Really BAD case of Scaly Leg Mites

cityfarmers

Chirping
7 Years
Sep 22, 2012
4
0
60
Hi, we are kind of new at this, so I'm hoping the community can give me some feedback and tips about my silkie girl's bad case of scaly leg mites...
We only have 2 hens and we are still learning things from friends and websites like this. I didnt realize my hen had this problem, as I had no frame of reference, and now her feet are really bad.
I feel horrible!!
I believe we acquierd her with this and I didnt recognize it right off the bat. She went broody very soon after we got her, and we managed to correct that, but she has been acting strange and not laying eggs ever since. We thought it was a byproduct of the broodiness... Anyway - long story short - now we know, and I have been frantically searching the internet for treatments and tips. It seems that people are divided on the Vaseline/Oiling the feet vs. Ivermectin. So I have decided to do both based on the severity of her condition.
I oiled her feet 6 days ago, followed by treating with 3 drops of Injectable Ivermectin (10mg/ml) on the back of her neck.
What I am not clear about is how long this should all take to start clearing up??? and when (or if) to repeat the Ivermectin treatment?? Was that an appropriate dose? Should I put it directly on the feet?
I plan to repeat the Oiling/Vaseline several times. I also cleaned to coop and treated the other hen.

Any advice you can give me would be welcomed!

Here are some photos.



Thank you..
 
Bumping this post so it's on the top of the forum. good luck and
welcome-byc.gif
 
I have the same issue but far worse. Just bought a new house with 5 chooks. One has scaley leg mite so bad it can only hop on the one remaining leg. the affected foot has a toe hugley malformed and grossly enlarged (about the size of a large mans thumb). The chook shed is filthy so they probably have every mite under the sun. Yucko!
I cant see how this can be fixed. Should it be amputated or can it be saved? Should she be euthenaised?
 
I have an update! It's been almost 2 weeks since the Ivermectin treatment.
The growths are loosening and falling off. It's evident that her toes are damaged and deformed underneath. It looks painful. I will continue rubbing polysporin and Vaseline into her feet. It helps loosen the growths.
She seems to be feeling better. Moving around a bit more, clucking.
The pharmacy suggested repeating the ivermectin treatment two weeks after the first dose.
 
Hi, we are kind of new at this, so I'm hoping the community can give me some feedback and tips about my silkie girl's bad case of scaly leg mites...
We only have 2 hens and we are still learning things from friends and websites like this. I didnt realize my hen had this problem, as I had no frame of reference, and now her feet are really bad.
I feel horrible!!
I believe we acquierd her with this and I didnt recognize it right off the bat. She went broody very soon after we got her, and we managed to correct that, but she has been acting strange and not laying eggs ever since. We thought it was a byproduct of the broodiness... Anyway - long story short - now we know, and I have been frantically searching the internet for treatments and tips. It seems that people are divided on the Vaseline/Oiling the feet vs. Ivermectin. So I have decided to do both based on the severity of her condition.
I oiled her feet 6 days ago, followed by treating with 3 drops of Injectable Ivermectin (10mg/ml) on the back of her neck.
What I am not clear about is how long this should all take to start clearing up??? and when (or if) to repeat the Ivermectin treatment?? Was that an appropriate dose? Should I put it directly on the feet?
I plan to repeat the Oiling/Vaseline several times. I also cleaned to coop and treated the other hen.

Any advice you can give me would be welcomed!

Here are some photos.



Thank you..
WOW. That is...yeah..the worst case I've ever seen.

If you're new to keeping chickens you would HAVE to have acquired them like this. This isn't something that happened quickly..

I know this post is old but I'm putting together a local information session for my village on chicken behaviour and welfare (I've seen one too many chickens with bad scaly leg mite or bumblefoot and uncaring or ignorant owners not knowing how to treat them). Would you mind if I use your pictures as a reference for them?
 
