I know some of you have dealt with this parasite before. You know the drill; searching for remedies, trying to find something that will work for YOU. I had to go through this process as well... I tried Nu-Stock, Vaseline, baths, soaking the legs in soapy water. You name it, I probably did it. Finally, I seemed to find something that sent them away for a while. Can't remember what it was, but it worked. I didn't have to worry about leg mites for about a year and a half.
I free-range my chickens, which ultimately led to MORE leg mites. And body mites. Especially with my two fluffy birds that have foot feathers. (By the way, if you are a newbie, never get feather-legged birds, especially if you plan to let them out on grass.)
The first thing we did was bathe them and dust with DE (diatomaceous earth). This helped, but did nothing for their legs. I then had to improvise. What could I find in my kitchen that would work? Research found vinegar.
I then grabbed my red wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar would probably work too) and diluted it with warm water. Once it was thoroughly mixed, I set a chicken in it for 2 minutes.
After a few days, I noticed that the uplifted scales seemed to be going down. Mind you, scales do take a while to lower after the mites have been killed (learned that the hard way) but I noticed improvement.
Other Tips:
Another thing to do is wash out your coop thoroughly. I did that with both of mine.
Soak the legs every couple days. I usually rinse the legs off after the soak, but you don't have to.
If your chickens don't appreciate having pedicure, then hold their wings down whilst doing it.
I also noticed that if you take an old toothbrush and scrub the legs thoroughly, that helps dislodge gunk and other stuff.
I free-range my chickens, which ultimately led to MORE leg mites. And body mites. Especially with my two fluffy birds that have foot feathers. (By the way, if you are a newbie, never get feather-legged birds, especially if you plan to let them out on grass.)
The first thing we did was bathe them and dust with DE (diatomaceous earth). This helped, but did nothing for their legs. I then had to improvise. What could I find in my kitchen that would work? Research found vinegar.
I then grabbed my red wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar would probably work too) and diluted it with warm water. Once it was thoroughly mixed, I set a chicken in it for 2 minutes.
After a few days, I noticed that the uplifted scales seemed to be going down. Mind you, scales do take a while to lower after the mites have been killed (learned that the hard way) but I noticed improvement.
Other Tips:
Another thing to do is wash out your coop thoroughly. I did that with both of mine.
Soak the legs every couple days. I usually rinse the legs off after the soak, but you don't have to.
If your chickens don't appreciate having pedicure, then hold their wings down whilst doing it.
I also noticed that if you take an old toothbrush and scrub the legs thoroughly, that helps dislodge gunk and other stuff.