- May 3, 2014
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I need suggestions. I read every post, but with 80 birds, slicking legs with vasoline nightly...my goodness ill be there for hours! 
80 chickens ...scaly leg mites.
- Thread starter LogCabinChicks
- Start date
I have read that Eprinex (Ivomec cattle pour on) kills scaly leg mites, so you might be able to just go down the line at roost time treating them with that instead of slicking all their legs up. Should be a lot faster!
As a disclaimer, I've never used it myself to treat scaly leg mites, so I'm not 100% sure that it works for that.
As a disclaimer, I've never used it myself to treat scaly leg mites, so I'm not 100% sure that it works for that.
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I'll second the Ivermectin cattle pour on. It does treat external parasites including the scaly leg mite (although I've only used it for lice and northern mite with great success).
Get a bunch of cheap 5 ml syringes, without the needles. 5ml only because the markings are easier to read and you only need .25ml per 5 pound bird. (1 ml per 22lb, math dicates .25 per 5lb).
I've only done 20 birds at a time, so you've got me beat by 4 times....I did go by coops at night, and that helped.
Load up 1/4 ml in each separate syringe...then dispense the full load of one syringe per bird with a couple of drops at the base of the neck then a couple of drops at the base of the vent. Two people make this much easier, but if you are stuck doing this by yourself (like I was) preload the syringes, place in pocket, use a headlamp type flashlight unless you have coop lighting (although keeping the birds in the dark makes it much easier to pick them off the roost calmly). You'll want to wear rubber gloves so you don't get a load yourself.
Normally you repeat in 7 to 10 days. Egg withdrawal is 7 days from dosage (per a nice research study that actually determined how much Ivermectin remained in the eggs...it climaxes at day 3 and 4, then drops over days 5 to 6, clear by 7).
Don't forget to treat your roosts with something as the mites live in the roost wood.
Remember Ivermectin technically is off label for poultry in the US, so it is not FDA approved for laying hens eggs for human consumption nor meat birds....which means you have to follow pull times carefully and technically could never sell eggs from that bird ever again...but you can find the ag studies for it as it has been used a lot over the years on poultry.
The other alternative is go to a good ag quality feed store and buy some of the spray stuff that you can treat a whole flock with. Permethrin type sprays would be FDA approved for poultry.
LofMc
Get a bunch of cheap 5 ml syringes, without the needles. 5ml only because the markings are easier to read and you only need .25ml per 5 pound bird. (1 ml per 22lb, math dicates .25 per 5lb).
I've only done 20 birds at a time, so you've got me beat by 4 times....I did go by coops at night, and that helped.
Load up 1/4 ml in each separate syringe...then dispense the full load of one syringe per bird with a couple of drops at the base of the neck then a couple of drops at the base of the vent. Two people make this much easier, but if you are stuck doing this by yourself (like I was) preload the syringes, place in pocket, use a headlamp type flashlight unless you have coop lighting (although keeping the birds in the dark makes it much easier to pick them off the roost calmly). You'll want to wear rubber gloves so you don't get a load yourself.
Normally you repeat in 7 to 10 days. Egg withdrawal is 7 days from dosage (per a nice research study that actually determined how much Ivermectin remained in the eggs...it climaxes at day 3 and 4, then drops over days 5 to 6, clear by 7).
Don't forget to treat your roosts with something as the mites live in the roost wood.
Remember Ivermectin technically is off label for poultry in the US, so it is not FDA approved for laying hens eggs for human consumption nor meat birds....which means you have to follow pull times carefully and technically could never sell eggs from that bird ever again...but you can find the ag studies for it as it has been used a lot over the years on poultry.
The other alternative is go to a good ag quality feed store and buy some of the spray stuff that you can treat a whole flock with. Permethrin type sprays would be FDA approved for poultry.
LofMc
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Ivermectin is not effective on feather eating types that do not ingest blood nor body skin cells nor on red roost mites as they live and breed off the bird.
But body lice, northern mite and scaly mite are controlled by this product as they live and feed on the body.
But body lice, northern mite and scaly mite are controlled by this product as they live and feed on the body.
Lice can be the flat, roundish, straw colored type that move somewhat quickly and live predominately at the vent, commonly called poultry lice. There is also, to my understanding and recent experience, a type that is elongated, brown/grey, and very fast moving over the whole body and termed as "body lice." In trying to figure out what parasites my birds were being plagued with, I've learned there are over 40 species of lice that can inhabit a chicken
All lice are chewing insects that feed on either skin cells, feather shafts, or even blood that rises with the irritation of chewing on the skin. Different lice types will live on different parts of the body, but all tend to move faster.
If it moves slow, chances are it is a mite; if it moves fast, chances are it is a louse (lice). If it moves very fast, chances are it is a certain type of "body lice."
There is a lot of conflicting reports (enough to make you crazy), but Ivermectin seems to be most effective on the lice types and mites that chew on the skin to feed or eat or suck blood as opposed to simply eating the feathers and dander. (It is also cheap as cattle pour on, easy to apply, and readily available in my area...all pluses for choice for me)
I'm not sure what kind I had as they were present on the bird during the day and night, small, cigar shaped, grey/brown, very fast moving through the body (chest and vent and legs), and exploding at an alarming rate...didn't look like a mite and wasn't the straw poultry louse. Poultry dust was slowing the population somewhat, but not eradicating. Not wanting to get behind a growing problem, nor certain if lice or mite, I hit it with Ivermectin which made a noticeable difference after first application, eradication after additional...safety assured with final third. A month later, and recheck shows no signs. Poultry dust, both permethrin and sevin, was supplied to bedding and coops, with a good repellent spray on wood...although no evidence was ever seen in the coop itself even on night close inspection...so fairly certain a body lice or mite.
After the fact, I learned a number of other poultry owners in my area also battled with a very unusual body pest this summer, attributed to the long hot summer with much drier conditions than normal.
What I've experienced.
LofMc
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0483/ANR-0483.pdf
http://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2402&Itemid=2667
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I asked because the only lice I have seen are the tan ones, and those cannot be treated with ivermectin. I tried several times and gave way more than the suggest amount every way possible (orally, by injection and topically). Each time it made no difference in the amount of lice.
-Kathy
-Kathy
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