Scaley leg mite...treatment?

Date sort Score sort
juliawitt

juliawitt

Songster
10 Years
Aug 9, 2009
368
15
121
I inherited two older chickens; I've had them for almost a month. I have a brand new hen house. They have been segregated in another part of the hen house from my 5 week old chicks. Just thinking about a little trial meeting between the two this weekend when I noticed that both chickens have raised scales on their legs. I believe I have mites. Clearly I will have to treat all my chickens and my house..but..what is the most effective thing I can do....I keep reading about Sevin dust...sounds a little posionous to me...I need effective treatment fast!Give me your best ideas for treatment..please!!
 
Quote:
That's what I use too...best thing....
cool.png
 
That will kill the mites? How about the house....won't I need to do something in there?
barnie.gif
 
You can dust everyone with poultry dust and the coop. For the floor you can pull the bedding away from the wall a few inches, sprinkle the poultry dust and push the bedding back. Sprinkle the roosts especially where there are cracks or where 2 pieces of wood meet.

Apply a moderately thick coat of vaseline to the legs every few days. It will smother the mites. I did read somewhere that you can mix a little poultry dust with the vaseline before applying and it will work faster.

Good luck. Tomorrow sounds like a busy day for you.
 
Here is a copy of threehorses' excellent advice to another:
copied from this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2740856

=First, soak the bird's legs in a solution of warm water with some epsom salts in it to soften the scales. Mites are actually burrowed into the skin of the leg and are causing irritation and build up of stuff which is raising the scales and irritating the skin. The soaking softens up the stuff. You then use a toothbrush to scrub at the legs to remove whatever build up you can. Pat the legs dry.

Then you can either use ivomec 1% injectable topically on the legs, or you can use pour-on ivermectin 5% cattle wormer on the bird - IF - your birds have been wormed within 6 months with a broad spectrum wormer.

Personally, I'd recommend the scrub, worm your flock with wazine 17 (piperazine 17) in the water, and use olive oil on the legs or VetRx daily for 2 weeks then worm them with the pour-on ivermectin (generic, 250ml bottles are the most affordable option). Worming all the flock with ivermectin will kill external parasites as it's likely other birds in the flock have mites but not signs of it yet on the legs. But you have more than one option there.​
 
For some reason I only had one hen get scaley leg mites. Her legs were awful. I put Vaseline on her legs and feet..very liberally. I did this once a week for three weeks in a row. Her legs look pretty good now.
 
Can someone post a picture of these "scaly legs" when the chickens have mites? I don't know what it looks like, and I THINK my chickens are ok, but their legs do look a little scaly...Thanks so much
 
Just went through this myself after introducing two new older birds to the flock. I ended up using Red Cote. It has scarlet oil in it and is used to dress livestock wounds. Usually found in the horse section. After cleaning the legs really good with baby shampoo and a nail brush we applied the Red Cote using the dauber applicator in the bottle. That stuff oozes into every nook and cranny and stays on the birds all week. Did this once a week for four weeks. Rather expensive and messy but it did the job. Also used seven dust mixed with DE in all of their dusting holes and all perimeters around their house out about 25 feet. Then I cleaned every bit of bedding out of the house and sprayed the whole inside with a 10% periythiam (I can't spell it but it's for bugs on livestock) liquid mix and sealed it shut all day. Seems to have worked. The really lifted scales fell off within a month of the treatment. Didn't think to take pictures. Scarlet oil really stains so it looked like a bloody massacre took place in the chicken house.
tongue.png
 

Similar threads

Hens having Fun
scaley leg treatment
Replies
9
Views
955
Hens having Fun
Hens having Fun
Chikenshiken
Scaley leg mites? Weird looking scales? What is this!
Replies
5
Views
809
Eggcessive
Eggcessive
slburger7264
Scaley Leg Mites and Inflammation
Replies
2
Views
918
Wyorp Rock
Wyorp Rock
Bonnieboo
Spurs on hens
Replies
2
Views
174
Bonnieboo
Bonnieboo
B
    • Like
Treating leg mites when u can’t catch a chicken!
Replies
5
Views
739
LaurenRitz
LaurenRitz

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom