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

[Kaybug137]

Hi I just got a new flock of adult chickens the other day from my dads boss, and they aren't in the best of shape. Quite a few of the girls have messed up legs. My RIR hen is missing toes and one is starting to rot off.. one of my tiny bantam girls leg are horribly deformed. Looking like she has open wounds. Risen up scales, could this be scaley legs? And would vicks vapor rub or dawn dishsoap or vegestible oil, and or Vet RX work? Also Very wild and flighty never been handled but not aggressive at all. Not all of them have messed up legs. all laying I believe. have a broody girl. Just sprinkled some of that Sevin Dust stuff around the coop.

 

[froggiesheins]

Hi I just got a new flock of adult chickens the  other day from my dads boss, and they aren't in the best of shape. Quite a few of the girls have messed up legs. My RIR hen is missing toes and one is starting to rot off.. one of my tiny bantam girls leg are horribly deformed. Looking like she has open wounds. Risen up scales, could this be scaley legs? And would vicks vapor rub or dawn dishsoap or vegestible oil, and or Vet RX work? Also Very wild and flighty never been handled but not aggressive at all. Not all of them have messed up legs. all laying I believe. have a broody girl. Just sprinkled some of that Sevin Dust stuff around the coop. 

It does sound like mites. Lost toes are a horrible reality of what can happen if never treated.
NO to Vicks! Have no idea what the menthol would do to a chicken. In my opinion VetRX is useless stuff. but like I said it is my opinion. The ingredients do not justify the name & price. Vegtable oil works, but vaseline stays on longer and is cheep and eze to use.
FIRST take stock as to who is the worst off...TRIAGE them and work your way from worst to best.
IF there is no blood flow to the nail after clipping it, then yes the toe is gone...if it is hanging on by a thread, go ahead and snip it off...
Use a towel to make a chicken "burrito" so you can work on each one. Because you are working with wild children, soaking the feet is out of the question..so get your toothbrush and scrub off what you can, clip nails [I am SURE they are long too] slather vaseline on. Take your time and talk to the hen in a soft voice, stroke her, let her know that being held by a human has some good points. LOL

Take pictures. How many birds are there?

 

[Kaybug137]

It does sound like mites. Lost toes are a horrible reality of what can happen if never treated.

NO to Vicks! Have no idea what the menthol would do to a chicken. In my opinion VetRX is useless stuff. but like I said it is my opinion. The ingredients do not justify the name & price. Vegtable oil works, but vaseline stays on longer and is cheep and eze to use.
FIRST take stock as to who is the worst off...TRIAGE them and work your way from worst to best.
IF there is no blood flow to the nail after clipping it, then yes the toe is gone...if it is hanging on by a thread, go ahead and snip it off...
Use a towel to make a chicken "burrito" so you can work on each one. Because you are working with wild children, soaking the feet is out of the question..so get your toothbrush and scrub off what you can, clip nails slather vaseline on. Take your time and talk to the hen in a soft voice, stroke her, let her know that being held by a human has some good points. LOL

Take pictures. How many birds are there?

I have 20 but only a few have mites, one of the RIR girls has nubs for toes and about to lose one and on her other foot the toe nails are like thin uncuttable.. One of my bantam girls her legs are so bad. Like it looks like shes been standing in salt water waves for ages and the salt caked on. I will hopfully get the money to get a thing of vaseline. Really need to like make a first aid thing for my birds. Will dawn dish soap do anything? I know it helps with fleas and such..

 

[froggiesheins]

I have 20 but only a few have mites, one of the RIR girls has nubs for toes and about to lose one and on her other foot the toe nails are like thin uncuttable.. One of my bantam girls her legs are so bad. Like it looks like shes been standing in salt water waves for ages and the salt caked on. I will hopfully get the money to get a thing of vaseline. Really need to like make a first aid thing for my birds. Will dawn dish soap do anything? I know it helps with fleas and such..

If you have a Dollar type store in your area you can get vaseline for a buck. In the meantime, you can use veggie oil [if that is what you have] and find an old toothbrush or tweezers to pick off as much as you can before putting on the oil.....OH BABY OIL would work in a pinch too!
Its just vaseline is the best as it stays on the longest....
GET THE CRUD OFF FIRST..OK?

 

[Kaybug137]

Wait.. I have to peal off scales? Or just pick off the dirt.. sorry first time with scaley legs

 

[froggiesheins]

Wait.. I have to peal off scales? Or just pick off the dirt.. sorry first time with scaley legs

You want to scape off everything that does NOT look like a scale.....sometimes a scale will be falling off and yes then you can take it off.....

 

[froggiesheins]

I am going to throw in my 2 cents worth. I am the QUEEN [well by my house] of getting rid of these buggers. THE best way [althought for some of you peeps it is impractical] is to catch the afflicted one, wrap in a towel on your lap and scrap away all the cootie junk under every scale, this can take anywhere from 1/2 hour to two hours. If you put the towel over the birdies head they calm down alot. After scraping, take a stiff toothbrush and scrub under the scales. Then put vaseline on and place birdie in a clean clean clean cage/coop. Repeat ALL OF THIS in two days. Ususally it only takes one repeat to get the scales cleaned out and healing.

These pictures below are of scaley leg mites that have started to invade the bone....HORRORS!
This little OEGB was brought to me to "fix". Little "Lucky" [I named him] had lost one toe completely and a second one was starting to die. He had on his feet an accumulation of mite cooties / filth & Blu-cote. I cried when I saw him, never have I seen such a bad case. I had to use pliers to break the "seal" of all this crap around his feet. Scraped till I was down to live skin [this took over 2 hours], slathered neosporin on and wrapped loosely in cotton guaze and paper tape. 3 days later took off the wraps and cleaned again, repeated wrapping. Once there was a healthy looking scab on the raw skin, I started leaving the bandage off. It took 2 weeks for the left foot to heal and all toes had BEAUTIFUL pink skin showing and ALL toes left reacted to pain WOOT!!!!! AS A FOOTNOTE: I also very carefully clipped his toe nails, evertime I debrided, till they showed blood, this was to encourage the bllod flow to the end of the toe.
Lucky has gone on to live with the little boy that found him and you would never know that this little roo has had a life threatening foot problem

BEFORE: [ but AFTER two hours of scraping & debriding,].

AFTER two weeks of healing:

This is Lucky, he was a model patient.

I am bumping this to the end of the thread as a reminder to newbees about how bad scaley legmites can get....

 

[froggiesheins]

VERY STEADY hands, good clse-up eyesight and a cheep paring knife. You want the knife, or similair sharp edge, to be thin, small and a little flexible. You will be choking up on the knife and holding it ON the blade for greater control. Think like you are scraping goobers from under your own finger& toe nail beds.
It is so much easier to work on LF too! I was working on all small banty sized birds..

Hope that helps........

PART B of my mite removal procedure.....

PLESE PEEPS, NO GASOLINE, VICKS, WD-40, WOULD YOU SOAK YOUR HANDS IN THAT?
All you need to smother the mites are oil or vaseline... LOL

P.S. PLEASE post pictures of the feet to better help you...

 

[Angelight]

My nu-stock came in. WOOT! The coconut oil was doing SOMETHING because after a few applications, their legs looked much better. I have not been able to bathe and scrub legs but everything I'm doing is definitely helping. Let's see how awedome nu-stock is... : )

 

[froggiesheins]

My nu-stock came in.  WOOT!  The coconut oil was doing SOMETHING because after a few applications, their legs looked much better.  I have not been able to bathe and scrub legs but everything I'm doing is definitely helping.  Let's see how awedome nu-stock is...  : )

Coconut oil was working because it was OIL... and oil smothers and kills the buggers.. LOL