Last edited:
Hi there!
Thank you for the reply.
Sure I don't mind if you use the photos.

You are correct, we did notice some build-up on her feet when we first got her. It was much less at that time and I was inexperienced with chickens, I thought it was just poop and other debris on her feet.
One we realized what it was (thanks to reading this website forum) I started treatment she quickly improved. I felt horrible for not catching it sooner.
I used the ivermetin once a week for several weeks, plus the vaseline. Eventually the crusts all came off and she could walk again, but she sadly lost most of her toes.
The toes were bleeding and atrophied from the mites, they dried up and fell off over time, after that she would walk around on little stumpy feet. She did very well. She gained back her weight and became more active, and was laying eggs. She lived quite happily for another few years after that.

We have learned so much about keeping chickens since then. Notably: I will never buy a chicken from that farmer again!
 
Hi there!
Thank you for the reply.
Sure I don't mind if you use the photos.

You are correct, we did notice some build-up on her feet when we first got her. It was much less at that time and I was inexperienced with chickens, I thought it was just poop and other debris on her feet.
One we realized what it was (thanks to reading this website forum) I started treatment she quickly improved. I felt horrible for not catching it sooner.
I used the ivermetin once a week for several weeks, plus the vaseline. Eventually the crusts all came off and she could walk again, but she sadly lost most of her toes.
The toes were bleeding and atrophied from the mites, they dried up and fell off over time, after that she would walk around on little stumpy feet. She did very well. She gained back her weight and became more active, and was laying eggs. She lived quite happily for another few years after that.

We have learned so much about keeping chickens since then. Notably: I will never buy a chicken from that farmer again!
We all start from a base of not knowing what to look for in our chickens - and I think a sign that we're going to be great chicken owners - is that feeling of, "I wish I'd caught it sooner". What alarms me is when I encounter an owner who says something like, "Well they seem to get around just fine and they don't live long enough for it to kill them before I eat them.". When that statement is rapidly followed by, "They're such bad layers." I want to slam my head against a wall.
th.gif


Thank you for your permission to use them. I'm hoping that it will help prevent a case of scaly leg mite somewhere in my community.

I actually just noticed a few lifted scales on my head roo last night. We had a hen wander into our yard from someone else's flock with a bad (but nowhere near as bad as yours) case of scaly leg mite and just mosey on in to our coop with the flock. I removed her as soon as I realized I had a chicken in there who wasn't mine (it looked a lot like two of mine so it was a few hours) and hoped I'd gotten lucky.

It seems I haven't -_-.

Ah well. Coop needed pressure washing anyway.
idunno.gif
 
Last edited:
Hello fellow chicken lovers..

I have a hen with very bad scale mite...

questions did you inject the medicine into the bird.. Is there another way, i am not ok with needles...

thanks,
 
I believe there is a topical ivermectin but not sure. A note diatomaceous earth or any fine Sandy dust bath are our friend. Also there is an article in Hobby Farmer for essential oil coop sanitizer recipe. Still Vaseline or an acidic oil like olive are good options.
 
WOW. That is...yeah..the worst case I've ever seen.

If you're new to keeping chickens you would HAVE to have acquired them like this. This isn't something that happened quickly..

I know this post is old but I'm putting together a local information session for my village on chicken behaviour and welfare (I've seen one too many chickens with bad scaly leg mite or bumblefoot and uncaring or ignorant owners not knowing how to treat them). Would you mind if I use your pictures as a reference for them?
Soak your chicken's legs in dawn dish sudsy, warm water 15-20 mins. coats dry legs, up to the feathers with oil, or apply vaseline.this will smother the mites. clip long nails. nails may bleed. spray with blucote. keep them isolated. do this every three days and you will see results right away. stay sway from ivemectin.
Hello fellow chicken lovers..

I have a hen with very bad scale mite...

questions did you inject the medicine into the bird.. Is there another way, i am not ok with needles...

thanks,
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom