be safe but thats just me, as i have 21 different rare breeds so i have to keep my girls in perfect condition and butter is also good and i have also tryed butter and it kills the mite as they need air to live, i apply butter just before there bedtime all over there legs in a heavy dose which i rub all over there legs the butter stays cold and detroys the mite faster cheap and works great but every1 has there different ways of destroying the mites,

Have you tried olive oil spray or vegetable oil or vaseline?

I believe some of my adopted hens have scaly leg mites so I appreciate everyone's opinions and will start working on them tomorrow to get rid of it. I think I will treat my 6 week old chicks legs too just to be on the safe side.

I picked up a pair of Olde English Game banties this weekend> The rooster has mites bad the hen not so much soI just washed them both with warm water and apple cider vinegar along with a soft toothbrush scrub. Coated the legs and feet with mineral oil and we will see what happens now.

We have no leg mites here... yet. But I just want to thank you all for posting. I learn so much here.   Nifty, how are your chickens??

Mineral oil is cheap.  I pour a bunch in a coffee can and dunk the chickens legs in that.  I also buy a 50 lb bag of DE and dust liberally each time dh cleans the coop, which is about once a week.  Especially dust well around the edges and the I leave a pile of it for the chickens to have dust baths in.

We went from having 2 silkie roos with terrible mites to very clean legs all around.  It was all thanks to suggestions here.

Well this is a heck of a thread, and answered many questions I have.  I got a couple chickens with the leg mites, and will be using the tea tree oil and mineral oil to fight it.  I will post in a week with the results!


Not to combat any opinions here about WD-40 - it is the best and cheepest wasp and hornet killer on the market!!

Thanks all for the info!

My hen Mabeline has what I'm pretty sure is a bad case of scaly leg mites.  I feel so bad for her.  She is really starting to suffer with them... I've sprayed her legs a few times with Permethrin (sp?), but that has not done the trick - and she HATES being sprayed.  My thoughts are giving her a good soaking bath tonight in a warm "flea shampoo" bath (legs only), use a soft brush on her legs, then give her a dose of "Advantage".  I have some extra tubes that I got for my cat... I think the dosage would be fine because they weigh about the same and the dosage is for "under 10#".  I've actually used Advantage drops on some of the girls before when they had "red" mites and it worked like magic!  I'm willing to try this to avoid the slipping, sliding and mess of Vaseline.  I can just picture the poor old girl trying to get on a perch tonite... all covered in Vaseline and pine bedding... might as well tar and feather the poor thing. No pun intended.