Hen has a manky foot and limping [Scaley Leg Mites]

[tiiiim]

Hey guys,

Looking after the parents hens for a bit, so I'm not too experienced.

Our grey hen has very manky legs and feet and is limping quite noticeably and standing around like a flamingo when not feeding.

I'll attach some pictures, so hopefully someone can tell me what it is/what to do about it!!!

Also, the nails seem very long - can I just clip these? With what and how?

Thanks for reading this far!!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

She has a HORRIBLE case of scaley leg mites.

Bring her inside and give her a bath in dog flea/tick shampoo. Be sure to get the shampoo on her legs. Let it set a good 10 minutes or longer before rinsing. Then soak her legs as long as you can get her to stand in a pail of warm soapy water. Scrub the legs with a nail brush to remove as much of the scaley mess as possible, but not so much that you make her bleed. Put ivermectin pour-on on her legs, then coat them in oil (bath oil, baby oil, olive oil, safflower oil, etc.) Give her an extra good diet. You will need to retreat with soaking, scrubbing and oil every couple of days until her legs are clean.

You also need to remove and dispose of all bedding and thoroughly spray the coop and pen (making sure to get into all cracks and crevases and roosts) with sevin, malathion, permethrin or a similar pesticide. Put in clean bedding with poultry dust mixed in. Treat all birds for mites/lice, and check for others with scaley leg mites.

 

[EweSheep]

I would use Vicks Vapor rub on my girls feet when they do get scaley leg mites. After two applications, they didnt come back. however mine did not look as bad as yours.

 

[tiiiim]

Blimey!

OK, we'll do all that as best we can - is it life-threatening?

How come the other hen doesn't have it?

Do we also need to dispose of the as yet unused bedding in the garage?

What about its long nails?

Thanks for the quick responses!!

tiiiim

 

[Jenski]

I would leave the nails alone until the rest is healed up. Just my opinion - - one thing at a time, eh?

Good luck! Scaley leg mites are nasty buggers, but very easy to get rid of with routine care. I use vaseline on the hens' legs every couple of weeks for prevention.


Ed to add - -
I would not worry about the bedding as long as you're treating the legs. As for the other hen . . . if they are the same breed, one might just have more susceptibility to the mites. They are almost always around, but can get worse over time as they burrow underneath the leg scales. Older chickens and feather-leg breeds can be more likely to have bad cases.

 

[tiiiim]

Quote:
OK, that makes sense - I don't think they're the same breed (definitely not the same colour - the other is brown), and this one is over 5 years old now, so getting on a bit!

Thanks for all the quick replies guys! Off to the pet shop!

Edit: if anyone's in the UK and wants to provide names of pesticides available in the UK, and an alternative to ivermectin, that'd be greatly appreciated!!

 

[purpletree23]

It's not life threatening.

I'm not sure why the other hen doesn't have it. Usually the whole lot gets it.

The unused bedding in the garage doesn't need to be thrown away.

And just like jenski suggested. The nail can wait. One thing at a time.

Poor girl....this has been going on for a long time. When bathing her scrub gently. Those scales are so big I'm afraid they will come off like scabs and bleed. If you don't have Ivermectin or can't get it where you live you can use a thick coat of vaseline. It will smother the mites and eventually her body will heal and slough off those horrible scales.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

A lot of that scaley gunk is the excretia from the mites, and will not bleed when removed. It is when you get down to the skin scales that it can bleed. You do not want to remove the hen's leg scales.

I don't agree that they will not kill her. I believe that if left alone they might well, it will just take a long time. I treated a neighbor's hen who lost two toes to scaley leg mite. I managed to save two more that I was afraid she would lose. This was a case about as bad as the one pictured here.

 

[Jenski]

Whoa, Sonoran, thanks for the info. I was not aware it could be life threatening, but I have not seen cases this bad. Poor gal.

These mites are no big deal to get rid of, or at least control, if they're dealt with early and/or regularly. Good luck, tiiiim, and nice of you to help your parents with their birds.


Ed. to add - tiiiim, you might send a PM (private message) for medication advice to Krys109uk, out on your island.

Post here if you need help doing this.

 

[purpletree23]

Wow...thanks for the correction of my information Sonoran. I thought the bumps were lifted scales. I had no idea it was mite excrement. I have a better understanding of scaley leg mites and I suppose a hen could die with such a bad case.

Thanks for being gentle: