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

[FLchook]

Ooo the world of leg mites. Been there done that! After many trials this is what I found that works. Especially if you have heavy feathered legs like mind did.

Youll need lots of mineral oil, a small bottle of tea tree oil (find it in the pharmacy or herbal store) and a deep bowl.

Pour good amount of mineral oil in the bowl, then add just enough of the tea tree oil so that you begin to smell it in the mixture (make sure your not just smelling the bottle hehe)
Grab a bird dip and put it back on the roost, grab next bird dip and put back on the roost. Continue until all birds are done. The oil is messy, but it will drip onto the roosts killing the mites that live in there.

Oh, clean the coop out and put fresh bedding down. I sprayed with orange guard. Its an all natural bug killer. I found it at Ace Hardware, can get it at health food stores too.

Good luck!
Shannon

 

[bigzio]

I've tryed alot of the suggestions listed in all the posts....The remedy that worked for me was two-fold and quite simple.
I dusted my birds with 5% sevin dust and repeated again in 7 days. Along with this I spread vaseline on the legs generously daily. Improvement continued until they were gone. I've spent quite alot of money on all the different ideas, and this is what finally worked for my flock.

bigzio

 

[tiki244]

I think adding the campho-phenique, or vicks vapo rub, or peppermint oil to the vaseline or mineral oil or what not really helps. I use it and it is supposed to be a natural insecticide.
I have also used a cheap bottle of cat flea powder to sprinkle where needed.
And I have washed my birds in peppermint castile soap for parasites-but that is harsh shampoo and you dont need it for leg mites.

 

[sammi]

Bag Balm can work.
Sevin, or poultry dust with permathrin..

this bird might need an antibiotic, the feet look pretty sore
they can get an infection (bacteria and/or fungal) from the mites..or the pecking, causing open sores.
something like Pen-G procaine..or something from a vet for treating staph infection.

might not hurt to do a betadine tea treatment, and use some neosporin or polysporin.
or Panalog ointment from a vet (or online)
(the generic is Animax)..treats bacterial and fungal infections of the skin.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Nifty sorry I did not see this before. Glad your coop is as clean as new, that's always a good feeling, but scaly leg mites live the entire life cycle on the leg so you did not have to do that. Treating the perches and coop is for body mites, either chicken or red type.

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/MF2387.PDF

I have had the best luck with using Tea Tree Oil ointment to treat scaly leg mites. It has a natural insectiside and it smothers too. In a bad case I do a couple days in a row then once a week for couple weeks. That's it generally. As this OZNET states you can use any oil and you can mix in a bit of insectiside with it if you want, but just oil will work. I just found the Tea Tree faster.

 

[poulet]

I have painted my chickens feet and legs with parffin and this worked quickly with no re infection afterwards.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Good stuff, thanks for the replies!

April, where do you get the tea tree oil? I see some says "Melaleuca". Is that the same thing?

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Yes that's it, and I buy mine at a drug store or the food store. Here is the one I get.

http://www.thursdayplantation.com/cmsv1/index.php

If you can only find the oil get some and put it into Vit E ointment. You want a 5% solution so that way involves math...... yuck! I have had to do that when the ointment is out of stock.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Okay, I'm picking this thread up where I left off... basically I dropped the ball.

The petroleum jelly was just too hard to work with for each hen and left them slipping and sliding with feathers stuck to their legs.

So, I'm thinking about just getting some viscous oil (olive, tea tree, etc.) and putting it in a tall glass then dunking each chicken leg. This should get it into all the nooks / crannies, right?

 

[ibpboo]

Dunk and hold in there for a few seconds to give it a chance to really soak in. Its a vicious battle, can take months to clear up sometimes. VetRX works too, but it is expensive. Dunking in an oil is probably the easiest. Good luck!

extra words, oops